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The Nature of Culture

Based on an Interdisciplinary Symposium ‘The Nature of Culture’, Tübingen, Germany

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  • © 2016

Overview

Editors:
  1. Miriam N. Haidle

    1. Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt, Germany

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  2. Nicholas J. Conard

    1. Department of Early Prehistory and Quate, Institute of Pre- and Protohistory and M, Tübingen, Germany

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  3. Michael Bolus

    1. Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Human, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

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  • Introduces a systemic-approach model for the expansion of cultural capacity with biological, historical, and individual elements
  • Provides a synthetic view of the different factors and mechanisms of cultural development and on expansions of cultural capacities in human evolution beyond the capacities observed in animal culture
  • Traces the different stages of the development of cultural capacity in humans through the archaeological record
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology (VERT)

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
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  2. The Nature of Culture: Research Goals and New Directions

    • Miriam N. Haidle, Nicholas J. Conard, Michael Bolus
    Pages 1-6

  3. Lessons from Tasmania – Cultural Performance Versus Cultural Capacity

    • Miriam N. Haidle
    Pages 7-17

  4. Culture as a Form of Nature

    • Volker Gerhardt
    Pages 19-25

  5. The Evolution of Hominin Culture and Its Ancient Pre-hominin Foundations

    • Andrew Whiten
    Pages 27-39

  6. Scarce but Significant: The Limestone Component of the Acheulean Site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel

    • Nira Alperson-Afil, Naama Goren-Inbar
    Pages 41-56

  7. Technological Transformations Imply Cultural Transformations and Complex Cognition

    • Lyn Wadley
    Pages 57-63

  8. Neanderthal Utilitarian Equipment and Group Identity: The Social Context of Bifacial Tool Manufacture and Use

    • Thorsten Uthmeier
    Pages 65-77

  9. Tracing Group Identity in Early Upper Paleolithic Stone and Organic Tools – Some Thoughts and Many Questions

    • Michael Bolus
    Pages 79-85

  10. Childhood, Play and the Evolution of Cultural Capacity in Neanderthals and Modern Humans

    • April Nowell
    Pages 87-97

  11. Stone Tools: Evidence of Something in Between Culture and Cumulative Culture?

    • Iain Davidson
    Pages 99-120

  12. The Island Test for Cumulative Culture in the Paleolithic

    • Claudio Tennie, David R. Braun, L. S. Premo, Shannon P. McPherron
    Pages 121-133

  13. Mountaineering or Ratcheting? Stone Age Hunting Weapons as Proxy for the Evolution of Human Technological, Behavioral and Cognitive Flexibility

    • Marlize Lombard
    Pages 135-146

  14. Back Matter

    Pages 147-151
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Keywords

About this book

This volume introduces a model of the expansion of cultural capacity as a systemic approach with biological, historical and individual dimensions. It is contrasted with existing approaches from primatology and behavioural ecology; influential factors like differences in life history and demography are discussed; and the different stages of the development of cultural capacity in human evolution are traced in the archaeological record.  

The volume provides a synthetic view on a) the different factors and mechanisms of cultural development, and b) expansions of cultural capacities in human evolution beyond the capacities observed in animal culture so far. It is an important topic because only a volume of contributions from different disciplines can yield the necessary breadth to discuss the complex subject. The model introduced and discussed originates in the naturalist context and tries to open the discussion to some culturalist aspects, thus the publication in a series with archaeological and biological emphasis is apt. As a new development the synthetic model of expansion of cultural capacity is introduced and discussed in a broad perspective. ​

Reviews

“This book is the result of an interdisciplinary symposium held in 2011 to explore the role that culture played in early human expansions. The editors of this volume present a mix of both primatological and archaeological discussion on cultural origins to answer the question of when and why hominins became dependent on technology. The primatological papers are very much fixated on common chimpanzees, but authors throughout the book recognize how widespread the evidence for culture is among mammals and birds. The archaeological papers range from the earliest Paleolithic to the Early Upper Paleolithic. The volume contains many beautiful and informative photos and other illustrations, and the book is also available in electronic format.” (Susan Cachel, Rutgers University)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt, Germany

    Miriam N. Haidle

  • Department of Early Prehistory and Quate, Institute of Pre- and Protohistory and M, Tübingen, Germany

    Nicholas J. Conard

  • Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Human, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Michael Bolus

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Nature of Culture

  • Book Subtitle: Based on an Interdisciplinary Symposium ‘The Nature of Culture’, Tübingen, Germany

  • Editors: Miriam N. Haidle, Nicholas J. Conard, Michael Bolus

  • Series Title: Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7426-0

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental Science, Earth and Environmental Science (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-94-017-7424-6Published: 29 January 2016

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-024-1346-5Published: 31 March 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-017-7426-0Published: 19 January 2016

  • Series ISSN: 1877-9077

  • Series E-ISSN: 1877-9085

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: X, 151

  • Number of Illustrations: 27 b/w illustrations, 11 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Paleontology, Archaeology, Anthropology, Evolutionary Biology

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