Chapter 5. Complex cognition required for compound adhesive manufacture in the Middle Stone Age implies symbolic capacity
-
Lyn Wadley
Abstract
Compound adhesives were made in the Middle Stone Age (MSA) of southern Africa using a complex process in order to attach stone tools to shafts. Glue-makers must switch attention between fire control, measuring ingredients, and assembling compound tools. No rehearsals or recipes guarantee success; artisans must multi-task (a characteristic of modern human minds involving cognitive fluidity) and think abstractly about properties of glue ingredients. Mental rotation, an ability implying advanced working memory capacity, is needed to place stone inserts in various positions to create novel weapons and tools. The manufacturing process is sufficiently intricate that the early artisans must have had minds with abilities that overlapped those of people living today; such minds are capable of symbolic thought and action.
Abstract
Compound adhesives were made in the Middle Stone Age (MSA) of southern Africa using a complex process in order to attach stone tools to shafts. Glue-makers must switch attention between fire control, measuring ingredients, and assembling compound tools. No rehearsals or recipes guarantee success; artisans must multi-task (a characteristic of modern human minds involving cognitive fluidity) and think abstractly about properties of glue ingredients. Mental rotation, an ability implying advanced working memory capacity, is needed to place stone inserts in various positions to create novel weapons and tools. The manufacturing process is sufficiently intricate that the early artisans must have had minds with abilities that overlapped those of people living today; such minds are capable of symbolic thought and action.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editors’ introduction vii
- Acknowledgements xi
- Chapter 1. Pan symbolicus 1
- Chapter 2. The evolution and the rise of human language 13
- Chapter 3. The origin of symbolically mediated behaviour 49
- Chapter 4. Middle Stone Age engravings and their significance to the debate on the emergence of symbolic material culture 75
- Chapter 5. Complex cognition required for compound adhesive manufacture in the Middle Stone Age implies symbolic capacity 97
- Chapter 6. The emergence of language, art and symbolic thinking 111
- Chapter 7. The human major transition in relation to symbolic behaviour, including language, imagination, and spirituality 133
- Chapter 8. The living as symbols, the dead as symbols 141
- Chapter 9. Biology and mechanisms related to the dawn of language 163
- Chapter 10. The other middle-range theories 185
- Chapter 11. Metarepresentation, Homo religiosus , and Homo symbolicus 205
- Index 225
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editors’ introduction vii
- Acknowledgements xi
- Chapter 1. Pan symbolicus 1
- Chapter 2. The evolution and the rise of human language 13
- Chapter 3. The origin of symbolically mediated behaviour 49
- Chapter 4. Middle Stone Age engravings and their significance to the debate on the emergence of symbolic material culture 75
- Chapter 5. Complex cognition required for compound adhesive manufacture in the Middle Stone Age implies symbolic capacity 97
- Chapter 6. The emergence of language, art and symbolic thinking 111
- Chapter 7. The human major transition in relation to symbolic behaviour, including language, imagination, and spirituality 133
- Chapter 8. The living as symbols, the dead as symbols 141
- Chapter 9. Biology and mechanisms related to the dawn of language 163
- Chapter 10. The other middle-range theories 185
- Chapter 11. Metarepresentation, Homo religiosus , and Homo symbolicus 205
- Index 225
