Penny Spikins | University of York (original) (raw)
Papers by Penny Spikins
Hidden Depths: The Origins of Human Connection
The idea that humans could be ‘self-domesticated’ is certainly rather strange and unlikely soundi... more The idea that humans could be ‘self-domesticated’ is certainly rather strange and unlikely sounding, perhaps not entirely out of keeping with something we might expect to find in a science fiction novel. However, there is good evidence that changes in emotional tendencies and capacities in recent human evolution (after 300,000 years ago) followed some similar pathways to those seen in domesticated species. Furthermore, these changes are not necessarily limited to animals that have been deliberately domesticated by humans, with some of these developments also seen in bonobos, which, alongside chimpanzees, are our nearest living relatives. Though questions and debates remain about why and how these changes might have occurred, genetic and anatomical evidence, alongside changes in the archaeological record, support the notion that changes similar to domestication were occurring in humans. The concept that the evolution of human emotional tendencies and capacities may have followed simi...
Hidden Depths: The Origins of Human Connection
What can archaeological evidence contribute to our understanding of the origins of human empathy,... more What can archaeological evidence contribute to our understanding of the origins of human empathy, compassion and generosity? We have seen in Chapter 1 that our human capacity for compassion and our tendencies to help others have an important evolved biological basis. Here, we focus on what the preserved material evidence of early humans and their behaviours can contribute to our understanding of how our emotional motivations to help others emerged. We particularly consider often-overlooked archaeological evidence for care for adults made vulnerable by illness or injury. This evidence demonstrates a deep past to human emotional motivations to help those around them. Furthermore, changing emotional motivations are a response to wider context and selective pressures, similar to those also seen in some other social mammals. A critical appraisal of evidence for responses to illness and injury suggest that significant changes in helping behaviour and responses to vulnerability may have ta...
Hidden Depths: The Origins of Human Connection
All around us, almost all the time, we see objects with no obvious function that seem to play an ... more All around us, almost all the time, we see objects with no obvious function that seem to play an important role in our lives. This apparently bizarre obsession with non-functional objects is one of the most obvious differences between ourselves and other animals. Our lives are filled with all kinds of objects, not just those with a practical function but a whole range of mementos such as photographs, or treasured childhood toys, or necklaces or bracelets whose special place in our hearts has little to do with physical appearance. Although many non-industrialised societies are far less materialistic, even constantly mobile hunting and gathering populations create and attach meaning to objects such as beads, figurines or amulets, which do not have any immediate practical function. Here, we consider the extent to which new emotional vulnerabilities may explain our apparently bizarre emotional attachment to certain treasured things and provide an explanation for the creation, significan...
The Early Prehistory of Scotland, 1996
Theology and Evolutionary Anthropology, 2020
Archaeological interpretations of the use of fire in Mesolithic societies focus almost exclusivel... more Archaeological interpretations of the use of fire in Mesolithic societies focus almost exclusively on its practical and economic uses, such as a source of light, warmth or to cook food. Though new theoretical approaches have cast insight into many themes within studies of the Mesolithic – of which food (MIRACLE P. 2002; MILNER N. 2006), settlement patterns (CONNELLER C. 2005) and gender relations (FINLAY N. 2009) are perhaps the most notable – fire remains interpreted as a largely economic or practical element. In order to redress this imbalance one possibility is to draw potential new interpretations from ethnographic analogies which illustrate a much broader and more social use of fires. To this end in this paper we consider the use of fire by the Selk’nam of Tierra del Fuego, a group living in high latitude densely forested environments similar to those of much of Mesolithic Europe, as a basis for re-interpreting the use of fire at March Hill Carr and March Hill Top in the Centra...
Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 2021
Recent Advances in Autism Spectrum Disorders - Volume II, 2013
Journal of World Prehistory, 2008
Hidden Depths: The Origins of Human Connection
The idea that humans could be ‘self-domesticated’ is certainly rather strange and unlikely soundi... more The idea that humans could be ‘self-domesticated’ is certainly rather strange and unlikely sounding, perhaps not entirely out of keeping with something we might expect to find in a science fiction novel. However, there is good evidence that changes in emotional tendencies and capacities in recent human evolution (after 300,000 years ago) followed some similar pathways to those seen in domesticated species. Furthermore, these changes are not necessarily limited to animals that have been deliberately domesticated by humans, with some of these developments also seen in bonobos, which, alongside chimpanzees, are our nearest living relatives. Though questions and debates remain about why and how these changes might have occurred, genetic and anatomical evidence, alongside changes in the archaeological record, support the notion that changes similar to domestication were occurring in humans. The concept that the evolution of human emotional tendencies and capacities may have followed simi...
