A Cathedral with Disconnected Chapels? Reassessing the Cognitive Capacities of Neanderthals in Light of Recent Archaeological Discoveries
Abstract The reconstruction of hominins’ cognitive evolution has always been a crucial but challenging task. Researchers from various disciplines have tried to approach this issue, among which British archaeologist Steven Mithen’s cathedral model is regarded as one of the earliest and most creative...
| Published in: | Journal of cognition and culture |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2021
|
| In: |
Journal of cognition and culture
Year: 2021, Volume: 21, Issue: 3/4, Pages: 243-260 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Neanderthal man
/ Cognition
/ Knowledge acquisition
|
| RelBib Classification: | TB Antiquity ZD Psychology |
| Further subjects: | B
Neanderthal
B cognitive capacity B cathedral model B Archaeological Evidence |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Abstract The reconstruction of hominins’ cognitive evolution has always been a crucial but challenging task. Researchers from various disciplines have tried to approach this issue, among which British archaeologist Steven Mithen’s cathedral model is regarded as one of the earliest and most creative attempts. In this model, he proposed that the Neanderthal’s mind is like a cathedral with disconnected chapels. Specifically, Neanderthals possessed advanced social, natural history, technical, and even linguistic intelligence modules, but the first three modules are isolated from each other, meaning they cannot effectively use the knowledge from one domain to address the issue of another domain. This article challenges his reconstruction of Neanderthals’ cognitive capacities by presenting multiple forms of archaeological evidence bearing on various kinds of cross-domain thinking that has arisen over the past two decades. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1568-5373 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of cognition and culture
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685373-12340107 |