The role of working memory in the evolution of managed foraging

Thomas Wynn
Department of Anthropology
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80933-7150, USA
twynn@uccs.edu

Frederick L Coolidge
Department of Psychology
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80933-7150, USA
fcoolidg@uccs.edu

Keywords: Working memory, managed foraging, Upper Palaeolithic, human evolution

Abstract

This article proposes that a relatively simple evolutionary development in human cognition enabled the development of managed foraging systems and, ultimately, agriculture. This development, an increase in the capacity of working memory, resulted in an enhancement of such specific cognitive abilities as response inhibition, response preparation, resistance to interference, and the ability to integrate action across space and time. All are required for modern managed foraging systems, including hunting and gathering and agriculture. Archaeological evidence provides strong evidence for managed foraging by the middle of the European Upper Palaeolithic and South African Later Stone Age, and independent evidence for enhanced working memory capacity slightly earlier. This fits the hypothesis that enhanced working memory capacity was a relatively recent development in human evolution, and one that enabled not just managed foraging, but perhaps modern culture itself.

ref: 2003/2 (2)

Hunter-gatherers of the Last Ice Age in northern Eurasia: recent research and old problems

Pavel M Dolukhanov
University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle NE1 7RU, UK
pavel.dolukhanov@ncl.ac.uk

Keywords: Northern Eurasia, hunter-gatherers, Palaeolithic, Last Ice Age, palaeoclimate

Abstract

The initial colonisation of northern Eurasia by anatomically modern humans occurred during the Last Ice Age, c 40,000 years before present (BP). The maximum influx of groups of hunter-gatherers stemming from the west coincided with the Last Glacial Maximum, 24,000-18,000 BP. The eastbound migration was caused by environmental stress and inbreeding avoidance.

ref: 2003/2 (3)

Tasting the forbidden fruit: gender based dietary differences among prehistoric hunter-gatherers of Eastern Europe

Malcolm Lillie
www.hull.ac.uk/wetlands
Wetland Archaeology & Environments Research Centre
Department of Geography, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX
m.c.lillie@hull.ac.uk

Keywords; Ukraine, Mesolithic, Neolithic, diet and isotopes

Abstract

This paper evaluates isotope ratios from a number of males and females from the cemeteries of the Dnieper Rapids region, Ukraine, and assesses the validity of assertions by researchers of both Ukrainian prehistory and of many European archaeologists, that males have preferential access to dietary protein sources, particularly meat, in earlier hunter-gatherer societies (Balakin & Nuzhinyi 1995).

Using evidence from the archaeological, faunal, anthropological and isotopic data, alongside a consideration of the anthropological literature, an attempt is made to generate a realistic and indeed, more holistic understanding of the Epipalaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic populations of this region.

Limitations in the skeletal database for earlier populations usually necessitate the integration of a wide range of parameters to ensure the generation of a realistic model for these societies. The extensive archaeological record associated with the populations under consideration enables such a study to be undertaken. In effect this research aims to highlight the fact that we are at a stage whereby, given a sufficiently robust archaeological record, a meaningful understanding of earlier Holocene populations can be generated.

The palaeopathological and isotopic studies undertaken to date suggest that these populations consumed varied diets, although with an apparent focus on fish proteins throughout the periods considered, and that in general health status was good from the Epipalaeolithic through to Neolithic periods.

ref: 2003/2 (4)

Rock-art as mapping

Yann P Montelle
Brown University, Box 6710, Providence, RI 02912, USA
yann_montelle@brown.edu

Keywords: Cognitive mapping, spatial semiotics, landscape, rock-art, imagery

Abstract

The aim of this article is to offer an alternative approach to rock-art as a tangible manifestation of the neurological and cultural processes involved in mapping. The author argues that the extant corpus of rock-art is a visible repository of a complex sequence of operations primarily concerned with signalling charted landscapes and territorial appropriation.

ref: 2003/2 (5)

Transformations - rock walls to canvas: representations of the totemic geography in Aboriginal Australia

Ken Mulvaney
Research Officer; Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority
GPO Box 1890, Darwin; NT 0801, Australia
ken.mulvaney@nt.gov.au

