The University of Waikato
The phylogenesis of palaeoarts, and their coevolution in relation to artification
Abstract
dc:description.abstractIn this thesis, I investigate the hypothesis of artification developed by Ellen Dissanayake and its relevance for developing an account of the evolutionary trajectory of art-making in humans and hominins. The debate about the evolution of art-making has produced many theories of how arts evolved in humans’ deep past. One of the most promising views is the hypothesis of artification, that suggests that artworks evolved in ritual ceremonies as an enactment of the hominin predisposition to make bodies, objects, and vocalisations perceptually striking. I suggest that artification’s antecedents can be traced back to Australopithecines’ mother-infant interaction. I provide an argument in support of characterising artification as a cognitive toolkit that first evolved as an attention-getter mechanism, and art-making as a set of culturally accumulated practices exploiting this toolkit that evolved following coevolutionary trajectories with socio-cognitive niches in later hominins. I conclude that artification has a mosaic evolution, and that the first instances of art-making can be tracked back to the Early-Acheulean ≈ 1.7 mya.
Degree
thesis:*- Grantor dc:publisher.institution
- The University of Waikato
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2026
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
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- Allegretti, Pietro
- Advisors dc:contributor.advisor
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- Kingsbury, Justine
- Killin, Anton
- Pievani, Dietelmo
Rights
dc:rights- Statement dc:rights
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- All items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.