Proponents of the model known as the “human revolution” claim that modern human
behaviors arose suddenly, and nearly simultaneously, throughout the Old World ca. 40 …

Few topics in palaeoanthropology have generated more recent debate than the nature and
causes of the remarkable transformation in human behavioral patterns that marked the …

The social anthropology of death 21 Cross-cultural generalizations and the New
Archaeology's search for middle range theory 27 Funerary practices: agency, power and …

Humans are unique in that they expend considerable effort and ingenuity in disposing of the
dead. Some of the recognisable ways we do this are visible in the Palaeolithic archaeology …

Although aquatic resources are often seen as central to the development of post-Pleistocene
cultural complexity, most models of human evolution have all but ignored the role of aquatic …

Technology is not only the material means of making artifacts, but a dynamic cultural
phenomenon embedded in social action, worldviews, and social reproduction. This paper …

This major new textbook explores the relations between gender and archaeology, providing
an innovative and important account of how material culture is used in the construction of …

Here we report on newly identified beads recovered from four Middle Stone Age levels at
Blombos Cave and, in particular, on a cluster of 24 perforated Nassarius kraussianus shells …

Projectile weaponry is a human cultural universal, but its origins and antiquity remain poorly
understood. Stone-and bone-tipped projectile weapons have long been treated as emergent …

Abstract Design theory provides a useful means for analyzing both practical and prestige
technologies, although the goals and constraints of each are very different. The aggrandizer …