Anthropos: Anthropos, 96.2001

Anthropos, 96.2001

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Zeitschrift

Strukturtyp:: Zeitschrift

Werks-URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

Persistenter Identifier:: BV043334262

Titel:: Anthropos

Untertitel:: internationale Zeitschrift für Völker- u. Sprachenkunde

Erscheinungsort:: Fribourg

Verlag:: Ed. St. Paul

Erscheinungsjahr:: 1906

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Wissensgebiet:: Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie > Allgemeines

Zeitschriftenband

Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenband

Werks-URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711750

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711750

Persistenter Identifier:: 1510221856924

Titel:: Anthropos, 96.2001

Erscheinungsjahr:: 2001

Signatur:: LA 1118

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Zeitschriftenheft

Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenheft

Titel:: Bd. 96, 2001, Heft 2

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Zeitschriftenartikel

Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenartikel

Titel:: Beads and Pendants of the Pleistocene

Sonstige Person:: Bednarik, Robert G.

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Anthropos 96.2001: 545-555 Beads and Pendants of the Pleistocene Robert G. Bednarik Abstract. - One of the most useful forms of evidence in considering the cognitive evolution of hominids are the beads we have managed to recover from Pleistocene sediments, and yet they are among the most neglected kind of material relevant in this quest. In the context of the origins of symbolism beads offer two outstanding characteristics: in contrast to other classes of evidence proffered, their status as nonutilitarian anthropogenic products is rarely challenged; and their sym bolic significance appears generically self-evident. This paper surveys the distribution of Pleistocene beads and pendants in time and space, their forms of occurrence, and the implications of these empirical observations for hominid ethology. It is concluded that such symbolic artefacts were in use since the Lower Palaeolithic, i.e., for at least two or three hundred millennia, and that complex communication and social systems must be attributed to the societies concerned. [Pleistocene, artefacts, hominid cognition] Robert G. Bednarik, Chairperson of the International Feder ation of Rock Art Organizations (IFRAO), Chairperson of the AURA Congress, and Secretary of the Australian Rock Art Re search Association (AURA). Editor of four scientific journals and two series of monographs. The author has produced about 1000 publications, over 400 of which have appeared in refereed scientific journals. Introduction The connection between the cognitive evolution °f humans and the topic of the production and u se of beads and pendants during the Pleisto- Ce ne may not have been afforded much attention, but such portable palaeoart objects can be much u^ore illuminating in this respect than most other Ufchaeological finds. Let us consider the current consensus model of cognitive evolution as held by Mainstream archaeology, particularly of the An- £lo-American persuasion. It perceives a massive, explosion-like development with the advent of the Upper Palaeolithic in southwestern Europe, and this is almost universally attributed to the sudden appearance of anatomically modern humans in the region (e.g., Gamble 1994; Mithen 1998). Prior to this cataclysmic change, the model predicts, the world was populated largely by primitive humans who probably lacked language, complex social structures, and culture, who created no form of “art,” hunted inefficiently if at all, and may have even been carrion eaters who lacked the use of fire. They may have had no habitation structures and wandered over the landscape rather aimlessly, eking out a most precarious existence. These claims relating to the late appearance of symbolism, art, and language, which have be come so established recently that they completely dominate mainstream world archaeology, are at tributable to an inadequate knowledge of scholars advocating these models. Ocean navigation and the ability to colonize new lands by sea arguably pos tulate the use of complex communication systems, as some of the advocates of this school readily admit (e.g., Noble and Davidson 1996), and while this does not necessarily indicate uttered language, that would seem to be the most likely explanation. The knowledge that ocean crossings by coloniz ing parties were successful more than 700,000 or 800,000 years ago has been available for several decades now, 1 which implies that these journeys were by Homo erectus. In compiling a list of finds 1 Bednarik 1997a; Bednarik and Kuckenburg 1999; Maringer und Verhoeven 1970; Morwood et al. 1999; Sondaar et al. 1994.

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