Lambros Malafouris

Malafouris completed his doctorate in archaeology in 2005 at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Colin Renfrew.{{cite web |url=https://www.hertford.ox.ac.uk/staff/lambros-malafouris |title=Professor Lambros Malafouris |date=2022 |publisher=Hertford College, University of Oxford |access-date=October 16, 2022}}

Working with Renfrew, Malafouris developed an approach to the study of the human mind, past and present, known as Material Engagement Theory (MET). MET has three central tenets:

1. Cognition is extended and enacted because material forms are part of the mind and cognition is the interaction between brains, bodies, and material forms.
2. Materiality has agency because it is able to influence change in brains and behaviors.
3. Meaning (signification) emerges through the active engagement of material forms.

These tenets provide an archaeological framework that "offers a new way of understanding the nature of cognition itself" and establishes "the archaeological record as an integral part of the thinking process."{{cite journal |last1=Wynn |first1=Thomas |last2=Overmann |first2=Karenleigh A |last3=Malafouris |first3=Lambros |date=2021 |title=4E Cognition in the Lower Paleolithic: An Introduction |journal=Adaptive Behavior |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=99–106 |doi=10.1177/1059712320967184 |doi-access=free}}{{rp|3}}

Important concepts developed by Malafouris include:

• metaplasticity, the idea that the plastic human mind “is embedded and inextricably enfolded within a plastic” material culture{{cite book |last1=Malafouris |first1=Lambros |date=2013 |title=How Thing Shape the Mind: A Theory of Material Engagement |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0262019194}}{{rp|46}}
• thinging, the idea that humans think with and through material things{{cite journal |last1=Malafouris |first1=Lambros |date=2020 |title= Thinking as "Thinging": Psychology With Things |journal=Current Directions in Psychological Science |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=3–8 |doi=10.1177/0963721419873349|s2cid=204367315 |doi-access=free }}
• neuroarchaeology, an archaeology informed by neuroscience.{{cite book |last1=Stout |first1=Dietrich |last2=Hecht |first2=Erin E |title=Human Paleoneurology |series=Springer Series in Bio-/Neuroinformatics |volume=3 |publisher=Springer |year=2015 |isbn=978-3-319-08499-2 |editor-last1=Bruner |editor-first1=Emiliano |location=Berlin |pages=145–175 |chapter=Neuroarchaeology |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-08500-5_7}}{{rp|146}}{{cite journal |last1=Malafouris |first1=Lambros |date=2008 |title=Between brains, bodies and things: Tectonoetic awareness and the extended self |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences |volume=363 |issue=1499 |pages=1993–2002 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2008.0014 |pmc=2606705 |pmid=18292056}} Renfrew and Malafouris first suggested and thus coined the term.{{cite journal |last1=Renfrew |first1=Colin |last2=Malafouris |first2=Lambros |date=2008 |title=Steps to a 'neuroarchaeology' of mind, Part 1, Introduction |journal=Cambridge Archaeological Journal |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=381–385 |doi=10.1017/s0959774308000425|s2cid=231810895}}{{cite book |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |editor-last=Chiao |editor-first=Joan Y |title=Cultural neuroscience: Cultural influences on brain function. Progress in Brain Research 178 |location=Amsterdam, the Netherlands |publisher=Elsevier |date=2009 |pages=253–261 |chapter=‘Neuroarchaeology’: Exploring the links between neural and cultural plasticity |isbn=9780080952215}}

In 2007, Malafouris, Renfrew, and Chris Frith co-hosted the first symposium on the origins and nature of human thought at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge.{{cite web |url=https://www.cam.ac.uk/news/changing-our-minds |title=Changing Our Minds |date=2007 |publisher=University of Cambridge |access-date=October 17, 2022}} Between 2018 and 2020, Malafouris and Thomas G. Wynn co-hosted a collaboration between the University of Oxford and the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs to examine the archaeology of the Lower Paleolithic through MET; the results were published in the journal Adaptive Behavior in 2021.{{cite journal |last1=Wynn |first1=Thomas |last2=Overmann |first2=Karenleigh A |last3=Malafouris |first3=Lambros |date=2021 |title=4E cognition in the Lower Paleolithic: An introduction |journal=Adaptive Behavior |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=99–106 |doi=10.1177/1059712320967184|doi-access=free }}

