Dealing with measures: Archaeology, cognitive neuroscience and the evolutionary origin of numerical thinking

Abstract

The emergence of the cognitive use of numbers and numerical systems is still poorly explored in prehistoric archeology and cognitive science. A few studies have investigated the topic based on alternative hypotheses, namely that a symbolic numerical thought emerged in a relatively recent past and is mostly culturally based or, on the contrary, that it is a biologically grounded trait as shown by a long evolutionary history that humans share in part with other animals. We hypothesize that evolutionary biological mechanisms and cultural learning are interacting with each other within the hominin clade, building the cognitive bases of our numerical thinking through a complex process that has required a long time to develop. We analyze exemplary findings from a not-abundant but still significant archaeological record that conveys numerical information, and that can be attributed not only to Homosapiens but also to earlier hominin species, Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis. We aim to show that transitioning from “quantical” numerosity (also defined as “the number sense”: a perception of quantities we share with other non-human species) to cognitive numerical thinking requires an interplay of neural and molecular structures as biological prerequisites interacting with the cultural transmission. Our interpretation of the archaeological record and a biological-cultural process observed from Homo erectus to Homosapiens supports the hypothesis that the ability to use numerical concepts is part of a broader symbolic abstract cognition. In this context, the cognitive idea of number surpasses the mere “interpretation” of the meaning of the archaeological object. Archaeological artifacts possess structural, unintended properties that can acquire significance in contexts other than their original purpose (McLaughlin, 2014).