Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Archaeology

Cognitive Archaeology is a relatively young though fast growing discipline. The intellectual heart of cognitive archaeology is archaeology, the discipline that investigates the only direct evidence of the actions and decisions of prehistoric people. Its theories and methods are an eclectic mix of psychological, neuroscientific, paleoneurological, philosophical, anthropological, ethnographic, comparative, aesthetic, and experimental theories, methods, and models, united only by their focus on cognition.

The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Archaeology is a landmark publication, showcasing the theories, methods, and accomplishments of archaeologists who investigate the human mind, including its evolutionary development, its ideation (thoughts and beliefs), and its very nature-through material forms. The volume encompasses the wide spectrum of the discipline, showcasing contributions from more than 50 established and emerging scholars from Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. Prominent among these are contributions that discuss the epistemological frameworks of both the evolutionary and ideational approaches and the leading theories that ground interpretations. Significantly, the majority of chapters deliver substantive contributions that analyze specific examples of material culture, from the oldest known stone tools to ceramic and rock art traditions of the recent millennium. These examples include the gamut of methods and techniques, including typology, replication studies, chaînes operatoires, neuroarchaeology, ethnographic comparison, and the direct historical approach.

In addition, the book begins with retrospective essays by several of the pioneers of cognitive archaeology, presenting a broad range of state-of-the-art investigations into cognitive abilities, tackling thorny issues like the cognitive status of Neandertals, and concluding with speculative essays about the future of an archaeology of mind, and of the mind itself.

Thomas Wynn, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, University of Colorado, Karenleigh Overmann, Assistant Professor of Anthropology & Co-Director, Center for Cognitive Archaeology, University of Colorado, Frederick Coolidge, Professor of Psychology, University of Colorado

Thomas Wynn is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, where he has taught since 1977. He earned his PhD in Anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana. His training was in the archaeology of the Lower Palaeolithic (early Stone Age). His doctoral research opened a hitherto unexplored direction in Palaeolithic studies - the explicit use of psychological theory to interpret archaeological remains. He has published extensively in Palaeolithic studies (150+ articles and book chapters), with a particular emphasis on cognitive evolution.

Karenleigh A. Overmann earned her doctorate in archaeology from the University of Oxford as a Clarendon scholar in 2016. In June 2020, she completed two years of postdoctoral research at the University of Bergen (MSCA individual fellowship, EU project 785793), and she was a visiting scholar at the University of Pittsburgh from Sept. 2020 to June 2021. She is currently an associate professor of anthropology (adjunct) and co-director of the Center for Cognitive Archaeology at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.

Frederick L. Coolidge has a BA, MA, and PhD in Psychology from the University of Florida (UF) and completed a 2-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology at UF. He worked as Forensic Psychologist at the South Florida State Mental Hospital before beginning his academic career at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS). He has received three Fulbright Fellowships to India (1987, 1992, 2005) and in 2015 was appointed Senior Visiting Scholar at Oxford University (Keble College). He received the annual UCCS research award, three UCCS teaching awards and awarded the title University of Colorado Presidential Teaching Scholar.