The Handbook of Human Symbolic Evolution

Explanations and accounts of our own origins have become one of the most popular of all the areas in science that are now regularly brought into the public arena via television, lavishly illustrated books, and even cartoons. The discovery of fossils and artefacts has its own intrinsic interest, but it is the origin of our characteristically human abilities - to be able to speak, create images, read, write etc. that holds the imagination. The aim of this volume is to create a reference work that sets out and evaluates the basic knowledge and theory relevant to these origins of communication that has accumulated in the scientific literature over the last few decades. Indeed, the evolution of language within the area of linguistics has suddenly become a very hot topic, having been frowned upon in the past since evolution was previously considered to be outside mainstream scientific enquiry. Contributions to the volume include those from linguistics, anthropology and psychology. Primatologists and biologists have also contributed giving the reader a uniquely broad and accessible reference work in this burgeoning area of study. This volume was first published in hardcover by Oxford University Press in 1996.

Andrew Lock is Professor of Psychology at Massey University, New Zealand.
Charles Peters is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Georgia.