Brain evolution may have allowed our cognitive process to extend to technology

Emiliano Bruner, a researcher at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), has just published a review article on the evolution of the human brain during the Middle Pleistocene offering a perspective on paleoneurology and functional craniology, with a model analyzing the spatial relationships between the anatomical elements of the brain-braincase system.

This paper assesses the Middle Pleistocene fossil record and the evolution of modern humans and Neandertals, as well as current theories on visuospatial integration and prosthetic capacity in our own species, "[...] which could have allowed us to extend our cognitive process to technology, and to social and cultural elements more generally," says Bruner.

The new paper, "Evolving human brains: paleoneurology and the fate of Middle Pleistocene," has been published as part of a special issue of the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, edited by Marlize Lombard (University of Johannesburg, South Africa) and Anders Högberg (Linnaeus University, Sweden), and entitled "Theoretical pathways: Thinking about human endeavor during Middle Stone Age and Middle Palaeolithic."