« » »Description:This book is the archaeologists’ response to Merlin Donald’s 1991 book, « »Origins of the Modern Mind: Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture and Cognition. » » Donald’s book established a developmental framework for understanding modern human cognition. The final stage, in particular, is of interest to archaeologists. It is this stage, the development of « »External Symbolic Storage, » » which is the focus of the volume edited by Renfrew and Scarre. A chapter by Donald abstracts the ideas from the 1991 book, and expands on them, so a reading of the earlier book is not necessary to appreciate the ideas in this volume (though I would recommend the 1991 book, which is a very interesting read). The other chapters present archaeological examples of « »external symbolic storage, » » ranging from cave art to Chinese burial practices. Archaeologists with an interest in symbols, information storage and retrieval, or memory, will find this book useful and thought-provoking. » » »
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"""Description:This book is the archaeologists' response to Merlin Donald's 1991...