22 The Network of Brain, Body, Language, and Culture

Abstract

The evolution of the brain, language, body, and human culture are all intimately linked to each other and cannot be understood in isolation. While paleoanthropologists primarily consider the data from the fossil and archeological records, they must draw on recent findings and current research in a host of disciplines, including psychology, neuroscience, and human genetics. In this chapter, I review how the evolution of the brain, body, language, and material culture of humans have been linked during the course of human evolution, exploring how the interrelationships have changed during different periods of time. To do so, I divide this chapter into three main sections. First, I examine the Plio-Pleistocene and stress the links between bipedalism, brain size, diet, and sociality. Second, for the Middle Pleistocene my emphasis shifts to a focus on the nature of protolanguage and the evolution of human life history. Finally, I deal with the origin and dispersal of modern humans for whom material culture begins to play a key role in the network between brain and behavior.