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Children and innovation: play, play objects and object play in cultural evolution
Felix Riede1,2, Matthew J Walsh3, April Nowell4
1Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Aarhus University, Moesgård Allé 20, 8270 Højbjerg, Denmark.
Evolutionary Human Sciences
|August 17, 2023
Summary
Children
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Anthropology
- Cognitive Science
- Archaeology
Background:
- Cultural evolutionary theory views culture as an information-transmission system.
- Innovation within this framework is often compared to random mutations, downplaying agency.
- Object play and play objects, particularly functional miniatures, are ubiquitous in human societies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To re-evaluate the role of innovation in cultural evolution by examining object play.
- To introduce a niche construction perspective to understand the evolutionary significance of play.
- To explore how play objects contributed to the emergence of innovative capabilities in human evolution.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of archaeological contexts focusing on play objects and object play.
- Integration of findings from cognitive science, ethology, and ethnography.
- Consideration of hominin early developmental life-history and ontogenetic niche modification.
Main Results:
- Object play and the construction/use of play objects provided selective advantages through ontogenetic niche modification.
- Play objects and object play likely played crucial roles in the development of innovative capabilities.
- Play objects offer a new lens for understanding shifts in innovation rates across human biocultural evolution.
Conclusions:
- Play, specifically object play with functional miniatures, is a significant driver of innovation in human evolution.
- A niche construction approach highlights the adaptive benefits of plaything creation and use.
- Further research on play objects can elucidate patterns of innovation across different technological domains and evolutionary timescales.
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