Creativity in Human Evolution and Prehistory

✍ Scribed by Steven Mithen

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 239
• Series: Theoretical Archaeology Group
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book examines how our understanding of human creativity can be extended by exploring this phenomenon during human evolution and prehistory.

✦ Table of Contents

Book Cover......Page 1
Half-Title......Page 2
Title......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
CONTENTS......Page 6
ILLUSTRATIONS......Page 11
CONTRIBUTORS......Page 13
UNDERSTANDING CREATIVITY......Page 14
ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES OF INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY......Page 17
CREATIVITY AND COGNITIVE ARCHAEOLOGY......Page 19
THIS VOLUME......Page 21
REFERENCES......Page 22
PART I PERSPECTIVES ON CREATIVITY......Page 25
CHAPTER TWO INTRODUCTION TO PART I......Page 26
THE DEFINITION OF CREATIVITY......Page 28
EXPLORING AND TRANSFORMING CONCEPTUAL SPACES......Page 30
THE RELEVANCE OF COMPUTATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY......Page 34
CONCEPTUAL SPACES IN THE VISUAL ARTS......Page 35
MODELLING MUSICAL CREATIVITY......Page 38
LITERARY SPACES......Page 40
ANALOGY......Page 41
TRANSFORMATION IN MODELS OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY......Page 46
GENETIC ALGORITHMS......Page 48
CAN CREATIVITY BE MEASURED?......Page 51
REFERENCES......Page 54
CHAPTER FOUR CREATIVE THOUGHT......Page 57
CREATIVITY AS A SOCIAL PROCESS......Page 58
CREATIVITY OVER THE LONG TERM......Page 59
CREATIVITY IN MATERIAL CULTURE......Page 63
RITUAL AS A MEDIUM FOR CREATIVE DEVELOPMENTS......Page 66
CONCLUSION......Page 67
REFERENCES......Page 68
CREATIVITY IN CONTEMPORARY INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES......Page 70
THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT OF CREATIVITY......Page 72
REPRESENTING COLONISATION IN A TRADITIONAL IDIOM......Page 73
TRADITIONAL ART IN CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIA......Page 74
THE EVIDENCE FROM ARCHAEOLOGY......Page 75
REFERENCES......Page 76
PART II THE EVOLUTION OF HUMAN CREATIVITY......Page 79
CHAPTER SIX INTRODUCTION TO PART II......Page 80
HUMAN EVOLUTION......Page 82
AUSTRALOPITHECINES AND EARLY HOMO......Page 83
THE NEANDERTHALS AND THE ORIGINS OF MODERN HUMANS......Page 86
REFERENCES......Page 89
CHAPTER SEVEN THE EARLY EVOLUTION OF CREATIVE THINKING......Page 93
EVALUATING EVIDENCE OF ANIMAL THINKING......Page 94
ANTICIPATING TOOL REQUIREMENTS......Page 96
PLANNING DECEPTION......Page 97
INTERCOMMUNITY VIOLENCE......Page 98
PREDATOR CONTROL......Page 99
EXPERIMENTAL DIAGNOSIS OF THOUGHT?......Page 100
REFERENCES......Page 101
EARLY HOMO......Page 104
INFERRING CREATIVITY......Page 105
MOVING BONES AND STONES: CREATIVITY IN RESOURCE ACQUISITION?......Page 107
REMOVING FLAKES: CREATIVITY IN STONE TOOL MANUFACTURE?......Page 110
REFERENCES......Page 114
CHAPTER NINE MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC ‘CREATIVITY’......Page 117
WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?......Page 118
WHAT CONSTITUTES EVIDENCE FOR CREATIVITY, OR FOR ITS ABSENCE?......Page 119
WHERE IS THE ABSENCE OF INNOVATION MOST OBVIOUS?......Page 120
WHAT MIGHT LEAD TO ACCELERATED RATES OF CHANGE?......Page 123
CONCLUSION......Page 127
REFERENCES......Page 128
CHAPTER TEN A CREATIVE EXPLOSION?......Page 133
CREATIVE THOUGHT AND THE EXPLORATION OF CONCEPTUAL SPACES......Page 136
THEORY OF MIND AND CREATIVE THOUGHT......Page 137
The evolution of ‘theory of mind’......Page 139
When did language evolve?......Page 140
Non-grammatical proto-language......Page 143
Language and a ‘community mind’......Page 144
Moterial culture as non-biological memory......Page 145
Material culture as a cognitive anchor......Page 146
Material culture and the disembodied mind......Page 147
CONCLUSION......Page 148
REFERENCES......Page 149
PART III CREATIVITY IN LATER PREHISTORIC EUROPE......Page 154
CHAPTER ELEVEN INTRODUCTION TO PART III......Page 155
REFERENCES......Page 159
INTRODUCTION: DEATH AND CREATIVITY......Page 161
LIFE IN THE MESOLITHIC......Page 162
DEATH IN THE MESOLITHIC......Page 163
DISCUSSION......Page 172
REFERENCES......Page 175
INTRODUCTION: DEFINING THE NEOLITHIC......Page 179
CREATIVE ARCHITECTURE......Page 180
IMPLICATIONS OF THE ARGUMENT......Page 188
REFERENCES......Page 189
MEASURING THE VALUE OF CREATIVITY......Page 190
MEDITERRANEAN CONDITIONS......Page 192
CYCLES OF DIMENSIONS OF ARTISTIC INVESTMENT AND CHANGING SOCIETY AND IDEOLOGY IN MALTA......Page 194
CONFORMISM IN MALTESE ART?......Page 199
LOCAL INDIVIDUALITY......Page 201
NOTE......Page 202
REFERENCES......Page 203
CHAPTER FIFTEEN ALL THE KING’S HORSES......Page 205
COGNITIVE MAPS......Page 206
FROM MAPPA TO EXTERIOR REPRESENTATION......Page 207
COGNITIVE CONSTELLATIONS......Page 208
Choice in burial......Page 209
THE HORSE IN EUROPEAN PREHISTORY......Page 210
THE HORSE AS A FOOD RESOURCE: EARLY ‘DOMESTICATION’......Page 211
CARTS BEFORE HORSES......Page 212
THE CHARIOT HORIZON......Page 215
THE HORSEMAN HORIZON......Page 218
Prestige: riding in state......Page 219
IMAGE AND REALITY......Page 220
REFERENCES......Page 222
INDEX......Page 225