Archaeology can provide two bodies of information relevant to the understanding of the evolution of human cognition -the timing of developments, and the evolutionary context of these developments. The challenge is methodological. Archaeology must document attributes that have direct implications for underlying cognitive mechanisms. One example of such a cognitive archaeology is found in spatial cognition. The archaeological record documents an evolutionary sequence that begins with ape-equivalent spatial abilities 2.5 million years ago and ends with the appearance of modern abilities in the still remote past of 400,000 years ago. The timing of these developments reveals two major episodes in the evolution in spatial ability, one, 1.5 million years ago and the other, one million years later. The two episodes of development in spatial cognition had very different evolutionary contexts. The first was associated with the shift to an open country adaptive niche that occurred early in the time range of Homo erectus. The second was associated with no clear adaptive shift, though it does appear to have coincided with the invasion of more hostile environments and the appearance of systematic hunting of large mammals. Neither, however, occurred in a context of modern hunting and gathering.thomas wynn is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. He was one of the first archaeologists to make explicit use of psychological concepts in the interpretation of the archaeological record, and has published extensively on the cognitive abilities of early hominids. Cognitive implications.In most respects the cognitive requirements of these early bifaces were the same as Wynn: Archaeology and cognitive evolution 394 BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES (2002) 25:3Figure 4. 1.4 million year-old handaxe from West Natron, Tanzania. The artifact has a "global" bilateral symmetry. The lateral edges mirror one another in quality of shape, but are not congruent.Abstract: Lack of symmetry of stone tools does not require that hominids making asymmetric tools are incapable of doing better. By analogy, differences between stone tools of early humans and modern technology arose without genetic change. A conservative assumption is that symmetry of stone artifacts may have arisen simply because symmetrical tools work better when used for striking and chopping rather than scraping.Abstract: Long before signs of staged toolmaking appeared, Homo erectus made symmetrical tools. The handaxe is a flattened tear-drop shape, but often with edges sharpened all around. Before we assign their obsession with symmetry to an aesthetic judgment, we must consider whether it is possible that the symmetry is simply very pragmatic for one particular use in the many suggested.Abstract: Handaxe morphology is thought to be the first example of the imposition of arbitrary form. Handaxes may thus inform researchers about shared mental templates and evolving cognitive abilities. However, many factors, not related to changes in cognition (e.g., mat...

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In 1989, Wynn and McGrew published an explicit comparison between Oldowan technology and what was then known of chimpanzee technology. They compared the range and variety of tools, adaptive role of tools, carrying distances, spatial cognition, manufacturing procedures, and modes of learning. They concluded that everything archeologists had reconstructed about the behavior of Oldowan hominins could be accommodated within the ape adaptive grade; that is, a paraphyletic group united by overall similarities in anatomy and, in this case, behavior. The only Oldowan activities that were almost unknown for modern apes were the long-distance transport of objects and direct competition with carnivores, which was implied by meat acquisition activities. "In its general features Oldowan culture was ape, not human. Nowhere in this picture need we posit elements such as language, extensive sharing, division of labor, or pair-bonded families, all of which are part of the baggage carried by the term human."