Dr Lambros Malafouris
University position
Balzan Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Cognitive Archaeology
Departments
Institutes
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
lambros.malafouris@keble.ox.ac.uk
Home page
http://www.keble.ox.ac.uk/academi...
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
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Key publications
Malafouris L (2010), “The brain-artefact interface (BAI): a challenge for archaeology and cultural neuroscience.” Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 5(2-3):264-73 Details
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 PDF
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 PDF
Publications
2010
Malafouris L (2010), “Grasping the concept of number: How did the sapient mind move beyond approximation? ” In I. Morley & C. Renfrew (eds) The Archaeology of Measurement: Comprehending Heaven, Earth and Time in Ancient Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press pp. 35-42.
Malafouris L (2010), “Metaplasticity and the human becoming: principles of neuroarchaeology” J Anthropol Sci 88, pp. 49-72. PDF
Malafouris L (2010), “The brain-artefact interface (BAI): a challenge for archaeology and cultural neuroscience ” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 5 (2-3): 264-273. PDF
Malafouris L & Renfrew C (2010), “The Cognitive Life of Things: Archaeology, Material Engagement and the Extended Mind. ” In Malafouris L & Renfrew C (eds) The Cognitive Life of Things: Recasting the boundaries of the mind. Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monographs. pp. 1-12. PDF
Malafouris L & Renfrew C (eds) (2010), “The Cognitive Life of Things: Recasting the boundaries of the mind” Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monographs
Malafouris L. (2010), “Knapping Intentions and the Marks of the Mental.” In Malafouris L & Renfrew C (eds) The Cognitive Life of Things: Recasting the boundaries of the mind. Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monographs. pp. 13- 22. PDF
2009
Malafouris L (2009), “"Neuroarchaeology": exploring the links between neural and cultural plasticity.” Prog Brain Res 178:253-61 Details
Malafouris L (2009), “Vital Materiality/Biothing” In Andrasek A. (ed.) Biothing. Collection FRAC centre: HYX, pp. 32- 47. PDF
Renfrew C Frith C & L Malafouris (eds) (2009), “The Sapient Mind: Archaeology meets neuroscience” Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2008
Knappett C & Malafouris L (eds) (2008), “Material Agency: Towards a non-anthropocentric approach” New York: Springer
Malafouris L (2008), “At the Potter’s Wheel: An argument for Material Agency. ” In Knappett C & Malafouris L (eds). Material Agency: Towards a non-anthropocentric perspective. New York: Springer. pp. 19- 36. PDF
Malafouris L (2008), “Is it ‘me’ or is it ‘mine’? The Mycenaean sword as a body-part. ” In D. Boric & J. Robb (eds) Past Bodies. Oxford: Oxbow Books pp. 115-23.
2007
Malafouris L (2007), “Before and Beyond Representation: Towards an Enactive Conception of the Palaeolithic Image” Image and Imagination: a Global History of Figurative Representation, eds. C. Renfrew & I. Morley Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 289–302. PDF
Malafouris L (2007), “The sacred engagement: outline of a hypothesis about the origin of human ‘religious intelligence’” In D.A. Barrowclough & C. Malone (eds) Cult in Context, Reconsidering Ritual in Archaeology, Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 198–205.
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