Hidden Depths: The Origins of Human Connection
What can archaeological evidence contribute to our understanding of the origins of human empathy,... more What can archaeological evidence contribute to our understanding of the origins of human empathy, compassion and generosity? We have seen in Chapter 1 that our human capacity for compassion and our tendencies to help others have an important evolved biological basis. Here, we focus on what the preserved material evidence of early humans and their behaviours can contribute to our understanding of how our emotional motivations to help others emerged. We particularly consider often-overlooked archaeological evidence for care for adults made vulnerable by illness or injury. This evidence demonstrates a deep past to human emotional motivations to help those around them. Furthermore, changing emotional motivations are a response to wider context and selective pressures, similar to those also seen in some other social mammals. A critical appraisal of evidence for responses to illness and injury suggest that significant changes in helping behaviour and responses to vulnerability may have ta...
Hidden Depths: The Origins of Human Connection
All around us, almost all the time, we see objects with no obvious function that seem to play an ... more All around us, almost all the time, we see objects with no obvious function that seem to play an important role in our lives. This apparently bizarre obsession with non-functional objects is one of the most obvious differences between ourselves and other animals. Our lives are filled with all kinds of objects, not just those with a practical function but a whole range of mementos such as photographs, or treasured childhood toys, or necklaces or bracelets whose special place in our hearts has little to do with physical appearance. Although many non-industrialised societies are far less materialistic, even constantly mobile hunting and gathering populations create and attach meaning to objects such as beads, figurines or amulets, which do not have any immediate practical function. Here, we consider the extent to which new emotional vulnerabilities may explain our apparently bizarre emotional attachment to certain treasured things and provide an explanation for the creation, significan...
The Early Prehistory of Scotland, 1996
Theology and Evolutionary Anthropology, 2020
Archaeological interpretations of the use of fire in Mesolithic societies focus almost exclusivel... more Archaeological interpretations of the use of fire in Mesolithic societies focus almost exclusively on its practical and economic uses, such as a source of light, warmth or to cook food. Though new theoretical approaches have cast insight into many themes within studies of the Mesolithic – of which food (MIRACLE P. 2002; MILNER N. 2006), settlement patterns (CONNELLER C. 2005) and gender relations (FINLAY N. 2009) are perhaps the most notable – fire remains interpreted as a largely economic or practical element. In order to redress this imbalance one possibility is to draw potential new interpretations from ethnographic analogies which illustrate a much broader and more social use of fires. To this end in this paper we consider the use of fire by the Selk’nam of Tierra del Fuego, a group living in high latitude densely forested environments similar to those of much of Mesolithic Europe, as a basis for re-interpreting the use of fire at March Hill Carr and March Hill Top in the Centra...
Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 2021
Recent Advances in Autism Spectrum Disorders - Volume II, 2013
Journal of World Prehistory, 2008
Hidden Depths Introduction , 2022
Hidden Depths chapter 1, 2022
Hidden Depths chapter 2, 2022
What can archaeological evidence contribute to our understanding of the origins of human empathy,... more What can archaeological evidence contribute to our understanding of the origins of human empathy, compassion and generosity? We have seen in Chapter 1 that our human capacity for compassion and our tendencies to help others have an important evolved biological basis. Here, we focus on what the preserved material evidence of early humans and their behaviours can contribute to our understanding of how our emotional motivations to help others emerged. We particularly consider often-overlooked archaeological evidence for care for adults made vulnerable by illness or injury. This evidence demonstrates a deep past to human emotional motivations to help those around them. Furthermore, changing emotional motivations are a response to wider context and selective pressures, similar to those also seen in some other social mammals. A critical appraisal of evidence for responses to illness and injury suggest that significant changes in helping behaviour and responses to vulnerability may
Hidden Depths Chapter 3, 2022
How did our uniquely human commitments to our loved ones develop, and why are we so concerned abo... more How did our uniquely human commitments to our loved ones develop, and why are we so concerned about what feelings lie underneath what other people do? In this chapter, we consider the origins of our long-term emotional connections based on trust, and how they lead to uniquely human sensitivities to what motivates other people and how they feel about us.
Hidden Depths chapter 5, 2022
In Part 2, we consider the development of human tolerance, or changes in social approach/avoidanc... more In Part 2, we consider the development of human tolerance, or changes in social approach/avoidance behaviours. We consider how and why we became capable of extending compassion outwards beyond our close kin and living group, showing tolerance and generosity towards neighbouring groups and distant friends, and the implications of this for human social sensitivity and emotional vulnerability.
Hidden Depths chapter 6, 2022
The idea that humans could be 'self-domesticated' is certainly rather strange and unlikely-soundi... more The idea that humans could be 'self-domesticated' is certainly rather strange and unlikely-sounding, perhaps not entirely out of keeping with something we might expect to find in a science fiction novel. However, there is good evidence that changes in emotional tendencies and capacities in recent human evolution (after 300,000 years ago) followed some similar pathways to those seen in domesticated species. Furthermore, these changes are not necessarily limited to animals that have been deliberately domesticated by humans, with some of these developments also seen in bonobos, which, alongside chimpanzees, are our nearest living relatives. Though questions and debates remain about why and how these changes might have occurred, genetic and anatomical evidence, alongside changes in the archaeological record, support the notion that changes similar to domestication were occurring in humans.
