The last decade has witnessed a sophistication and proliferation in the number of studies focused on the evolution of human cognition, reflecting a renewed interest in the evolution of the human mind in anthropology and in many other disciplines such as cognitive ethnology and evolutionary psychology. The complexity and enormity of this topic is such that it requires the coordinated efforts of many researchers. This volume brings together the disciplines of palaeontology, psychology, anatomy, and primatology. Together they address a number of issues, including the evolution of sex differences...

In this book, Akkermans provides a systematic overview of the Halaf culture in the Syrian portion of the valley of the Balikh River, a tributary of the Euphrates. Following a broad exposition of the geography of the region, excavation results, definition of chronological periods within the Halaf, and patterns of site distributions, interpretive questions are explored. These include site types and the problems of determining site hierarchies, the nature of Halaf subsistence, and the role of exchange in the Halaf culture.

Serious interest in the evolution and dynamics of intermediate societies in their own right has grown by leaps and bounds during the past decade. The purpose of this volume is to suggest new ways to model the many stimuli and processes by which cultural complexity emerges, emphasizing major organizational changes, not the appearance and disappearance of specific traits. All contributors share the view that it is time to fundamentally reconsider a variety of ideas about the emergence of complex organization. Their chapters present data from a broad range of case studies, including the...

The 1990s witnessed a sophistication and proliferation in the number of studies focused on the evolution of human cognition, reflecting a renewed interest in the evolution of the human mind in anthropology and in many other disciplines such as cognitive ethnology and evolutionary psychology. The complexity and enormity of this topic is such that it requires the coordinated efforts of many researchers.

Eighteen papers on archaeology and tribal societies, derived from a Symposium held at the Annual Meetings of the Society for American Archaeology in Chicago, Illinois, 1999

In this book, Akkermans provides a systematic overview of the Halaf culture in the Syrian portion of the valley of the Balikh River, a tributary of the Euphrates. Following a broad exposition of the geography of the region, excavation results, definition of chronological periods within the Halaf, and patterns of site distributions, interpretive questions are explored. These include site types and the problems of determining site hierarchies, the nature of Halaf subsistence, and the role of exchange in the Halaf culture.

Since the inception of the New Archaeology in the 1960s anthropological archaeologists have been attempting to develop models that will let them better understand the evolution of human social organization. The vast majority of this research has focused specifically upon the development of so-called 'complex' societies, which frequently are characterized by institutionalized social inequality, craft specialization, and developed social hierarchy. Conversely, a good deal of research also has focused upon the variability exhibited by highly mobile hunting and gathering societies. Somewhere in...