Sedimentation, re-sedimentation and chronologies in archaeologically-important caves: problems and prospects

Excavations in the photic zones of caves have provided cornerstone archaeological sequences in many parts of the world. Before the appearance of modern dating techniques, cave deposits provided clear evidence for the antiquity, relative ages and co-occurrence of ancient human remains, material culture and fauna. Earlier generations of archaeologists had generally rather limited understanding of taphonomic and depositional processes, but the twentieth century saw considerable improvement in excavation and analytical techniques. The advent of modern dating and chronological methodologies offers very powerful tools for the analysis of cave fill deposits and this has resulted in the recognition of chronological incoherence in parts of some sites, with consequent re-evaluation of previous archaeological disputes. Obtaining multiple dates per context provides a means to assess the integrity and coherence of the archaeological and environmental records from cave fills. In the case of the Haua Fteah (Libya), this technique allowed the recognition of chronological coherence in low-energy depositional environments and limited recycling in high-energy contexts. We provide a conceptual model of the relationship between recycling, sedimentation rate and process energy. High-resolution investigation enables recognition of the complexity of the formation of cave sequences, thus an increasingly sophisticated understanding of human behaviour and environmental relationships in the past, and potentially gives a new life to old data

Sedimentation, re-sedimentation and chronologies in archaeologically-important caves: problems and prospects

Excavations in the photic zones of caves have provided cornerstone archaeological sequences in many parts of the world. Before the appearance of modern dating techniques, cave deposits provided clear evidence for the antiquity, relative ages and co-occurrence of ancient human remains, material culture and fauna. Earlier generations of archaeologists had generally rather limited understanding of taphonomic and depositional processes, but the twentieth century saw considerable improvement in excavation and analytical techniques. The advent of modern dating and chronological methodologies offers very powerful tools for the analysis of cave fill deposits and this has resulted in the recognition of chronological incoherence in parts of some sites, with consequent re-evaluation of previous archaeological disputes. Obtaining multiple dates per context provides a means to assess the integrity and coherence of the archaeological and environmental records from cave fills. In the case of the Haua Fteah (Libya), this technique allowed the recognition of chronological coherence in low-energy depositional environments and limited recycling in high-energy contexts. We provide a conceptual model of the relationship between recycling, sedimentation rate and process energy. High-resolution investigation enables recognition of the complexity of the formation of cave sequences, thus an increasingly sophisticated understanding of human behaviour and environmental relationships in the past, and potentially gives a new life to old data

Drivers of social cognitive development in human and non-human primate infants

From prosocial behavior to cultural learning and belief understanding, social cognitive skills are important for engagement in social interactions and learning from others. In this chapter, we review some probable foundational skills of social cognitive development in human and non-human primate (NHP) infants. We selectively discuss capacities that are early-emerging and shared across species, with the goal of illustrating the value of a comparative developmental approach in advancing our understanding of early social cognitive development. In particular, this chapter focuses on exploring the role that a comparative developmental approach may play in identifying foundational social cognitive abilities and the drivers of these early-emerging skills in human infants

Neonatal imitation and its sensorimotor mechanism

In the present chapter, we propose that aspects of early social development—sensorimotor matching skills, social motivation, and temperament—may explain variability in neonatal imitation. We suggest that the presence of an action-perception mechanism at birth can be better understood by taking into account the complex interactions occurring during development between infants' social competences, in part a cause and consequence of their sensorimotor skills, and the effects of different experiences and environmental inputs on individual differences already present from birth (e.g., social interest temperament). We also present some findings and propose future directions aimed at testing these possibilities by examining individual differences related to imitative skill

Sensitivity to first-order relations of facial elements in infant rhesus macaques: first-order relations of facial elements in infant macaques

Faces are visually attractive to both human and nonhuman primates. Human neonates are thought to have a broad template for faces at birth and prefer face-like to non-face-like stimuli. To better compare developmental trajectories of face processing phylogenetically, here we investigated preferences for face-like stimuli in infant rhesus macaques using photographs of real faces. We presented infant macaques aged 15–25days with human, macaque, and abstract faces with both normal and linear arrangements of facial features, and measured infants’ gaze durations, number of fixations, and latency to look to each face using eye-tracking technology. There was an overall preference for normal over linear facial arrangements for abstract and monkey faces, but not human faces. Moreover, infant macaques looked less at monkey faces than at abstract or human faces. These results suggest that species and facial configurations affect face processing in infant macaques, and we discuss potential explanations for these findings. Further, carefully controlled studies are required to ascertain whether infant macaques’ face template can be considered as broad as human infants’ face template