The Neanderthals Rediscovered: How Modern Science Is Rewriting Their Story Author: Dimitra Papagianni | Language: English | ISBN:
0500051771 | Format: EPUB
The Neanderthals Rediscovered: How Modern Science Is Rewriting Their Story Description
“Even-handed, up-to-date, and clearly written. . . . If you want to navigate between the Scylla and Charybdis of Neanderthal controversies, you’ll find no better guide.” —Brian Fagan, author of Cro-Magnon
In recent years, the common perception of the Neanderthal has been transformed thanks to new discoveries and paradigm-shattering scientific innovations. It turns out that the Neanderthals’ behavior was surprisingly modern: they buried the dead, cared for the sick, hunted large animals in their prime, harvested seafood, and spoke. Meanwhile, advances in DNA technologies have forced a reassessment of the Neanderthals’ place in our own past.
For hundreds of thousands of years, Neanderthals evolved in Europe very much in parallel to the Homo sapiens line evolving in Africa, and, when both species made their first forays into Asia, the Neanderthals may even have had the upper hand. Here, Dimitra Papagianni and Michael A. Morse look at the Neanderthals through the full dramatic arc of their existence—from their evolution in Europe to their expansion to Siberia, their subsequent extinction, and ultimately their revival in popular novels, cartoons, cult movies, and TV commercials.
60 illustrations, 25 in color
- Hardcover: 208 pages
- Publisher: Thames & Hudson; 1 edition (October 7, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0500051771
- ISBN-13: 978-0500051771
- Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
This book contained a good summary of the latest Neanderthal research, and was written in an easily 'digestible' manner. The last chapter was especially entertaining (the authors' take on Neanderthal representation in popular culture. I have to agree with them - why are fictional Neanderthals always portrayed as telepathic? Surely there are other uses for a big brain? In fact, I don't think fiction authors need to embellish much - the facts are interesting enough).
The one thing that struck me, though (and this isn't the book fault), is that so many theories (even mainstream ones) are based on very few facts. Scientists just don't seem willing to accept that certain things will never be revealed (societal structures, norms, behaviours). Unless you can invent a time machine, it's impossible to study these extinct societies in action.
Also, the attitude towards Neanderthals throughout history seems to border on racism. There was a comment that, since Neanderthals are a different species, it can't be racism, but I think they miss the point. I believe that once humans reached a certain level (and Neanderthals were pretty identical to modern humans), their individual fates were mostly decided by environmental factors. There is simply no hard evidence to suggest that Neanderthal cognitive abilities were any different (and this will only be testable if someone decided to clone one!). Too many scientists confuse correlation with causation.
A simple thought experiment - if you removed all the humans from earth today, and invited alien anthropologists to study the evidence left behind (cities, tools, literature etc.), how would they judge the different communities? Would they declare that some populations had less cognitive abilities than others?
I read this book as a direct result of stumbling into "Them and Us, Profile of a Super Predator". "Them and Us" essentially makes the bold case for how Neanderthals traumatized our species during its infancy through predation, which has led us to be the dysfunctional, and sexy, species we are today. The book was so radical, I just wanted to consume some more mainstream Neanderthal science to refute its thesis.
What I found in "Neanderthals Rediscovered" was quite simply a whole lot of nothingness. The fossil record for Neanderthals explored in this book while well documented and considerable is completely inconclusive. The truth is we know very little about this important species and much of what is purported to be modern scientific reality is nothing more than anthromorphized conjecture based upon subjective interpretation of a handful of opaque archeological sites. "Neanderthals Rediscovered" actually had the unintended consequence of making me go back to "Them and Us" to re-read it.
At least the conclusions in "Them and Us" are based on what could be considered a three dimensional review of Neanderthal physiology viewed in the a "natural systems" context of the environmental period. The mainstream science presented in "Neanderthals Rediscovered" takes handaxe construction, a heap of prey species bones at the bottom of a French cliff and a pile of Neanderthal bones discovered in the back of a cave and projects from these limited artifacts a rich tale of Neanderthal culture, language and society. Leaps in faith that are just to large in my opinion.
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