Evidence of recursion in tool use.
We discuss the discovery of technologies involving knotted netting, such as textiles, basketry, and cordage, in the Upper Paleolithic. This evidence, in our view, suggests a new way of connecting toolmaking and syntactic structure in human evolution, because these technologies already exhibit an "infinite use of finite means," which we take to constitute the key transition to human cognition.
Human Evolution and Cognition Group, University of the Balearic Islands, 07122 Palma. lluis.barcelo@uib.cat
Lluís
L
Barceló-Coblijn
Antoni
A
Gomila
D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition; D006801:Humans; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013672:Technology; D053001:Tool Use Behavior