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The Ādam Paradox Hypothesis 82
2. The Continuity Problem: Sparks That Vanish
Archaeological evidence demonstrates that symbolic behaviors appeared
sporadically long before 70kya — Qafzeh Cave (~100kya) marine shell beads;
Blombos Cave (~100–75kya) engraved ochre and patterned bone tools;
Diepkloof (>55kya) engraved ostrich eggshell motifs (d’Errico et al., 2003;
Henshilwood et al., 2002; Texier et al., 2010). Labeling such episodes “fragile
traditions” is ad hoc without a mechanism for why fragility abruptly gave
way to permanence.
3. Demography and the Origin–Persistence Confusion
Larger, interconnected groups are better at preserving traditions, but origin is
not persistence. Neanderthals independently produced pigments, ornaments,
and intentional burials despite small and scattered groups. To claim that
demography explains the origin of symbolism commits a category error:
mistaking the conditions that preserve culture for the causes that create
cognition.
4. Climate Correlation Without Causation
While humid pulses during MIS-3 reopened corridors, symbolic behaviors also
occur during harsh MIS-4 (e.g., Blombos engravings ~75kya) and sometimes
fade in favorable periods. Climate can shape distribution, not ignition.
Inferring ignition from climate is correlation ≠ causation.
5. The Perishability Argument: An Unfalsifiable Claim
Saying early symbolism existed but has been lost because it was expressed in
perishable media (wood, textiles, song) is non-disprovable. Any absence can be
explained away, rendering the claim ad hoc and untestable (Popper). Sterelny
cautions that perishability cannot license imagining anything.