Homo Symbolicus -- Title page -- LCC data -- Table of contents -- Editors' introduction -- Acknowledgements -- 1 . Pan Symbolicus -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Communication does not equal language -- 3. Language does not equal speech -- 4. Symbol-use does not equal language -- 5. Non-human language does not equal human language -- 6. Pan symbolicus -- References -- 2. The evolution and the rise of human language -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Biological humanness -- 3. Ape language and ape culture -- 4. Maternal infant carriage and interaction as substrate of human agency -- 5. Self-agency and the duality of consciousness -- 6. Conclusion -- References -- 3. The origin of symbolically mediated behaviour -- 1. Introduction -- 2. First instances of symbolic material culture and their implications -- 3. Demography as a triggering factor? -- 4. Climate as a triggering factor -- 5. Discussion -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 4. Middle Stone Age engravings and their significance to the debate on the emergence of symbolic material culture -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Howiesons Poort techno-tradition -- 2.1 Diepkloof Rock Shelter -- 2.1.1 Archaeological context and dating -- 3. Diepkloof engraved ostrich eggshells -- 4. Still Bay techno-tradition -- 4.1 Blombos Cave -- 4.1.1 Archaeological context and dating -- 5. Blombos engraved ochre -- 6. Contrasting the significance of early engravings -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 5. Complex cognition required for compound adhesive manufacture in the Middle Stone Age implies symbolic capacity -- 1. Introduction -- 2. What is complex cognition? -- 3. What gave rise to complex cognition? -- 4. The archaeological evidence -- 5. Replicated compound adhesive manufacture: Methods -- 6. Compound adhesive manufacture as a proxy for modern cognition -- Reference -- 6. The emergence of language, art and symbolic thinking.

1. Introduction -- 2. Neandertal-ness -- 3. Paradigm lost -- 4. Paradigm found -- 5. Conclusion -- References -- 7. The human major transition in relation to symbolic behaviour, including language, imagination, and spirituality -- 1. What is a major evolutionary transition? -- 2. Human evolution as a major transition -- 3. Cognitive teamwork and simple forms that preceded more advanced forms -- 4. Language, imagination, and spirituality -- 5. Testable predictions -- References -- 8. The living as symbols, the dead as symbols -- 1. Introduction: Living symbols, dead symbols -- 2. Problematising the archaeological debate: Symbolic revolutions that were or were not -- 3. Material culture symbols among the living -- 4. The dead as symbols -- 5. The evolution of Homo symbolicus: Gradual, abrupt, or fragmentary? -- 6. Conclusion -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 9. Biology and mechanisms related to the dawn of language -- 1. The Functional and Structural Context -- 2. The Nature of Language: Crucial Features -- 2.1 An embodied symbolic system -- 2.2 Equivalence class of representations and embodiment -- 2.3 Key features of language -- 3. Hierarchical Structuring -- 3.1 Functional structure -- 3.2 Bottom-up and top-down causation -- 4. Language Modules and the Development of Language -- 4.1 Evolutionary development -- 4.2 Language modules. -- 5. Patterns and Symbols: Vision and Music -- 5.1 Pattern Recognition and classification. -- 5.2 Visual thinking. -- 5.3 Grammatical forms and music. -- 6. The Importance of Emotions in this Development -- 6.1 The motivational impulse for language use. -- 6.2 The basis in developmental biology and evolution. -- 7. Key Steps towards Language -- 7.1 Changes in Physiology -- 7.2 Changes in the Social and Ecological context -- 7.3 Emotional development: The nature of play, other minds -- References.

10. The Other Middle-Range Theories -- 1. Introduction -- 2. A research agenda for the next two centuries -- 3. What middle-range theories for non-archaeologists? -- 4. Current middle-range theories -- 5. What's wrong with current theories ? -- 6. From mental phenomena to mental mechanisms -- 7. Toward palaeocognitive neurosciences -- 7.1 Human and nonhuman primate comparative neuroscience -- 7.2 Developmental neuroscience -- 7.3 Palaeoneurology -- 8. Conclusion and caveats -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 11. Metarepresentation, Homo religious, and Homo symbolicus -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Metarepresentation and religious evolution -- 3. The Standard View -- 4. The Adaptation Hypothesis -- 5. Possible but improbable -- 6. The Pre-human Religion Hypothesis -- 7. The Concurrence Hypothesis -- 8. Anthropomorphism, agency detection, and gods -- 9. Intuitive dualism and spirits -- 10. Naïve creationism and intuitive theism -- 11. Metarepresentation and Homo religiosus -- 12. Metarepresentation and cumulative culture -- 13. Metarepresentation and Homo symbolicus -- 14. On evidence for the evolution of metarepresentation, Homo religious and Homo symbolicus -- 15. Conclusion -- References -- Index.