Hidden Depths chapter 7, 2022
All around us, almost all the time, we see objects with no obvious function that seem to play an ... more All around us, almost all the time, we see objects with no obvious function that seem to play an important role in our lives. This apparently bizarre obsession with non-functional objects is one of the most obvious differences between ourselves and other animals. Our lives are filled with all kinds of objects, not just those with a practical function but a whole range of mementos such as photographs, or treasured childhood toys, or necklaces or bracelets whose special place in our hearts has little to do with physical appearance. Although many non-industrialised societies are far less materialistic, even constantly mobile hunting and gathering populations create and attach meaning to objects such as beads, figurines or amulets, which do not have any immediate practical function.
Hidden Depths chapter 8, 2022
Why are we able to form such an intense emotional bond with other animals, such as dogs, despite ... more Why are we able to form such an intense emotional bond with other animals, such as dogs, despite them being so different from ourselves in so many ways? In this chapter, we consider the human emotional vulnerabilities that drove our close relationships with canids. We explore how an understanding of compensatory attachments can provide a new perspective on the inclusion of wolves into human societies, and the significance of their dog descendants to our emotional wellbeing today.
Hidden Depths: Chapter 9, 2022
In this part, we consider alternative pathways in human evolution, and how we might better unders... more In this part, we consider alternative pathways in human evolution, and how we might better understand the different humans we might have been. We focus on different adaptive pathways in emotional dispositions, and open up new possibilities, such as situating Neanderthals as different but equal within our evolutionary story. We also consider how the concept of branching pathways may help us to move away from progressive narratives and better understand human origins as a pattern of compromises and vulnerabilities as well as strengths.
Hidden Depths: Chapter 10, 2022
Neanderthals have occupied a rather problematic position in our evolutionary history for many yea... more Neanderthals have occupied a rather problematic position in our evolutionary history for many years. Neanderthals and modern humans share fundamental features of humanity, such as care for the vulnerable, yet differences in their use of symbolism, adoption of innovations and intergroup relationships have been hard to explain. Evidence suggests that Neanderthals lived in small living groups with only rare connections to outsiders and high levels of inbreeding, whilst modern human populations from their first arrival in Europe were highly interconnected and maintained connections between communities stretching over large regions. It has been tempting to interpret these differences in terms of an inferior social or intellectual cognition in Neanderthals. Subtle differences in emotional dispositions may, however, be a better explanation. A more inwardly focused or close-knit nature of Neanderthal communities, and a more outwardly focused or approachable nature of modern humans, can explain previously enigmatic elements of their archaeological record without recourse to ideas of progression or advancement.
Hidden Depth Conclusions, 2022
Hidden Depths: the origins of human connections - conclusions
Were individuals with autism influential thousands of years ago? In this ebook we ask what techno... more Were individuals with autism influential thousands of years ago? In this ebook we ask what technological and innovative skills, moral qualities and other contributions autism might have brought to human societies, and consider the archaeological and anthropological evidence for the influence of autism in prehistoric art and artefacts. In light of our findings, we argue for a new perspective on autism spectrum conditions and their integration in modern society.
Introduction- Mesolithic Europe : glimpses of another world [First Paragraph] Mesolithic Europe h... more Introduction- Mesolithic Europe : glimpses of another world
[First Paragraph] Mesolithic Europe holds a special place in our imagination. Perhaps more than any other region and period, it is unique in conjuring up a strange sense of both 'otherness' and familiarity. The people who lived here were in many ways fundamentally different from ourselves. As hunters and gatherers, their experience, worldview, and knowledge could not be further from ours. In our imagination, we can conjure up images of how these people might have looked or felt, but even some of the most basic elements of their existence or perception, something far more knowable in later periods, are things of which we know little. The physical world in which they lived is somehow more tangible but, like its people, familiar and yet fundamentally distinct from our own experience. This was a place with landscapes that were vast and, to our minds, untamed, familiar to our experience at a local scale, yet at the same time extending over seemingly immense territories with swathes of dark forests, mountains, and relentlessly rising seas.
Mesolithic sites have been recovered from eroding moorlands in the Pennines for well over a centu... more Mesolithic sites have been recovered from eroding moorlands in the Pennines for well over a century. However this volume presents the results of the first detailed high resolution excavations of a series of these sites in Marsden moor. 'Snapshots' of activities at these sites from the Early, Late and Latest Mesolithic are explained, and situated within what we know of environmental changes and social relationships in the period.
Focusing on evidence from northern England, this book addresses the idea of gradual population in... more Focusing on evidence from northern England, this book addresses the idea of gradual population increase and related concepts of Mesolithic settlements. Critically assessed are both the nature of the archaeological and environmental evidence for Mesolithic adaptations. A possible different approach is suggested, which acknowledges the importance of ecological changes in a large scale model of changing vegetation, but attempting to avoid static and deterministic interpretations.
