Anthropologists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and an international team of collaborators have discovered that early humans in East Africa had–by about 320,000 years ago–begun trading with distant groups, using color pigments and manufacturing more sophisticated tools … Continue reading
Interactions between innovations, population size, and the environment. Niche construction is a process through which organisms alter their environments and, in doing so, influence or change the selective pressures to which they are subject. ‘Cultural niche construction’ refers specifically to … Continue reading
Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) concerns ‘‘the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills” that belong to communities and are held by specific members. It is not static, but it continually transforms and innovates. Elements of ICH are deeply rooted in territories … Continue reading
Cumulative culture is the engine that drives the remarkable power of the global human computer. It enables societies to act as extremely powerful computers by ratcheting up technological and other cultural innovations. Once culture can accumulate, the ability of a … Continue reading
Innovation – the process of obtaining, understanding, applying, transforming, managing and transferring knowledge – is a result of human collaboration, but it has become an increasingly complex process, with a growing number of interacting parties involved. Lack of innovation is … Continue reading
