Material scaffolds in numbers and time

Cambridge Archaeological Journal • Vol/Iss. 23(01) • Cambridge University Press • • Published In • Pages: 19-39 •
By Overmann, Karenleigh A.

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between the complexity of a society's material culture and its development of cognitive technologies for numeration and timekeeping. The researcher claims that the resulting positive correlation between these variables as support for a theory of material culture as 'scaffolding' for number concepts, providing tangible, shareable, manipulable forms for abstract numerical constructions.

Samples

Sample Used Coded Data Comment
eHRAF World CulturesResearcher's own, Hayden & Villenueve (2011)n = 33 hunter-gatherer societies

Hypotheses (2)

HypothesisSupported
Material complexity will be positively associated with later-stage number terms (23).Supported
Complexity of material culture will be negatively associated with use of relational estimations of time (30).Supported
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: jack.dunnington