The origin of cumulative culture in human evolution

The origin of cumulative culture in human evolution. Humans accumulate knowledge and use cumulative culture to transfer it across generations, and identifying the origin of this unique ability is a significant research priority for the study of archaeology and human evolution. This project aims to discover the emergence of cumulative culture by using experiments to evaluate stone tool-making, a technology passed between humans for 3.3 million years. Expected outcomes include international collaborations that improve our evolutionary understanding of teaching and learning, and produce new data on early stone artefacts in Indonesia and Australia. This should provide significant benefits for collaborative research and scholarly insight into human evolution and Indigenous knowledge in our region.

Funder: Australian Research Council
Award Value: $998,395