Courtenay Lloyd Austin, d'Errico Francesco, Núñez Rafael, Blasi Damián E
CNRS, PACEA UMR 5199, Université de Bordeaux, Bât. B2, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, CS50023, Pessac, 33600 France.
Department d'Història I Història de l'Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Avinguda de Catalunya 35, Tarragona, 43002 Spain.
Archaeol Anthropol Sci. 2025;17(8):171. doi: 10.1007/s12520-025-02286-4. Epub 2025 Jul 23.
Artificial Memory Systems (AMSs) are tools that allow for the storage and retrieval of coded information beyond the physical body, ranging from computers and writing systems to tallying sticks. Current scientific knowledge suggests humans are the only species to manufacture and use these tools. While a number of artifacts dating back to the Middle Paleolithic have been considered to be early instances of AMS, conclusive and systematic evidence of this function is absent. Here we contrast the spatial distribution of markings on these potential early AMSs to other Paleolithic artifacts displaying butchery and ornamental marks, as well as ethnographically recorded cases of AMS. We find that both ethnographic and Upper Paleolithic AMSs are endowed with systematically different signatures that distinguish them from the other artifacts. These findings suggest that modern humans in at least Africa and Europe had sophisticated cognitive capabilities for information storage and retrieval, providing insights into the possible development of quantity-related cognition.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12520-025-02286-4.
人工记忆系统（AMSs）是用于存储和检索身体之外编码信息的工具，范围从计算机、书写系统到计数棒。当前科学知识表明人类是唯一制造和使用这些工具的物种。虽然一些可追溯到旧石器时代中期的人工制品被认为是早期的人工记忆系统实例，但缺乏关于此功能的确凿和系统证据。在这里，我们将这些潜在早期人工记忆系统上标记的空间分布与显示屠宰和装饰标记的其他旧石器时代人工制品以及人种志记录的人工记忆系统案例进行对比。我们发现，人种志和旧石器时代晚期的人工记忆系统都具有系统上不同的特征，使它们与其他人工制品区分开来。这些发现表明，至少在非洲和欧洲的现代人具有用于信息存储和检索的复杂认知能力，为数量相关认知的可能发展提供了见解。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s12520-025-02286-4获取的补充材料。