Malafouris was a Balzan Research Fellow in cognitive archaeology at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, from 2005 to 2008.{{cite web |url=https://www.hdc.ed.ac.uk/dr-lambros-malafouris |title=Dr Lambros Malafouris |date=2014 |publisher=HDC: A History of Distributed Cognition |access-date=October 17, 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://www.balzan.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2004_Renfrew_Overview2020.pdf |title=Two Lines of Research in Prehistoric Archaeology |date=2004 |publisher=Fondazione Internazionale Premio Balzan |access-date=October 17, 2022}}

• {{cite book |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |title=How Things Shape the Mind: A Theory of Material Engagement |publisher=MIT Press |year=2013 |isbn=9780262019194}}
• {{cite book |last1=Koukouti |first1=Maria-Danae |first2=Lambros |last2=Malafouris |title=An Anthropological Guide to the Art and Philosophy of Mirror Gazing |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2020 |isbn=9781350202634}}

• {{cite book |editor1-last=Malafouris |editor1-first=Lambros |editor2-first=Carl |editor2-last=Knappet |title=Material Agency: Towards a Non-Anthropocentric Approach |publisher=Springer |year=2008 |isbn=9780387747101}}
• {{cite book |editor1-last=Renfrew |editor1-first=Colin |editor1-link=Colin Renfrew |editor2-first=Chris |editor2-last=Frith |editor3-first=Lambros |editor3-last=Malafouris |title=The Sapient Mind: Archaeology Meets Neuroscience |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780199561995}}
• {{cite book |editor1-last=Malafouris |editor1-first=Lambros |editor2-first=Colin |editor2-last=Renfrew |title=The Cognitive Life of Things: Recasting the Boundaries of the Mind |publisher=McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research |year=2010 |isbn=9781902937519}}

• {{cite journal |editor1-last=Malafouris |editor1-first=Lambros |editor2-first=Colin |editor2-last=Renfrew |title=Steps to a 'Neuroarchaeology' of Mind |journal=Cambridge Archaeological Journal |volume=18–19 |issue=3 |year=2008}}
• {{cite journal |editor1-last=Malafouris |editor1-first=Lambros |editor2-first=Chris |editor2-last=Gosden |editor2-link=Chris Gosden |editor3-first=Karenleigh A. |editor3-last=Overmann |editor3-link=Karenleigh A. Overmann |title=Creativity, Cognition & Material Culture |journal=Pragmatics and Cognition |volume=22 |issue=1 |year=2014}}
• {{cite journal |editor-last=Malafouris |editor-first=Lambros |title=Mind and Material Engagement |journal=Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences |volume=18 |issue=1 |year=2019}}
• {{cite journal |editor1-last=Idhe |editor1-first=Don |editor1-link=Don Ihde |editor2-first=Lambros |editor2-last=Malafouris |title=Homo faber Revisited: Postphenomenology and Material Engagement |journal=Philosophy & Technology |volume=32 |issue=2 |year=2019}}
• {{cite journal |editor1-last=Wynn |editor1-first=Thomas |editor2-first=Karenleigh A. |editor2-last=Overmann |editor3-first=Lambros |editor3-last=Malafouris |title=4E Cognition in the Lower Palaeolithic |journal=Adaptive Behavior |volume=29 |issue=2 |year=2021}}

• {{cite journal |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |title=Beads for a Plastic Mind: The 'Blind Man's Stick' (BMS) Hypothesis and the Active Nature of Material Culture |journal=Cambridge Archaeological Journal |volume=18 |issue=3 |year=2008 |pages=401–414|doi=10.1017/S0959774308000449 |s2cid=162254380 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |title=Between Brains, Bodies and Things: Tectonoetic Awareness and the Extended Self |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences |volume=363 |issue=1499 |year=2008 |pages=1993–2002|doi=10.1098/rstb.2008.0014 |pmid=18292056 |pmc=2606705 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |title=Metaplasticity and the Human Becoming: Principles of Neuroarchaeology |journal=Journal of Anthropological Sciences |volume=88 |issue=4 |year=2010 |pages=49–72|pmid=20834050 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |title=The Brain-Artefact Interface (BAI): A Challenge for Archaeology and Cultural Neuroscience |journal=Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience |volume=5 |issue=2–3 |year=2010 |pages=264–273|doi=10.1093/scan/nsp057 |pmid=20123661 |pmc=2894672 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |title=Metaplasticity and the Primacy of Material Engagement |journal=Time and Mind |volume=8 |issue=4 |year=2015 |pages=351–371|doi=10.1080/1751696X.2015.1111564 |s2cid=146644104 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |title=Mind and Material Engagement |journal=Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences |volume=18 |issue=1 |year=2019 |pages=1–17|doi=10.1007/s11097-018-9606-7 |pmid=31523220 |pmc=6713400 |s2cid=254945693 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |title=Thinking as 'Thinging': Psychology with Things |journal=Current Directions in Psychological Science |volume=29 |issue=1 |year=2020 |pages=3–8|doi=10.1177/0963721419873349 |s2cid=204367315 |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |title=How Does Thinking Relate to Tool Making? |journal=Adaptive Behavior |volume=29 |issue=2 |year=2021 |pages=107–121|doi=10.1177/1059712320950539 |s2cid=225335967 |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |title=Mark Making and Human Becoming |journal=Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory |volume=28 |issue=1 |year=2021 |pages=95–119|doi=10.1007/s10816-020-09504-4 |pmid=33679120 |pmc=7889684 |s2cid=232099281 }}

