The relationship between anthropology and neuroscience has always been friendly but controversial, because they embrace inclusive common topics (human beings and their brains) although following distinct approaches, often more holistic and speculative in the former field, more reductionist and quantitative in the latter. In recent decades, novel disciplines have been proposed to bridge the gap between anthropology and neuroscience, mostly taking into account their common interest in human evolution. Paleoneurology deals with the study of brain anatomy in extinct species. Neuroarchaeology concerns the study of brain functions associated with behaviours that are of interest according to the archaeological record. Cognitive archaeology investigates the evolution of those behaviours following methods and theories in psychology. These new fields can provide quantitative and experimental support to topics that, to date, have been largely discussed only on a theoretical basis. Nonetheless, working with extinct species necessarily involves many limitations. Consistent theories on the evolution of our cognitive abilities must rely on the integration of different sources of information, on parallel and independent evidence from different fields, and on a proper attitude: openness and caution.

中文翻译：

---

史前史、神经科学和进化人类学：个人之旅。

人类学和神经科学之间的关系一直是友好但有争议的，因为它们包含包容性的共同主题（人类和他们的大脑），尽管遵循不同的方法，通常在前一个领域更全面和推测，在后者更还原主义和定量。近几十年来，人们提出了一些新学科来弥合人类学和神经科学之间的差距，主要是考虑到它们对人类进化的共同兴趣。古神经学涉及对已灭绝物种大脑解剖学的研究。神经考古学研究与考古记录中感兴趣的行为相关的大脑功能。认知考古学按照心理学的方法和理论研究这些行为的演变。这些新领域可以为迄今为止仅在理论基础上进行大量讨论的主题提供定量和实验支持。尽管如此，与灭绝物种合作必然涉及许多限制。关于我们认知能力进化的一致理论必须依赖于不同来源信息的整合，来自不同领域的平行和独立证据，以及正确的态度：开放和谨慎。