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Re: Two Meanings in "American" (fwd)
Jim Eighmey (AGJDE@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU)
Sun, 19 Feb 1995 21:05:28 -0700
paper again. It appears to me that the central conclusion was that there was
very little to suggest any evidence that linked supposed trajectories in
the evolution of language capabilities and the manufacture of stone tools.
I am not sure why there should necessarily be such a correlation unless it
might involve the need for oral communication in transmitting knowlege of
more complex (middle paleolithic and later?) toolkit manufacture.
Ralph Holloway's observations on variability in "visiospatial integration"
abilities are interesting in this regard, since the manufacture of stone
tools requires considerable skill in this area. One of the primary problems
folks seem to have in learning to flintknap is visualizing the necessary
direction and placement of flake removal. This occurs even when the "final
form" is quite well known to them. It is not simply a matter of banging
rocks to produce flakes in most cases but requires visualizing a SERIES
of "desired forms", in three dimensions, through several stages of reduction.
Jim Eighmey
Department of Anthropology >>>---------->
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ. 85287-2402
(agjde@asuvm.inre.asu.edu)
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