Digging for the human mind: cognitive archaeology and the origins of science, art and religion

Understanding the nature of the human mind is one of the greatest challenges faced by science, and one which requires the participation of many disciplines. During the last decade there have been strong arguments that an evolutionary perspective on the mind is required Ñ just like any other species humans are the products of biological evolution and this will have moulded the way we think as much as the way we walk and talk. Some evolutionary psychologists go so far as to argue that the way we think remains largely conditioned by the lifestyle of our prehistoric hunter-gatherer ancestors. While there is both logic and substantial evidence for this claim, it fails to account for many of the activities of modern humans which have no evolutionary precedent or even the faintest trace in our closest living relative, the great apes. Notably among these are the pursuit of pure science, art and religion Ñ activities that appear to lack any functional value. In my paper I will suggest how these can indeed be accounted for from an evolutionary perspective by examining the details of the archaeological record and examining the mental architecture of Neanderthals and other human ancestors and relatives.