There is a very comprehensive review on numerosity and cognitive archaeology by Coolidge and Overmann, in Current Anthropology: numerosity, abstraction, and the emergence of symbolic thinking. The authors propose that numerosity may be a key feature of human brain evolution, integrating information from neuroscience, paleontology, and archaeology. A network based on the integration between frontal and parietal areas may underlie the ability to manage numbers, abstract thinking, language, and metaphor production. The hypothesis is commented by psychologists, archaeologists, neuroanatomists, neurobiologists, and paleontologists.
Advertisements