Thoughtful Foragers: A Study of Prehistoric Decision Making

by Steven J. Mithen

Overview

Thoughtful Foragers is about hunter-gatherer decision making. The author explores the implications of the human mind as a product of biological evolution for the way in which humans solve foraging problems. He draws on studies form ethology, psychology and ethnography prior to turning his attention to prehistoric hunter-gatherers. He attempts to construct explanations for patterns in the archaeological record by an explicit focus on decision making by individuals. Thoughtful Foragers will appeal to specialists in European prehistory as well as to those interested in archaeological theory and method. It makes some very significant advances, which will be of real importance for the field of evolutionary theory in relation to human evolution and the evaluation of human social systems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521102889
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/12/2009
Series:	New Studies in Archaeology
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

List of figures; List of tables; 1. Introduction; Part I. Learning from the present: 2. The eco-psychology of decision making; 3. The ethnography of hunter-gatherer decision making; Part II. Mesolithic foraging and society: 4. Broken bones and buried bodies: patterns in the archaeological record; 5. Gearing up with methodological tools: building a simulation model; 6. Decision making in the Mesolithic: multiple action replays; Part III. Upper Palaeolithic Art and Economy; 7. Seeking the decision maker: faunal assemblages and hunting behaviour; 8. Through a hunter's eyes … and into his mind?; 9. Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.