• {{cite book |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |chapter=At the Potter’s Wheel: An Argument for Material Agency |editor1-first=Carl |editor1-last=Knappett |editor2-first=Lambros |editor2-last=Malafouris |title=Material Agency: Towards a Non-anthropocentric Perspective |isbn=9780387747101 |publisher=Springer |year=2008}}
• {{cite book |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |editor-first=Joan Y. |editor-last=Chiao |chapter='Neuroarchaeology': Exploring the Links between Neural and Cultural Plasticity |title=Cultural Neuroscience: Cultural Influences on Brain Function |series=Progress in Brain Research 178 |isbn=9780080952215 |publisher=Elsevier |year=2009}}
• {{cite book |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |chapter=Grasping the Concept of Number: How Did the Sapient Mind Move Beyond Approximation? |editor1-first=Colin |editor1-last=Renfrew |editor2-first=Iain |editor2-last=Morley |title=The Archaeology of Measurement: Comprehending Heaven, Earth and Time in Ancient Societies |isbn=9780521119900 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010}}
• {{cite book |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |chapter=Knapping Intentions and the Marks of the Mental |editor1-first=Lambros |editor1-last=Malafouris |editor2-first=Colin |editor2-last=Renfrew |title=The Cognitive Life of Things: Recasting the Boundaries of the Mind |isbn=9781902937519 |publisher=McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research |year=2010}}
• {{cite book |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |chapter=Linear B as Distributed Cognition: Excavating a Mind not Limited by the Skin |editor1-first=Helle Juel |editor1-last=Jensen |editor2-first=Mads D. |editor2-last=Jessen |editor3-first=Niels |editor3-last=Johannsen |title=Excavating the Mind: Cross-sections through Culture, Cognition and Materiality |isbn=9788779342170 |publisher=University of Aarhus |year=2012}}
• {{cite book |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |chapter=On Human Becoming and Incompleteness: A Material Engagement Approach to the Study of Embodiment in Evolution and Culture |editor1-first=Gregor |editor1-last=Etzelmüller |editor2-first=Christian |editor2-last=Tewes |title=Embodiment in Evolution and Culture |isbn=9783161549014 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |year=2016}}
• {{cite book |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |chapter=Play and Ritual: Some Thoughts from a Material Culture-Perspective |editor1-first=Colin |editor1-last=Renfrew |editor2-first=Iain |editor2-last=Morley |editor3-first=Michael |editor3-last=Boyd |title=Ritual, Play, and Belief in Evolution and Early Human Societies |isbn=9781107143562 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2017}}
• {{cite book |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |chapter=Bringing Things to Mind: 4Es and Material Engagement |editor1-first=Albert |editor1-last=Newen |editor2-first=Leon |editor2-last=De Bruin |editor3-first=Shaun |editor3-last=Gallagher |editor3-link=Shaun Gallagher |title=The Oxford Handbook of 4E Cognition |isbn=9780198735410 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2018}}
• {{cite book |last=Malafouris |first=Lambros |chapter=Beyond Biology and Culture: Cross-disciplinary Reflections on the Universality and Diversity of the Human Mind |title=Balzan Papers |volume=3 |isbn=9788822267108 |publisher=Olschki Publications |year=2020}}

• {{annotated link|Neuroarchaeology}}
• {{annotated link|Neuroesthetics}}

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• {{Google scholar ID|QzggpbwAAAAJ}}

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