Ecce archeo

Trees and ladders: A critique of the theory of human cognitive and behavioural evolution in Palaeolithic archaeology

• Marco Langbroek^a, b, , , 

• ^a Institute for Geo- and Bioarchaeology (IGBA), Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, NL-1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• ^b Research Institute CLUE (Heritage and History of the Cultural Landscape and Urban Environment), VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618211001418
"The challenge that adoption of a branching tree model creates is that ways have to be devised to account for unique cognitive expressions that are not covered by the existing framework of ethnography and primatology. In addition, notions about the “superiority” of “modern behaviour” over other forms of cognitive expression have to be abandoned. The advantage is that the model is structured to pertinent archaeological data and actually testable with archaeological data. Two case studies from the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic of Europe probe the construction of unique models for mobility strategies “bottom up” from archaeological data, providing a unique alternative to mobility models and their cognitive implications as derived from “bottom down” application of an ethno-primatological framework."