Exploring Hominin Cognition via Palaeolithic Obsidian Provisioning, Transport, and Technology

Author(s): Ellery Frahm

Year: 2015

Summary

A central issue in palaeoanthropological research is understanding the cognitive and behavioral variability of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic hominins, including differences with respect to the modern humans who replaced them. Some scholars argue that these hominins had fundamentally different cognition and behavior than Homo sapiens, whereas others hold that their capabilities are essentially indistinguishable from those of modern humans. In obsidian-rich landscapes, artifact sourcing and lithic analysis can yield insights regarding hominin provisioning strategies, settlement patterns, and social interactions and, consequently, their cognitive abilities. Various data from Eurasia, including an apparent reliance on local cherts, have been interpreted as evidence for local, relatively "intimate" LP and MP societies, whereby hominins exploited small seasonal territories, slowly migrated through them, and maintained small social networks. In turn, the apparent scales of Neanderthal and modern human interactions have been incorporated into arguments regarding cognitive differences between them. For example, it has been proposed Neanderthals did not develop larger networks because they lacked the cognitive abilities to do so, and the larger-scale interactions envisioned for modern humans are frequently cited as a factor in the Neanderthals' demise. New obsidian research, however, has yielded data at odds with such ideas regarding Palaeolithic cognition and behavior.

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Cite this Record

Exploring Hominin Cognition via Palaeolithic Obsidian Provisioning, Transport, and Technology. Ellery Frahm. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 394990)

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Keywords

General
Cognition • obsidian sourcing • Palaeolithic

Geographic Keywords
West Asia

Spatial Coverage

min long: 25.225; min lat: 15.115 ; max long: 66.709; max lat: 45.583 ;