Handbook of Cognitive Archaeology

<p>The remains that archaeologists uncover reveal ancient minds at work as much as ancient hands, and for decades many have sought a better way of understanding those minds. This understanding is at the forefront of cognitive archaeology, a discipline that believes that a greater application of psychological theory to archaeology will further our understanding of the evolution of the human mind. </p><p>Bringing together a diverse range of experts including archaeologists, psychologists, anthropologists, biologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, historians, and philosophers, in one comprehensive volume, this accessible and illuminating book is an important resource for students and researchers exploring how the application of cognitive archaeology can significantly and meaningfully deepen their knowledge of early and ancient humans. This seminal volume opens the field of cognitive archaeology to scholars across the behavioral sciences.</p> <p><strong>Foreword I</strong> <i>Trevor Watkins</i> <strong>Foreword II </strong><i>Valerie E. Stone </i><strong>Part One</strong> 1. Introduction: What would Wundt think? <i>Edward P. Kardas & Tracy B. Henley</i> 2. Before, After, and Alongside the Excavation: How to Think About the Evolution and History of Physiology and Development <i>Melvin Konner</i> 3. Life History Evolution in Hominins <i>Jon Oxford & David C. Geary</i> 4. Evolution of Hormonal Mechanisms for Human Family Relationships <i>Heather Habecker & Mark V. Flinn</i> 5. The Evolution and Development of Morality <i>Dennis L. Krebs</i> 6. In Search of Baselines: Why Psychology Needs Cognitive Archaeology <i>Darcia Narvaez </i>7. Play: A Neglected Factor in Ritual, Religion, and Human Evolution <i>Gordon M. Burghardt </i><b>Part Two </b>8. The Origins of Generativity <i>Michael C. Corballis</i><b> </b>9. Three stages in the Evolution of the Human Cognition: Normativity, Recursion, and Abstraction <i>Ceri Shipton</i> 10. The Evolution of Learning and Memory in Humans: Comparative Perspectives on Testing Adaptive Hypotheses <i>Mark A. Krause & Crickette Sanz</i> 11. Reconfiguring Natural Semantic Metalanguage for a Deep Cognitive Archaeology <i>Horacio Fabrega, Jr.</i> 12. Exploring the Psychological Basis for Transitions in the Archaeological Record <i>Liane Gabora & Cameron M. Smith </i>13. The Cognitive Mechanisms Deriving from the Acheulean Handaxe that give rise to<i> </i>Symmetry, Form, and Pattern Perception<i> Derek Hodgson </i>14. The Role of Expert Technical Cognition in Human Evolution <i>Thomas Wynn & Frederick L. Coolidge </i><b>Part Three </b>15. Key Cognitive Preconditions for the Evolution of Language <i>Merlin Donald </i>16. The Human Social Mind and the Inextricability of Science and Religion <i>Mark Nielsen </i>17. Markers of ‘Psycho-Cultural’ Change: The early Neolithic Monuments of Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey <i>Oliver Dietrich, Jens Notroff, Sebastian Walter, & Laura Dietrich </i>18. How Ritual Made us Human <i>Matt J. Rossano </i>19. The Role of Egalitarianism and Gender Ritual in the Evolution of Symbolic Cognition <i>Camilla Power </i>20. Norms and Their Evolution <i>Kim Sterelny</i> 21. Power, Play, and Interplay: The Psychology of Prehistoric Sexuality <i>Timothy Taylor </i><b>Part Four </b>22. Domestic Fire, Domestic Selves: How Keeping Fire Facilitated the Evolution of Emotions and Emotion Regulation <i>Terrence Twomey</i><b> </b>23. Psychology in Archaeology: The Secret Society Case <i>Brian Hayden</i><b> </b>24. The Archaeology of Madness <i>David S. Whitley</i><b> </b>25. The Prehistory of Psychoactive Substance Use <i>Edward H. Hagen & Shannon Tushingham</i><b> </b>26. The Lure of Death: Suicide and Human Evolution <i>Nicholas Humphrey</i><b> </b>27. From Corpse to Symbol: Proposed Cognitive Grades over the Long-term Evolution of Hominin Mortuary Activity <i>Paul Pettitt</i><b> </b>28. Afterword: Psychology and Archaeology – The Past’s Long Reach <i>Matt J. Rossano, Tracy B. Henley, & Edward P. Kardas</i></p>