In the 1990s, the archaeologist Stephen Mithen theorized a “creative explosion” due to human Cognitive fluidity, which he argued began some 60-40,000 years ago. Mithen asks – as many today do – why aspens, that is, anatomically modern humans, outlive other hominids. He argues that it was due to “a different type of mentality” that was a result, he firmly believes, of language and creativity. .. . . Mithen relies on parallel archaeological efforts as well as contemporary philosophy of mind, which he fuses in order to declare that Homo sapiens 50,000 years ago suddenly became far more creative, compared to the “remarkable monotony” of million of years before and the genus Homo in general (see Figure 21.1) . . . . Page 393
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Dinesh said: