Material culture is a ubiquitous aspect of everyday life. From clothing to computers, our species relies on technology in the performance of all aspects of individual and social life. The roots of this reliance on technology lie deep in prehistory, with the earliest stone tools documented in the archaeological record almost three and a half million years ago. And we are not alone in being expert manipulators of the material world; our primate cousins, and many other animals from mammals to birds to insects modify aspects of their environments, build structures, and use tools to ensure survival.
This module examines all aspects of material culture, including the technological sequences demonstrated by the archaeological record, the diversity of technologies employed across the animal kingdom, the cognitive implications of evolving technologies, the environmental correlates of variation in lithic technology, the use of material culture for social communication, and the processes involved in making and using the tools produced by our ancestors. Students will gain a thorough and wide-ranging overview of the genesis and evolution of this fundamental aspect of human adaptation.