The Archaeology of Teaching and the Evolution ofHomo docens

Abstract

Teaching is present in all human societies, while within other species it is very limited. Something happened during the evolution of Homo sapiens that also made us Homo docens-the teaching animal. Based on discussions of animal and hominin learning, we analyze the evolution of intentional teaching by a series of levels that require increasing capacities of mind reading and communication on the part of the teacher and the learner. The levels of teaching are (1) intentional evaluative feedback, (2) drawing attention, (3) demonstrating, (4) communicating concepts, and (5) explaining relations between concepts. We suggest that level after level has been added during the evolution of teaching. We demonstrate how different technologies depend on increasing sophistication in the levels of cognition and communication required for teaching them. As regards the archaeological evidence for the different levels, we argue that stable transmission of the Oldowan technology requires at least teaching by demonstration and that learning the late Acheulean hand-axe technology requires at least communicating concepts. We conclude that H. docens preceded H. sapiens.

Evolutionary neuroscience of cumulative culture

“…Nevertheless intentional demonstration and linguistic instruction are clearly helpful (27), and such teaching did eventually become a vital part of human technological reproduction (53). Archaeological evidence cannot demonstrate that a particular form of teaching was essential at a given point in prehistory but does document transmission of quite complex and demanding techniques by Late Acheulean times (41), some of which modern humans find difficult to convey without explicit verbal instruction (40,97).…”

Demonstration and Pantomime in the Evolution of Teaching

“…Gärdenfors and Högberg (2017) analyze the requirements concerning mindreading (theory of mind) for each of the five levels. As one goes up the levels, the requirements on communication capacities also increase.…”

“…A partial answer to this question is proposed by Gärdenfors and Högberg (2017), who argue that already the transmission of how to manufacture Oldowan tools requires demonstration. If this argument is correct, demonstration has been used by hominins for at least 2.5 million years.…”

How the evolution of teaching may help understanding the evolution of language

“…Following Gärdenfors and Högberg (2017), I instead view the evolution of teaching as a series of stages that I argue can be matched to different stages in the evolution of communication. There are two main functions for pantomime: The primary is an invitation to copy -the teaching function.…”

“…Gärdenfors (2013) argues that symbolic language is necessary for the advanced forms of cooperation that have evolved along the hominin line. Teaching should, however, also be seen as a form of cooperation and the later stages in the model of Gärdenfors and Högberg (2017) require advanced forms of communication. I conclude that pantomime is necessary for the emergence of any of these forms.…”