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Project:

How did Homo sapiens become Homo docens? On the evolution of social learning and teaching during the Paleolithic

The purpose of the project is to analyse why teaching has evolved only in the line leading to Homo sapiens. This will be done by combining theoretical models with an analysis of archaeological material, primarily material from South Africa.

The theoretical part of the work views teaching and language as two forms of cooperation. Current research models the evolution of advanced forms of cooperation. This will be expanded by considering the role of education in human evolution.

The archaeological part concerns what conclusions relating to teaching can be drawn from material remnants. Two concepts are important in discussions of lithic technology: ‘knowledge’ and ‘know-how’. Knowledge is communicative, something that can be transferred through conversation or actions. Know-how is embodied memory, something that can only be learned by doing it oneself. The method followed will be chaîne opératoire analysis. This will allow the group to study aspects on how the learning of technologies took place through learners’ acquisition of knowledge and know-how.

 

Fellows involved in this project

Fellow
South Africa
Fellow
Sweden
Fellow
Sweden
Fellow
Sweden
Fellow
South Africa
 
 

Related news

 

Related publications

Book/Book Chapter

Botha, Rudie. 2020. Neanderthal Language. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108868167

Journal Article

Larsson, Lars. 2019. Crystals for What? Reflections on a Middle Stone Age Find at Hollow Rock Shelter, Western Cape Province, South Africa. Lund Archaeological Review, 123–134. https://portal.research.lu.se/ws/files/66263189/Crystals.pdf

Journal Article

Lombard, Marlize. 2015. Hunting and Hunting Technologies as Proxy for Teaching and Learning During the Stone Age of Southern Africa. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 25 (04): 877–87. doi:10.1017/S0959774315000219.

Journal Article

Haidle, Miriam Noël, Michael Bolus, Mark Collard, Nicholas J Conard, Duilio Garofoli, Marlize Lombard, April Nowell, Claudio Tennie, and Andrew Whiten. 2015. The Nature of Culture: An Eight-Grade Model for the Evolution and Expansion of Cultural Capacities in Hominins and Other Animals. JASs Invited Reviews Journal of Anthropological Sciences 93: 43–70. doi:10.4436/jass.93011.

Journal Article

Högberg, Anders and Marlize Lombard. 2016. Still Bay Point-Production Strategies at Hollow Rock Shelter and Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter and Knowledge-Transfer Systems in Southern Africa at about 80-70 Thousand Years Ago. PLOS ONE 11(12):e0168012. http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0168012

Journal Article

Högberg, Anders and Marlize Lombard. 2016. Indications of Pressure Flaking More than 70 Thousand Years Ago at Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter. South African Archaeological Bulletin 71(203):53–59. http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=271406303572538;res=IELHSS

Journal Article

Coolidge, Frederick L, Miriam Noël Haidle, Marlize Lombard, and Thomas Wynn. 2016. Bridging Theory and Bow Hunting: Human Cognitive Evolution and Archaeology. Antiquity 90(349):219–28. http://www.journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0003598X15001398

Book/Book Chapter

Lombard, Marlize. 2016. Mountaineering or Ratcheting? Stone Age Hunting Weapons as Proxy for the Evolution of Human Technological, Behavioral and Cognitive Flexibility. Pp. 135–46 in The Nature of Culture. http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-94-017-7426-0_12

Journal Article

Schlebusch, Carina M., Helena Malströom, Torsten Günther, Per Sjödin, Alexandra Coutinho, Hanna Edlund, Arielle R. Munters, Mário Vicente, Maryna Steyn, Himla Soodyall, Marlize Lombard, Mattias Jakobsson. 2017. Southern African ancient genomes estimate modern human divergence to 350,000 to 260,000 years ago. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao6266

Journal Article

Lombard, Marlize and Peter Gärdenfors. 2017. Tracking the evolution of causal cognition in humans. Journal of Anthropological Sciences, 95, 219–234. https://doi.org/10.4436/jass.95006

Journal Article

Riede, Felix, Niels N. Johannsen, Anders Högberg, April Nowell and Lombard, Marlize. 2018. The role of play objects and object play in human cognitive evolution and innovation. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 27(1), 46–59. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21555

Journal Article

Lombard, Marlize and Anders Högberg. 2018. The Still Bay points of Apollo 11 Rock Shelter, Namibia: an inter-regional perspective. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 53(3), 312–340. https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2018.1513240

Journal Article

Gärdenfors, Peter and Marlize Lombard. 2018. Causal Cognition, Force Dynamics and Early Hunting Technologies. Frontiers in Psychology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00087

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Is any information on this page incorrect or outdated? Please notify Ms. Nel-Mari Loock at [email protected].