CAHO Christmas Lecture
Date: 13.12.2013 - 13.12.2013
Time: !7:00 - 18:00
Speaker: Dr. Penny Spikins
Location: TBC
Angels or Demons?: Can the archaeological record tell us what motivated our earliest ancestors?
From when science took over the story of what made us human we have been driven to understand the motivations of our ancestors. Were they angels or demons? The archaeological evidence appears to support either case depending how we view it. Perhaps it is not a question that we can answer, nonetheless we can address how emotional capacities evolved by considering archaeological evidence. Here I discuss two case studies – the evolution of emotional self-control and that of compassion and raise the question of why social emotions have been seen as difficult or even dangerous to research.
Hope many of you will join us for mince pies and wine….