Book contents
- African Genesis:
- Series page
- African Genesis
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- 1 African Genesis: an evolving paradigm
- 2 Academic genealogy
- Part I In search of origins: evolutionary theory, new species and paths into the past
- Part II Hominin morphology through time: brains, bodies and teeth
- Part III Modern human origins: patterns and processes
- Part IV In search of context: hominin environments, behaviour and lithic cultures
- 22 Animal palaeocommunity variability and habitat preference of the robust australopiths in South Africa
- 23 Impacts of environmental change and community ecology on the composition and diversity of the southern African monkey fauna from the Plio-Pleistocene to the present
- 24 African Genesis revisited: reflections on Raymond Dart and the ‘predatory transition from ape(-man) to man’
- 25 Shared intention in early artefacts: an exploration of deep structure and implications for communication and language
- 26 Sibudu Cave: recent archaeological work on the Middle Stone Age
- 27 The oldest burials and their significance
- Index
- Plate Section
25 - Shared intention in early artefacts: an exploration of deep structure and implications for communication and language
from Part IV - In search of context: hominin environments, behaviour and lithic cultures
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2012
- African Genesis:
- Series page
- African Genesis
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- 1 African Genesis: an evolving paradigm
- 2 Academic genealogy
- Part I In search of origins: evolutionary theory, new species and paths into the past
- Part II Hominin morphology through time: brains, bodies and teeth
- Part III Modern human origins: patterns and processes
- Part IV In search of context: hominin environments, behaviour and lithic cultures
- 22 Animal palaeocommunity variability and habitat preference of the robust australopiths in South Africa
- 23 Impacts of environmental change and community ecology on the composition and diversity of the southern African monkey fauna from the Plio-Pleistocene to the present
- 24 African Genesis revisited: reflections on Raymond Dart and the ‘predatory transition from ape(-man) to man’
- 25 Shared intention in early artefacts: an exploration of deep structure and implications for communication and language
- 26 Sibudu Cave: recent archaeological work on the Middle Stone Age
- 27 The oldest burials and their significance
- Index
- Plate Section
Summary
Recent researches in neurosciences and comparative primatology have reinforced appreciation of the importance of object manipulation and artefact use in the shaping of human intelligence, especially in the social contexts of shared knowledge. Archaeology has datasets of primary significance, which allow us to chart developments through time, and particularly the emergence or enhancement of shared concepts. When early Pleistocene artefacts are studied in sets, they exhibit some deep regularities that appear to show the operation of particular principles or concepts. The chapter uses African Acheulean datasets applying Principal Components Analysis (PCA) to explore the extent to which deeply seated elements of design form recur, whether under cultural control or reinforced by functional constraints. It highlights particular evidence that points towards shared activities and shared perceptions of rules, and the nature of the communications involved. The data are taken from sites ranging across Africa – Casablanca in the north, Kariandusi, Kilombe and Baringo in Kenya, and from two sites at Kalambo Falls in Zambia. The biface sets were measured by up to 11 variables. In general, three principal components emerge, with very similar characteristics. They indicate that the toolmakers tended to handle thickness separately from planform, to keep the butt region of the biface less variable than other areas, and to pay particular attention to the tip thickness. As this pattern is maintained almost regardless of the specific tool-form (hand-axe, cleaver, pick) and of site age, technology and refinement, it appears that the underlying concepts were strongly reinforced by external experience, as well as cultural tradition.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- African GenesisPerspectives on Hominin Evolution, pp. 506 - 530Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012
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