Handbook of Cognitive Archaeology: Psychology in Prehistory

The remains that archaeologists uncover reveal ancient minds at work as much as ancient hands, and for decades many have sought a better way of understanding those minds. This understanding is at the forefront of cognitive archaeology, a discipline that believes that a greater application of psychological theory to archaeology will further our understanding of the evolution of the human mind. Bringing together a diverse range of experts including archaeologists, psychologists, anthropologists, biologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, historians, and philosophers, in one comprehensive volume, this accessible and illuminating book is an important resource for students and researchers exploring how the application of cognitive archaeology can significantly and meaningfully deepen their knowledge of early and ancient humans. This seminal volume opens the field of cognitive archaeology to scholars across the behavioral sciences.

Table of Contents:
Foreword I Trevor Watkins Foreword II Valerie E. Stone Part One 1. Introduction: What would Wundt think? Edward P. Kardas & Tracy B. Henley 2. Before, After, and Alongside the Excavation: How to Think About the Evolution and History of Physiology and Development Melvin Konner 3. Life History Evolution in Hominins Jon Oxford & David C. Geary 4. Evolution of Hormonal Mechanisms for Human Family Relationships Heather Habecker & Mark V. Flinn 5. The Evolution and Development of Morality Dennis L. Krebs 6. In Search of Baselines: Why Psychology Needs Cognitive Archaeology Darcia Narvaez 7. Play: A Neglected Factor in Ritual, Religion, and Human Evolution Gordon M. Burghardt Part Two 8. The Origins of Generativity Michael C. Corballis 9. Three stages in the Evolution of the Human Cognition: Normativity, Recursion, and Abstraction Ceri Shipton 10. The Evolution of Learning and Memory in Humans: Comparative Perspectives on Testing Adaptive Hypotheses Mark A. Krause & Crickette Sanz 11. Reconfiguring Natural Semantic Metalanguage for a Deep Cognitive Archaeology Horacio Fabrega, Jr. 12. Exploring the Psychological Basis for Transitions in the Archaeological Record Liane Gabora & Cameron M. Smith 13. The Cognitive Mechanisms Deriving from the Acheulean Handaxe that give rise to Symmetry, Form, and Pattern Perception Derek Hodgson 14. The Role of Expert Technical Cognition in Human Evolution Thomas Wynn & Frederick L. Coolidge Part Three 15. Key Cognitive Preconditions for the Evolution of Language Merlin Donald 16. The Human Social Mind and the Inextricability of Science and Religion Mark Nielsen 17. Markers of ‘Psycho-Cultural’ Change: The early Neolithic Monuments of Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey Oliver Dietrich, Jens Notroff, Sebastian Walter, & Laura Dietrich 18. How Ritual Made us Human Matt J. Rossano 19. The Role of Egalitarianism and Gender Ritual in the Evolution of Symbolic Cognition Camilla Power 20. Norms and Their Evolution Kim Sterelny 21. Power, Play, and Interplay: The Psychology of Prehistoric Sexuality Timothy Taylor Part Four 22. Domestic Fire, Domestic Selves: How Keeping Fire Facilitated the Evolution of Emotions and Emotion Regulation Terrence Twomey 23. Psychology in Archaeology: The Secret Society Case Brian Hayden 24. The Archaeology of Madness David S. Whitley 25. The Prehistory of Psychoactive Substance Use Edward H. Hagen & Shannon Tushingham 26. The Lure of Death: Suicide and Human Evolution Nicholas Humphrey 27. From Corpse to Symbol: Proposed Cognitive Grades over the Long-term Evolution of Hominin Mortuary Activity Paul Pettitt 28. Afterword: Psychology and Archaeology – The Past’s Long Reach Matt J. Rossano, Tracy B. Henley, & Edward P. Kardas

About the Author :
Tracy B. Henley is Professor and Head of Psychology at Texas A & M University–Commerce, USA. He works primarily on historical matters, social cognition, and psycholinguistics. He has several previous books related to the history of psychology. Matt J. Rossano is Professor of Psychology at Southeastern Louisiana University, USA, where he studies the evolution of ritual, religion, and cooperation. His books include: Supernatural Selection: How Religion Evolved and Mortal Rituals. Edward P. Kardas is Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Director of the Honors College at Southern Arkansas University, USA, where he has taught since 1980. He is the author of books on the Internet, research methods, and the history of psychology.

Review :
"It is perhaps the strongest point of this volume that both authors and editors are conscious about the complexity and challenges that the study of Cognitive Archaeology involves. Instead of trying to mask these and give solutions that fit them all, or present this book as the definitive manual for a Cognitive Archaeology methodological approach, they discuss a wide variety of cognitive mechanisms and evolutionary and historical periods. From investigations based on, among others, primate behaviour, ethnography and even psychopathology, Handbook of Cognitive Archaeology involves research spanning from remote pre-Homo times to the first civilizations and modern hunter-gatherers societies. Overall, editors Henley, Rossano and Kardas indeed fulfil their objective, producing a brilliant example on what the much-needed cross-collaboration among academic disciplines can bring to research on human cognition and its evolutionary history." —Carmen Martin-Ramos, Institute of Archaeology, University College London and Earth Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, London, UK See full review, published in the Archeological Review from Cambridge at https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.71842