Tribal Lore in Present-day Paleoanthropology
A Case Study
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2464697 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Maxine Sheets-Johnstone (0000-0003-1494-4806, University of Oregon, corresponding author), Maxine Sheets‐johnstone |
| Year | 1996 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 31-51 |
| Publication date | 1996-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Anthropology of Consciousness (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1053-4202 • E-ISSN: 1556-3537 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1525/ac.1996.7.4.31 |
| OpenAlex | W1995032998 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 21 |
This essay critically examines ways in which cognitivist tenets function as tribal lore in the current paleoanthropological controversy over the relationship between Neandertals and modern humans. It does this through an analysis of Stringer and Gamble's characterization of the behavior of "Moderns" as "symbolic behavior," showing how their underlying conception of a symbol is muddled and nowhere substantiated. It shows further how their denigration of Neandertal behavior as mere "survival" or "imitative behavior" effectively separates the mental from the physical and reduces Neandertal behavior to a mere physical happening. The essay shows how a denial of mental evolutionary continuities protects our own "Modern" preeminence and perpetuates cherished tribal lore about ourselves. Its concluding section specifies an alternative approach to an understanding of Neandertals that does not dichotomize mind and body and thus, does not sever consciousness from its natural corporeal moorings
Archaeology · Biology · Consciousness · Denial · Epistemology · Evolutionary biology · Function (biology · Linguistics · Natural (archaeology · Paleoanthropology · Psychoanalysis · Symbol (formal · Categorization, perception, and language · Child and Animal Learning Development · History · Language and cultural evolution · Philosophy · Psychology
Perspectives on human evolution.
Homeostatic Motor Processes in Mammalian Interactions
Non-linguistic strategies and the acquisition of word meanings
Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind?
The Interpretation of Cultures
In search of the Neanderthals
The Origin of Speech
The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex
Natural Symbols
Mousterian Lithic Technology
Boundaries between Humanism and Science
The Spearman and the Archer-An Essay on Selection in Body Build
Body Ritual among the Nacirema
Culture
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |