The Neanderthal LegacyPaul Mellars | 1995-12-22 00:00:00 | Princeton University Press | 480 | Ancient
The Neanderthals populated western Europe from nearly 250,000 to 30,000 years ago when they disappeared from the archaeological record. In turn, populations of anatomically modern humans, Homo sapiens, came to dominate the area. Seeking to understand the nature of this replacement, which has become a hotly debated issue, Paul Mellars brings together an unprecedented amount of information on the behavior of Neanderthals. His comprehensive overview ranges from the evidence of tool manufacture and related patterns of lithic technology, through the issues of subsistence and settlement patterns, to the more controversial evidence for social organization, cognition, and intelligence. Mellars argues that previous attempts to characterize Neanderthal behavior as either "modern" or "ape-like" are both overstatements. We can better comprehend the replacement of Neanderthals, he maintains, by concentrating on the social and demographic structure of Neanderthal populations and on their specific adaptations to the harsh ecological conditions of the last glaciation.
Mellars's approach to these issues is grounded firmly in his archaeological evidence. He illustrates the implications of these findings by drawing from the methods of comparative socioecology, primate studies, and Pleistocene paleoecology. The book provides a detailed review of the climatic and environmental background to Neanderthal occupation in Europe, and of the currently topical issues of the behavioral and biological transition from Neanderthal to fully "modern" populations.
Reviews
If you really want just the FACTS about Neanderthals, this is the book to read. Even if you are not an academic, but just a curious lay-person like myself. Yes, it can be excruciatingly detailed in examining everything that is so far known about these extinct hominids, (I had no idea that you could write hundreds of pages about how rocks are chipped!) but those details can be very revealing if considered rationally and prudently as Mellars does. There are plenty of maps, illustrations and graphs to support the text and the wrap-up at the end is conservative yet expressive. As Mellars writes:
"Perhaps the most intriguing and enigmatic aspects of the Middle Paleolithic period is how and why it came to an end, after a period of around 200,000 years of remarkable stability. From the preceding chapters it has emerged that while there were significant shifts in the precise morphology and technology of stone tool production, subsistence patterns, site distributions etc. at different stages of the Middle Paleolithic, very few if any of these seem to reflect any radical reorganization or restructuring of technological, economic or social patterns. Most of the documented changes appear to be more cyclical than directional in character... none of these changes at present suggests more than a reshuffling of basic cultural and behavioural patterns which, in one form or another, can be traced back into the time range of the penultimate glaciation.
The dramatic break in this pattern of behavioural stability occurs at the time of the classic Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition, dated in most regions of Europe at around 35-40,000 BP."
And then he asks the most important question in all of archaeology and paleontology: What is the precise character of the behavioural change and to what extent was this due to a major dispersal of new human populations. The corollary question is, of course: why should we encounter this particular combination of biological and behavioural change at this specific point in the archaeological sequence? It was, after all, a time when large parts of Europe were still in the grip of an Ice Age.
The only way to fully know how extraordinary the new type of human being was/is, is to study carefully the old types, and that is what this book does so well. You will be left in no doubt whatsoever that Neanderthals are NOT our ancestors though, indeed, there may have been some extremely limited genetic mixing as some recent DNA studies show. It may be significant to note that the mtDNA does not show mixing, so whatever infusion of Neanderthal genetics into modern human lines was probably a Neanderthal raping a homo sapiens woman. A careful consideration of the characteristics of Neanderthals - what little can be discerned, but mainly their lack of creativity over 200,000 years or more of existence - along with the very small percentage of dna mixing, may give clues to certain personality pathologies among modern humans, such as psychopathy. One has only to imagine the mixture of the non-creative, almost parasitic Neanderthal personality with the dynamic, creative, Cro-Magnon to get an image of the aggressive, dominating psychopath that is devoid of creativity, has no ability to conceive of time and space, and functions totally opportunistically. Perhaps that is the real "Neanderthal Legacy"? Just speculating.
I will note that, as is the habit of most academics, there is quite a bit of jargon that is specific to the field and if you are not a specialist, this may be a bit of a barrier to understanding. Just keep a notebook handy and jot down some of the terms and their definitions as they appear and you'll be fine. The main confusing elements have to do with terms used for dating, so it can help to pay close attention to chapter 2 and continuously refer to the graph on page 10. If you are persistent, by the time you are finished, you'll be tossing off jargon with the best of them!
The book is a bit pricey and tedious for the lay-reader, but, as noted, if you want to get down to the nitty-gritty, this one does it best. Alternatively, you could read Ian Tattersall's and Jeffrey Schwartz's Extinct Humans or Paul Jordan's Neanderthal: Neanderthal Man and the Story of Human Origins But for the fullest picture of this fascinating period in the Earth's history, I would recommend all three and more.
Reviews
Great overview of Neanderthal archaeology, with one of the best accounts of their tool technology in any textbook. Strictly based on facts, and not given to speculation, he gives a very conservative assessment of their cognitive abilities. Offers a clear structure, and is not difficult to read. Not just for academics.
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