Origins of human innovation and creativity Chapter 2. Creativity and complex society before the upper palaeolithic transition.
Origins of human innovation and creativity Chapter 2. Creativity and complex society before the upper palaeolithic transition.
The Palaeolithic is traditionally described as a static period when innovation and creativity were rare. Moreover, with the accent on accounting for modern behaviour this view has stressed the late appearance of novel artefacts in Africa and elsewhere. These beads, ochre and art-works fit well with a model of the mind that emphasises its rational character; a position that underpins current approaches to the transmission of culture. This contribution examines the implications for hominin creativity that adopts a distributed or relational model of cognition. I argue that hominin creativity was not necessarily confined to making new artefacts but instead directed to the opportunities for amplification afforded by the aesthetic properties of materials and the emotional content of the senses. The outcomes for the Palaeolithic are discussed using the framework of the social brain model and the intensification of social interaction
cultural transmission, modern humans, distributed cognition, social emotions, palaeolithic, hominin, aesthetics
15-21
Gamble, Clive
1cbd0b26-ddac-4dc2-9cf7-59c66d06103a
Elias, S.
d86110c2-2c85-4c50-aab3-1ca6ef975f6a
2012
Gamble, Clive
1cbd0b26-ddac-4dc2-9cf7-59c66d06103a
Elias, S.
d86110c2-2c85-4c50-aab3-1ca6ef975f6a
Gamble, Clive
,
Elias, S.
(ed.)
(2012)
Origins of human innovation and creativity Chapter 2. Creativity and complex society before the upper palaeolithic transition.
Developments in Quaternary Sciences, 16, .
(doi:10.1016/B978-0-444-53821-5.00002-6).
Abstract
The Palaeolithic is traditionally described as a static period when innovation and creativity were rare. Moreover, with the accent on accounting for modern behaviour this view has stressed the late appearance of novel artefacts in Africa and elsewhere. These beads, ochre and art-works fit well with a model of the mind that emphasises its rational character; a position that underpins current approaches to the transmission of culture. This contribution examines the implications for hominin creativity that adopts a distributed or relational model of cognition. I argue that hominin creativity was not necessarily confined to making new artefacts but instead directed to the opportunities for amplification afforded by the aesthetic properties of materials and the emotional content of the senses. The outcomes for the Palaeolithic are discussed using the framework of the social brain model and the intensification of social interaction
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Published date: 2012
Keywords:
cultural transmission, modern humans, distributed cognition, social emotions, palaeolithic, hominin, aesthetics
Organisations:
Archaeology
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Local EPrints ID: 346152
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/346152
ISSN: 1571-0866
PURE UUID: 8d951767-de2f-4717-a58d-2c97244e185d
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Date deposited: 14 Jan 2013 14:20
Last modified: 04 Jun 2025 01:44
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S. Elias
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