Environmental Futures Seminar - Dr Claudio Tennie

The concept of cumulative culture is a cornerstone of cultural evolution, particularly in relation to the question of human origins. However, there is no consensus on how to best characterise this concept. There is also confusion about how widespread cumulative culture is across the animal kingdom and when it first appeared in our deep ancestry. In this talk, I will clarify and focus these debates by asserting that the cumulation of culture must refer to a specific type of cumulation: the cumulation of 'know-how' (know-how to speak, to dance, to make tools, etc.). Cumulative culture of know-how is not the same as the mere repetition of behaviours, even complex behaviours, even though the two are often conflated. This mix-up leads to an overestimation of the distribution of human types of culture in animals and of their presence in early humans. The sustained presence of sophisticated stone tools (Oldowan and early Acheulean) is often cited as evidence of early human-like cumulative culture. However, this evidence can be explained by simpler processes that do not necessitate the copying of know-how. Here, I will especially highlight a problem that Andrew Buskell and I have recently called 'mere repetition'. We must distinguish cumulative culture of know-how from other processes that merely sustain repetitions of behaviour by other means. I will use a series of case studies to show that three processes produce such mere recurrence: genetic predispositions, limited repertoire exploration, and socially triggered recognition and recall. All three processes create strong illusions of cumulative culture of know-how, particularly in the archaeological record. They mislead investigations into the evolutionary timing and nature of key cognitive capacities (i.e., know-how copying abilities). Distinguishing 'mere repetition' from true cumulation of "know-how" forces us to revise the timeline for the emergence of this special type of cumulative culture in hominins. This revised timeline has significant implications for understanding when and how such key abilities evolved and their potential role(s) in human culture and cognition - including the origins of language.

About the speaker

Claudio Tennie is a permanent research group leader of ‘Tools and Culture among Early Hominins’ in the Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology at the University of Tübingen, Germany. His research combines biological, psychological and archaeological approaches to investigate the role of culture in human evolution.