Special Issue: Innovation and the Evolution of Human Behavior From Brainwave to Tradition—How to Detect Innovations in Tool Behavior

This paper addresses problems in comparative innovation research and offers approaches to the systematic as sessment of innovative potential based on the archaeological record. The problems involved in discussing differ ences in creativity and comparing the innovation rates of different groups, periods, and species are threefold: a) on the level of categorization, b) on the level of detection; and, c) on the level of preservation and resolution. Here, a qualitative and a quantitative scheme for categorizing innovations are proposed. For a detailed examination of innovations, the method of coding object behavior in cognigrams and effective chains is introduced. Finally, the problems of the preservation and detectability of the different categories within the archaeological record are dis cussed. In order to be able to address all aspects of the problem of identifying and specifying an innovation, the three problem levels are explained using a 21st century example. It is the aim of this paper to systematize the study of innovation and creativity based on the fragmentary remains of material culture that are available, and thus to increase objectivity in the evaluation of an imperfect data base. The “Innovation and Evolution” workshop was held at the Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins, University of Southampton, United Kingdom; workshop papers guest edited by Hannah Fluck (University of Southhampton; and, Landscape, Planning and Heritage, Hampshire County Council), Katharine MacDonald (Faculty of Archaeology, University of Leiden), and Natalie Uomini (School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool). This is article #4 of 7.

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