Abstract

Human adaptation relies on the multigenerational transmission and accumulation of both skills and knowledge. Nonetheless, there is currently no agreement on which factor, or combination of factors, explains our peculiar ability to do so. Theoretical and empirical work, however, has identified many candidates that operate at both the individual and population levels. This chapter starts by giving a brief overview of these factors that support cultural transmission before highlighting the relative lack of research on the cultural transmission of skills. The chapter characterizes skills as behaviours that rely on fine motor control and knowledge as mental states that guide behaviours. Many behaviours require both complex knowledge and skilled actions to be effective. Nonetheless, the chapter argues that the field of cultural evolution has largely studied the transmission and evolution of knowledge, as opposed to skill, raising the possibility that it presents an incomplete picture of human adaptation. Drawing on evidence from anthropology and economics, the chapter suggests that the cultural evolutionary dynamics of skill are likely to differ from those of knowledge. Specifically, it argues that (i) skills are less reliant on language for transmission than is knowledge; (ii) skills are more costly to transmit than knowledge; (iii) skills are transmitted along different pathways than is knowledge, and are more often limited to vertical transmission; and (iv) as a result, skills are likely to evolve more slowly than does knowledge. The chapter concludes that a full picture of human adaptation requires an increased focus on skill, alongside knowledge.