Dados Bibliográficos

AUTOR(ES) A. Nowell , M. Lombard , Anders Högberg , Niels N. Johannsen , F. Riede , Elizabeth Millan-Zaibert
AFILIAÇÃO(ÕES) Department of Anthropology University of Victoria Victoria BC Canada, Centre for Anthropological Research and Department of Anthropology and Development Studies University of Johannesburg South Africa, Department of Cultural Sciences Linnaeus University, Faculty of Arts and Humanities Sweden, Department of Philosophy and History of Ideas, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark, Aarhus Universitet
ANO 2005
TIPO Book
CITAÇÕES 16
ADICIONADO EM 2025-08-14
MD5 55b33ba85ec954ea4e4ffeff686bbdde
MD5 c22898b2495fa8b5b726ae4fbaae70f7

Resumo

In this contribution, we address a major puzzle in the evolution of human material culture: If maturing individuals just learn their parental generation's material culture, then what is the origin of key innovations as documented in the archeological record? We approach this question by coupling a life‐history model of the costs and benefits of experimentation with a niche‐construction perspective. Niche‐construction theory suggests that the behavior of organisms and their modification of the world around them have important evolutionary ramifications by altering developmental settings and selection pressures. Part of Homo sapiens' niche is the active provisioning of children with play objects — sometimes functional miniatures of adult tools — and the encouragement of object play, such as playful knapping with stones. Our model suggests that salient material culture innovation may occur or be primed in a late childhood or adolescence sweet spot when cognitive and physical abilities are sufficiently mature but before the full onset of the concerns and costs associated with reproduction. We evaluate the model against a series of archeological cases and make suggestions for future research.

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