Abstract:
The Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition (ca. 40,000 years BP) and the following Upper Paleolithic period witnessed a
major leap in human creativity. In this period we see far more objets d’art, more complex tool-kits, and evidence for an increase in
human capacity for ritual and belief compared to previous stages in human evolution. In correlation with the aforementioned progress
perhaps the most significant development in biological history of humankind is the prevalence of a new species of Homo, i.e., Homo
sapiens sapiens, aka Behaviorally Modern Human. In this paper it has been attempted to discuss the underlying cognitive abilities for
the development of creativity in Homo sapiens sapiens by using archaeological finds left behind from latter change as well as finds
indirectly pertaining to developments such as ritual and burial rites, artistic exprssions, abstract reasoning, and ultimately an apparently
coherent and structured language, As conclusion, we will explore the ramifications of these novelties in what it means to be human.
Machine summary:
In this paper it has been attempted to discuss the underlying cognitive abilities for the development of creativity in Homo sapiens sapiens by using archaeological finds left behind from latter change as well as finds indirectly pertaining to developments such as ritual and burial rites, artistic exprssions, abstract reasoning, and ultimately an apparently coherent and structured language, As conclusion, we will explore the ramifications of these novelties in what it means to be human Abstract: .
In the Upper Paleolithic period we see far more objets d'art, more complex tool-kits, and evidence for an increase in the capacity for ritual and belief compared to previous stages in human evolution (Klein & Edger 2002).
Though it is still uncertain how much ritual factored into the lives of BMHs in the Upper Paleolithic period, it is evident by their remaining material culture that the capacity for such abstract thought and imagining of possibilities was indeed present and fairly abundant.
In this section we will discuss the archaeological evidence for creativity, including tools and object d'art within the context of the changing cultural scene of the Upper Paleolithic.
Such strides in rituals, art, and tool-making indicate the development of creativity in BMHs throughout the Upper Paleolithic.
This section will highlight three main cognitive abilities necessary for BMHs make the immense strides in tool-making, art, and ritual seen in the Upper Paleolithic: abstract reasoning, learning, and recursion.