The Archaeology of Mind

It's Not What You Think

Bibliographic Data

ID6044006
AuthorsJohn C Barrett (0000-0002-1152-370X, University of Sheffield, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume23
Issue1
Pages1-17
Publication date2013-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCambridge Archaeological Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0959-7743 • E-ISSN: 1474-0540
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0959774313000012
OpenAlexW2331240159
LanguageEN
Citations received14

Narratives of human evolution place considerable emphasis upon human cognitive development resulting from the evolution of brain architecture and witnessed by the production of ‘symbolic’ material culture. Recent work has modified the narrative to the extent that cognitive development is treated as the product of humanity's ability to download certain aspects of brain functionality, such as the storage of information, into external media. This article questions the centrality given to the history of brain architecture as determinate of human cognition by rejecting the widespread assumption that cognition trades in representations, either stored internally in the brain or downloaded externally into cultural media. The alternative, offered here, is that human cognitive development was constructed through the development of joint attention made possible by the anatomical development of hominins and that this sustained a shared empathy between social agents in their practical understanding of the qualities of materiality

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Cognition · Cognitive architecture · Cognitive science · Empathy · Literature · Narrative · Sociology · History · Language and cultural evolution · Neuroscience · Psychology · Social Psychology · Architecture

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub