Cognitive Evolution

The emergence of modern cognition has been fundamental in separating early humans from our primate predecessors but archaeology and anthropology has provided diverse arguments the precise moment this came to be. There have been separate claims that the modern mind could have come to be when early humans created the first stone tools, the first personal ornamentation or the first artworks. In a deeper analysis it become clearer that the first complex thought came about not from any of those single events but rather a combination of the first two scenarios mentioned as the third scenario supports the claim. The human spark cannot be identified by the development of technology alone but rather by the gradual change that occurs between the innovations of stone tools and personal ornamentation known as the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Period.

There is robust evidence provided into conservative and tradition belief that complex cognition began as a result of the ability of knapping stone into tools. The field of psychology has proven that it requires complex motor skills to knap stones into flints and sharp stones that were associated with Oldowan and Acheulean Traditions during a pilot study on positron emission tomography (PET). (Wynn 2002, Pg. 391) This is because the application of bilateral, three dimensional, rotational and broken symmetry all aspects which required planning beforehand and a firm understanding of the natural world and its minerals. (Wynn 2002, Pg. 395) collaboration with anthropological approaches reveals that these skills could only be replicated in bonobos after provided with direct stimuli, restriction on other methods of production and the absence of intended symmetry. (Wynn 392) Tools are fundamental to hu...

... middle of paper ...

...ics like totemism and anthropomorphism present to society. (Mithen 164)

My definition of modern cognition is the ability to apply physical motor skills to create products that contain significant value not in terms of material work but alternative purposes as it is these skills that have allowed early humans to effectively communicate ideas and innovate beyond the natural capabilities of animals and this is well portrayed by the hybrid form of development undertaken by early humans during the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Period through the physical form of stone tools and then socially through personal ornamentation which presented the ability to create complex meanings of representation into the physical world. This fusion between these two fields prospered into a burst of innovation demonstrated in art and later into a renaissance called the Neolithic Period.