Neuroarchaeology is a sub-discipline of archaeology that uses neuroscientific data to infer things about brain form and function in human cognitive evolution.
[1][2] As explained by archaeologist Dietrich Stout and evolutionary neuroscientist Erin E. Hecht,[3]: 146 neuroarchaoelogy "has specific theoretical implications that extend beyond the general sense of the neologism.
"[2] Neuroarchaeology combines the words "neuro-" as in "neuroscience," indicating its connection with the brain sciences, and "archaeology," meaning the study of human history and prehistory through excavation and other techniques designed to investigate the material record.
This has enabled archaeologists to base hypotheses about the biological and neural substrates of human cognitive abilities on archaeological data, especially change in material forms like stone tools across time.
Neuroscientific insights can also be applied in critically reviewing and challenging theories and assumptions about the inception of modern human cognition and behavior, including whether there even are such things.