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8 - Making Stone Tools

from Part III - Non-symbolic Behaviours

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2020

Rudolf Botha
Affiliation:
University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
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Summary

Chapter 8 analyses and appraises a modern version of an inference about Neanderthal language drawn from data about the experimental making of stone tools by modern humans. This knapping inference looks skeletally as follows, the arrows depicting inferential steps: Modern humans knap Palaeolithic stone tools by means of action sequences structured in terms of hierarchies and recursion → Like modern humans, Neanderthals knapped stone tools by means of action sequences structured in terms of hierarchies and recursion → Like modern humans, Neanderthals processed language by means of action sequences structured in terms of hierarchies and recursion. Probing the submerged components of this inference, Chapter 8 advances two reasons for doubting its soundness. First, the two inferential steps are poorly warranted, involving weak analologies that disregard important differences between Neanderthals and modern humans. Second, the first inferential step lacks appropriate empirical grounding. That is, the sequences involved in the experimental knapping of stone tools by modern humans are not characterised by the hierarchies and recursion used by the syntax of human language.

Type
Chapter
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Neanderthal Language
Demystifying the Linguistic Powers of our Extinct Cousins
, pp. 111 - 121
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • Making Stone Tools
  • Rudolf Botha, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
  • Book: Neanderthal Language
  • Online publication: 26 April 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108868167.011
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  • Making Stone Tools
  • Rudolf Botha, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
  • Book: Neanderthal Language
  • Online publication: 26 April 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108868167.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Making Stone Tools
  • Rudolf Botha, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
  • Book: Neanderthal Language
  • Online publication: 26 April 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108868167.011
Available formats
×