Keywords: Aboriginal art, contemporary, rock-art, sacred sites, Northern Australia

Abstract

Within Australian Aboriginal cultures there are strong connections in artistic traditions that are linked spatially to sacred places and stylistically to encoded meaning. Artistic traditions draw heavily on mythologies, place-based narratives and representational techniques embedded in indigenous religious knowledge. The wealth of ethnographic data shows that rock-art imagery can hold a multitude of layered meanings. However, one of the keys to comprehension is that the art is placed in the landscape, part of its meaning is encoded in its location. This can be seen in rock-art, with the portrayal of prominent Dreaming figures that are connected to broad cultural traditions and with the significance accorded specific places. Knowing the Dreaming traditions and sacred places allows an understanding of the images portrayed. In Aboriginal Australia, creation of art is controlled by cultural tenets, including kin affiliation and clan relationship to sites of sacred significance. However, within the corpus of recent non-rock-'art' production there has been a shift in the representational mode, primarily because modern acrylic art is removed from the landscape. Rather than depiction of the mythological narrative in place, by necessity the canvas and art-board become a plan or map. Acrylic art has to explain not only the Dreaming but also the country, whereas art in the rock shelters is linked directly to place. The way sacred information is presented shifts from a pictorial representation of mythological figures to a landscape within which mythology is encoded. The contemporary canvas art affords an alternate perspective of the totemic landscape. Focusing on the artists resident in the Kununurra area, Western Australia, this transformation is explored.

ref: 2003/2 (6)

Woman, man, land: an example from Arnhem Land, North Australia

Margaret Julia Grove
New College of California, 777 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA94110, USA
peggygrove@aol.com

Keywords: Sacred landscapes, cultural identity, creation, personhood

Abstract

This particular study of Australian Aborigines' religious beliefs explores the spiritual and geomorphic interaction between Ancestor Beings and the creation of land formations. Examples are abundant in mythology and rock-paintings of the clans who lived in the stone country of western Arnhem Land in northern Australia. This location flanks Cooper Lagoon near the sacred land formation called Awunbarna, also referred to as Mt Borradaile. The study concentrates on the recent infill tradition of rock-painting, between 2000 years ago to present, and the continuing tradition of oral transmission of belief systems as they pertain to the land. The polymorphous nature of Ancestor Beings in the Aboriginal belief system is vividly reflected in the mythology and iconography of the Aboriginal people across the vast Australian landscape. In Aboriginal oral tradition the original Ancestor Beings of the Aboriginal people created the first shapes in the landscape. In the area surrounding Awunbarna, human, insect, animal, snake and fish features are frequently painted in rock shelters. These rock-painted figures are either incorporated within human body shapes or painted along side, recalling mythological and ontological nuances found in the oral remembrances of these northern clans. What the Aboriginal artists display in their choice of representation shows the impact of strongly held perceptions toward their origin stories. Their (re)constructions of the landscape are contextualised in rituals and rock-paintings centred around these strongly held beliefs. The whole culture is infused with a sense of land-based oral history.

ref: 2003/2 (7)

Rock-art in the Tolmer sandstones, Northern Territory, Australia

RG Gunn
Aboriginal Sites Consultant, RMB 2008, Stawell VIC 3380, Australia
gunnb@netconnect.com.au

Keywords: Rock-art, regions, analysis, Umbrawarra, Australia

Abstract

Little has been reported of the rock-art in the area between Darwin and the Daly River, in the Northern Territory. Recent management surveys, however, have revealed that the northern end of the outcropping Tolmer Sandstone contains a small but significant corpus of rock-art. While having aspects in common with the adjacent areas of the Victoria/Upper Daly River region to the south-west and western Arnhem Land to the east, the differences are enough to indicate that the sites in the area constitute a distinct art region in their own right. Further, within this corpus there is a pattern of bichrome art occurring on the edge of the escarpments and adjacent to the resources of the nearby wetlands, and older looking red paintings in the interior of the range.

© Western Academic & Specialist Press Ltd 2003