Neanderthals Rediscovered

March 31, 2019 10:59 AM - by Dimitra Papagianni

In recent years, the common perception of the Neanderthals 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 communicated with spoken language. Meanwhile, advances in DNA technologies are compelling us to reassess the Neanderthals’ place in our own past.

For hundreds of thousands of years, Neanderthals evolved in Europe parallel to Homo sapiens evolving in Africa, and, when both species made their first forays into Asia, the Neanderthals may even have had the upper hand. In this important volume, Dimitra Papagianni and Michael A. Morse compile the first full chronological narrative of the Neanderthals’ dramatic 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 television commercials.

posted by Homo neanderthalensis (5 comments total)

This is recent up to 2013 and is one of the best and most approachable overviews of modern scholarship about Homo neanderthalensis, our closest hominid cousins with whom we shared a planet not too long ago. The pop-culture surrounding my brethren is astounding and largely out of date with what we know about these gentle giants. The book was the first to incorporate what we know more of now, that Homo sapien's DNA is the true last bastion of the neanderthal, and that while modern human's are the last hominid standing, we beat 'em with love not war. (That last sentence was gross hyperbole and intended for humor it is vastly more complicated that that.) This book is a must for anyone who want's to learn more about the neanderthal, but doesn't want to take advanced level anthropology courses to do so. It's well written and goes into several controversies about the interpretation of neanderthal sites, and while the author does rightfully take sides as to plausibility, she lays everything out in a manner that is informative and easy to read. I highly recommend this book.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 11:06 AM on March 31, 2019 [5 favorites]

Is self-linking allowed on FanFare?
posted by snofoam at 4:21 AM on April 1, 2019 [7 favorites]

Is self-linking allowed on FanFare?

If posting about neanderthals is wrong, I don't want to be right!
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 10:02 AM on April 1, 2019 [3 favorites]

Typical Hominin-supremacist bias. Unfair to Cetartiodactyla.
posted by ambulocetus at 6:54 PM on April 1, 2019 [2 favorites]

We can't all be transitional fossils DAD!
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 8:56 PM on April 1, 2019 [3 favorites]