39 research outputs found
An experimental approach to understanding the âeolithicâ problem: cultural cognition and the perception of plausibly anthropic artifacts
The Eolithic controversy dominated debate about the earliest human tools between approximately 1880 and 1930, and raised acutely the difficulties of identifying stone that had been selected and modified for human or protohuman use. Similar issues in distinguishing artifacts from geofacts have persisted, making this more than a matter of arcane historical interest. This paper examines the thinking behind the claims made by British âeolithophilesâ by using approaches developed in the study of cultural cognition. We report on a series of experiments conducted on non-artifactual material derived from the classic Kentish eolith-bearing deposits, and on specimens labeled âeolithsâ in the Maidstone Museum.We demonstrate how the sorting behavior of research subjects provides evidence of âform selectionâ and perceptual pattern-recognition influenced by cultural experience, and how engaging interactively with the material indicates the importance of bodily actions in âthinking throughâ the functionality of objects