Homo neanderthalensi s and the evolutionary origins of ritual in Homo sapiens

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Abstract

There is a large, if disparate, body of archaeological literature discussing specific instantiations of symbolic material culture and the possibility of ritual practices in Neanderthal populations. Despite this attention, however, no single synthesis exists that draws upon cognitive, psychological and cultural evolutionary theories of ritual. Here, we review the evidence for ritual-practice among now-extinct Homo neanderthalensis , as well as the necessary cognitive pre-conditions for such behaviour, in order to explore the evolution of ritual in Homo sapiens . We suggest that the currently available archaeological evidence indicates that Neanderthals may have used ‘ritualization’ to increase the successful transmission of technical knowledge across generations—providing an explanation for the technological stability of the Middle Palaeolithic and attesting to a survival strategy differing from near-contemporary H. sapiens .

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Ritual renaissance: new insights into the most human of behaviours’.

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Death among primates: a critical review of non‐human primate interactions towards their dead and dying

André Luiz Gonçalves, Susana Carvalho (2019)

For the past two centuries, non-human primates have been reported to inspect, protect, retrieve, carry or drag the dead bodies of their conspecifics and, for nearly the same amount of time, sparse scientific attention has been paid to such behaviours. Given that there exists a considerable gap in the fossil and archaeological record concerning how early hominins might have interacted with their dead, extant primates may provide valuable insight into how and in which contexts thanatological behaviours would have occurred. First, we outline a comprehensive history of comparative thanatology in non-human primates, from the earliest accounts to the present, uncovering the interpretations of previous researchers and their contributions to the field of primate thanatology. Many of the typical behavioural patterns towards the dead seen in the past are consistent with those observed today. Second, we review recent evidence of thanatological responses and organise it into distinct terminologies: direct interactions (physical contact with the corpse) and secondary interactions (guarding the corpse, vigils and visitations). Third, we provide a critical evaluation regarding the form and function of the behavioural and emotional aspects of these responses towards infants and adults, also comparing them with non-conspecifics. We suggest that thanatological interactions: promote a faster re-categorisation from living to dead, decrease costly vigilant/caregiving behaviours, are crucial to the management of grieving responses, update position in the group's hierarchy, and accelerate the formation of new social bonds. Fourth, we propose an integrated model of Life-Death Awareness, whereupon neural circuitry dedicated towards detecting life, i.e. the agency system (animate agency, intentional agency, mentalistic agency) works with a corresponding system that interacts with it on a decision-making level (animate/inanimate distinction, living/dead discrimination, death awareness). Theoretically, both systems are governed by specific cognitive mechanisms (perceptual categories, associative concepts and high-order reasoning, respectively). Fifth, we present an evolutionary timeline from rudimentary thanatological responses likely occurring in earlier non-human primates during the Eocene to the more elaborate mortuary practices attributed to genus Homo throughout the Pleistocene. Finally, we discuss the importance of detailed reports on primate thanatology and propose several empirical avenues to shed further light on this topic. This review expands and builds upon previous attempts to evaluate the body of knowledge on this subject, providing an integrative perspective and bringing together different fields of research to detail the evolutionary, sensory/cognitive, developmental and historical/archaeological aspects of primate thanatology. Considering all these findings and given their cognitive abilities, we argue that non-human primates are capable of an implicit awareness of death.

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The Paleolithic Societies of Europe

C Gamble, S. Gamble C., Gamble C. S. … (1999)

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The false dichotomy: a refutation of the Neandertal indistinguishability claim.

Thomas G. Wynn, Karenleigh Overmann, Frederick Coolidge (2016)

In the debate about the demise of the Neandertal, several scholars have claimed that humanity's nearest relatives were indistinguishable archaeologically, and thus behaviorally and cognitively, from contemporaneous Homo sapiens. They suggest that to hold otherwise is to characterize Neandertals as inferior to H. sapiens, a false dichotomy that excludes the possibility that the two human types simply differed in ways visible to natural selection, including their cognition. Support of the Neandertal indistinguishability claim requires ignoring the cranial differences between the two human types, which have implications for cognition and behavior. Further, support of the claim requires minimizing asymmetries in the quantity and degree of behavioral differences as attested by the archaeological record. The present paper reviews the evidence for cognitive and archaeological differences between the two human types in support of the excluded middle position.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Mark Nielsen: (View ORCID Profile)

Michelle C. Langley: (View ORCID Profile)

Rohan Kapitány: (View ORCID Profile)

Journal

Title: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Abbreviated Title: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

Publisher: The Royal Society

ISSN (Print): 0962-8436

ISSN (Electronic): 1471-2970

Publication date Created: August 17 2020

Publication date (Electronic): June 29 2020

Publication date (Print): August 17 2020

Volume: 375

Issue: 1805

Page: 20190424

Affiliations

[1 ]Early Cognitive Development Centre, School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

[2 ]Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, South Africa

[3 ]Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Mount Gravatt, Australia

[4 ]Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

[5 ]School of Psychology, Keele University, Keele, UK

[6 ]School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Article

DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0424

PubMed ID: 32594872

SO-VID: cc581372-852b-436c-9c95-5d416a515f7a

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https://royalsociety.org/-/media/journals/author/Licence-to-Publish-20062019-final.pdf

Homo neanderthalensi s and the evolutionary origins of ritual in Homo sapiens

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Most cited references 28

Death among primates: a critical review of non‐human primate interactions towards their dead and dying

The Paleolithic Societies of Europe

The false dichotomy: a refutation of the Neandertal indistinguishability claim.

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