How did Neandertals experience their world? How did their cognition and culture differ from ours? Were they pragmatic? Callous or cold-hearted? Did they love, were they charitable? Were they tough? Dogmatic? Xenophobic?
Join Professors Thomas Wynn and James Hicks for our online course in the Neandertal Cognition. Together, we will explore the mind of some of our recent ancestors to compare and contrast similarities and differences between our behavior and the behavior of these archaic humans. After a century of suffering the negative biases of early scholars, Neandertals are emerging from the shadows of prehistory to take their rightful place as explorers and innovators who fought to survive in a heretofore uninhabitable clime. Our course reviews the archaeological evidence via empirical models of cognition in an effort to understand the cognitive and behavioral strategies employed by Homo neanderthalensis during their nearly half million years of existence. Classes begin June 10 and end August 2. For enrollment information, see https://www.uccs.edu/lases/full_program_listings/cca
When, where, and how did the modern human mind evolve?
Our accelerated online course in Cognitive Evolution employs the theories and methods of several academic domains (cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, archaeology, linguistics, philosophy of mind, etc.) to interpret the tangible evidence for the evolution of mind—non-human primate anatomy and behavior, human neuroanatomy, hominin paleontology, and archaeology. Here, you will explore the origins and adaptive purposes of concept formation, spatial cognition, social cognition, language, symbolic structures, technology, and working memory on your way to a deeper understanding of the evolutionary changes in form and function of the mind. For detailed information (including syllabi) on this course and others offered this summer semester June 10 to August 2, visit us at https://www.uccs.edu/cca/.
How did humankind’s belief in an afterlife evolve? What is a ritual? What rituals are uniquely human? How did ritual evolve? What adaptive purposes do rituals serve?
Join Professor Matt Rossano for our online course The Evolution of Ritual and Religion. Together, we will take a highly inter-disciplinary approach using archeology, anthropology, primatology, and cognitive science to define what ritual and religion are, and to explore the role they have played in making us human. From the earliest traces of supernaturalization to the rise of morality and monotheism, this course explores the evolution of the form and functions of human spirituality. Classes run from June 10 to August 2. For enrollment information, see https://www.uccs.edu/lases/full_program_listings/cca
Revealing the Evolution of Human Cognition
Cognitive Archaeology 