Behavioral Modernity and the Cultural Transmission of Structured Information: The Semantic Axelrod Model

Cultural transmission models are coming to the fore in explaining increases in the Paleolithic toolkit richness and diversity. During the later Paleolithic, technologies increase not only in terms of diversity but also in their complexity and interdependence. As Mesoudi and O'Brien (2008) have shown, selection broadly favors social learning of information that is hierarchical and structured, and multiple studies have demonstrated that teaching within a social learning environment can increase fitness. We believe that teaching also provides the scaffolding for transmission of more complex cultural traits. Here, we introduce an extension of the Axelrod (1997} model of cultural differentiation in which traits have prerequisite relationships, and where social learning is dependent upon the ordering of those prerequisites. We examine the resulting structure of cultural repertoires as learning environments range from largely unstructured imitation, to structured teaching of necessary prerequisites, and we find that in combination with individual learning and innovation, high probabilities of teaching prerequisites leads to richer cultural repertoires. Our results point to ways in which we can build more comprehensive explanations of the archaeological record of the Paleolithic as well as other cases of technological change.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures. Submitted to "Learning Strategies and Cultural Evolution during the Paleolithic", edited by Kenichi Aoki and Alex Mesoudi, and presented at the 79th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Austin TX. Revised 5/14/1

Lithic technology of Neolithic Syria A series of analyses of flaked stone assemblages from Douara Cave II, Tell Damishilyya, Tell Nebi Mend, and Tell Kashkashok II

In 2 vols.SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DX192921 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Neanderthal infant burial from the Dederiyeh cave in Syria.

A well-preserved Neanderthal infant burial was found in 1993 in the Dederiyeh Cave, Syria. The remains of this infant, about two years old, were located in the Mousterian deposit. Its position on the back, with arms extended and legs flexed, indicated an intentional burial. The burial brings new data on the association between Neanderthals and a Tabun В type of industry as well as on the geographic distribution Neanderthals in the Levant.Une sépulture bien préservée d'un enfant Néandertal fut trouvée en 1993 dans la grotte de Dederyeh en Syrie. Les restes de cet enfant, environ deux ans d'âge, ont été dégagés dans les dépôts moustériens. La position du dos, les bras étendus et les jambes fléchies indiquent une sépulture intentionelle. Cette sépulture apporte de nouvelles données sur l'association entre les Néandertals et l'industrie de type Tabun В ainsi que sur la distribution des Néandertals au Levant.Akazawa Takeru, Muhesen S., Dodo Yukio, Kondo Osamu, Mizoguchi Yuji, Abe Yoshito, Nishiaki Yoshihiro A., Ohta Shoji, Oguchi Takashi, Haydal Jamal. Neanderthal infant burial from the Dederiyeh cave in Syria.. In: Paléorient, 1995, vol. 21, n°2. pp. 77-86

Bidirectional blade technology on naviform cores from northern Arabia: New evidence of Arabian‐Levantine interactions in the Neolithic

International audienc