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The Nature of Culture pp 135–146Cite as

Mountaineering or Ratcheting? Stone Age Hunting Weapons as Proxy for the Evolution of Human Technological, Behavioral and Cognitive Flexibility

Part of the Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology book series (VERT)

Abstract

Cultural, behavioral and cognitive evolution is often seen as cumulative and sometimes referred to in terms of a ratchet or the ratchet effect . In this contribution, I assess the value of the ratchet analogy as blanket explanation for the above aspects of human evolution . I use Stone Age weapon technologies as proxy for the evolution of human technological, behavioral and cognitive flexibility , and by doing so show that the ratchet analogy falls short of explaining human variability and complexity as reflected in the Stone Age archaeological record. Considering human cultural, behavioral and cognitive evolution from a theoretically constructed rugged landscape point of view, I suggest that mountaineering may be a more suitable analogy for the accumulation of human culture. In this scenario, culture and technology anchor societies within their respective evolutionary trajectories and fitness landscapes , and it more accurately reflects humans as ‘masters of flexibility’.

Keywords

  • Projectile technology
  • Bow-and-arrow
  • Spear
  • Spearthrower-and-dart
  • Cumulative culture
  • Cognition
  • Fitness landscapes

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Acknowledgments

I thank the ROCEEH group for the invitation and funding to participate in this discussion, and colleagues and friends who took the time to comment on the draft manuscript. My research is funded by the African Origins Platform of the National Research Foundation of South Africa. Opinions and mistakes remain my own.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology and Development Studies, University of Johannesburg, PO Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa

    Marlize Lombard

  2. Wallenberg Research Centre, Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), Stellenbosch University, Marais Street, Stellenbosch, 7600, South Africa

    Marlize Lombard

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  1. Marlize Lombard
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Correspondence to Marlize Lombard .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany

    Miriam N. Haidle

  2. Department of Early Prehistory and Quate, Institute of Pre- and Protohistory and M, Tübingen, Germany

    Nicholas J. Conard

  3. Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Human, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Michael Bolus

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Lombard, M. (2016). Mountaineering or Ratcheting? Stone Age Hunting Weapons as Proxy for the Evolution of Human Technological, Behavioral and Cognitive Flexibility. In: Haidle, M., Conard, N., Bolus, M. (eds) The Nature of Culture. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7426-0_12

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