Dr Lambros Malafouris
University position
Balzan Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Cognitive Archaeology
Departments
Institutes
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
Home page
http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/~lm243/
Research Theme
Interests
My research interest is in the archaeology of mind and the anthropology of the brain artefact-interface (BAI) – covering topics extending from early stone tools and the ‘exographic’ symbolic technologies of more recent periods, to the latest developments in neuro-prosthetics and cognitive enhancement. My research aims at developing ways to understand the long-term implications and causal efficacy of material culture in the functional architecture of the human brain and the evolution of human intelligence (especially with reference to human capacities related to self awareness, memory, theory of mind, agency and the body schema). For the last few years I have been working on the Material Engagement approach to the study of mind and the archaeology of extended and distributed cognition. I also participate in the European Platform for Life Sciences, Mind Sciences, and the Humanities (Volkswagen Stiftung).
Research Focus
Keywordscognitive archaeology & anthropology cognitive evolution cognition and material culture the extended mind brain-artefact interfaces |
Clinical conditionsNo direct clinical relevance |
Equipment
No equipment indicated
Collaborators
No collaborators listed
Key publications
Malafouris L (2008), “Between brains, bodies and things: tectonoetic awareness and the extended self.” Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 363(1499):1993-2002 Details
Malafouris, Lambros Renfrew, Colin (2008), “Steps to a ‘Neuroarchaeology’ of Mind. Introduction” Camb. Archaeol. J. 18(3), pp 381-385
Malafouris, Lambros (2008), “Beads for a Plastic Mind: the ‘Blind Man's Stick’ (BMS) Hypothesis and the Active Nature of Material Culture” Camb. Archaeol. J. 18(3): pp 401-414
Renfrew C, Frith C, Malafouris L (2008), “Introduction. The sapient mind: archaeology meets neuroscience.” Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 363(1499):1935-8 Details
Malafouris L (2004), “The Cognitive Basis of Material Engagement: Where Brain, Body and Culture Conflate, in Rethinking Materiality: The Engagement of Mind with the Material World, (eds) E, DeMarrais C, Gosden C, Renfrew” Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research: 53-62
Publications
2009
Malafouris L (2009), “"Neuroarchaeology": exploring the links between neural and cultural plasticity.” Prog Brain Res 178:253-61 Details