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Tools evolve: The artificial selection and evolution of Paleolithic stone tools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2003

Jorge Simão
Affiliation:
Center for Artificial Intelligence – Computer Science Department, New University of Lisbon, Quinta da Torre, 2825, [email protected] http://centria.di.fct.unl.pt/~jsimao

Abstract

I claim that the increase in complexity in the (known) trace of Paleolithic stone tools can be parsimoniously explained by postulating the emergence of effective mechanisms for the social transmission of representations. I propose that Paleolithic tools, similar to more contemporary tools, were subject to a process of evolution by artificial selection based on functionality.

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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