The Neanderthal's Necklace: In Search of the First Thinkers

by Juan Luis Arsuaga, Andy Klatt (Translator)

Overview

Neanderthals are at the center of this compelling narrative by Europe's leading anthropologist, not because they were our ancestors but because they were not. Members of a parallel humanity that evolved in Europe for hundreds of thousands of years, they were in direct competition with Cro-Magnons — modern humans. The way Neanderthals lived and the reasons why they disappeared 50,000 years ago offer a surprising mirror in which we can examine and learn more about ourselves. Illustrated, concise and readable, this is a fascinating exploration of human origins. "Lively, personal, refreshing, and instructive, this book should be read by anyone interested in their own origins and our extinct relatives." — Ian Tattersall, author of The Fossil Trail, The Last Neanderthal, and Becoming Human

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781568583037
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	03/25/2004
Pages:	334
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Juan Luis Arsuaga is Paleoanthropologist and Professor of Human Paleontology in Madrid, Visiting Professor at the University College of London and co-director of excavations at Sierra de Atapuerca (a World Heritage Site). Dr. Arsuaga's work there and the discovery of Homo antecessor has transformed the history of human evolution and won him the Premio Príncipe de Asturias 1997. A member of the American National Academy of Sciences, he is a regular contributor to Nature, Science, the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, and editor of the Journal of Human Evolution.

Table of Contents

	Prologue	vii
Part 1	Shadows of the Past	1
Chapter 1	The Solitary Species	3
Chapter 2	The Human Paradox	27
Chapter 3	The Neanderthals	53
Part 2	Life in the Ice Age	95
Chapter 4	The Animated Forest	97
Chapter 5	The Reindeer Are Coming!	123
Chapter 6	The Great Extinction	157
Part 3	The Storytellers	201
Chapter 7	A Poisoned Gift	203
Chapter 8	Children of the Fire	233
Chapter 9	And the World Was Made Transparent	275
	Epilogue: Domesticated Man	305
	Afterword	315
	In Memoriam	317
	Acknowledgments	319
	Bibliography	321
	Index	327

Editorial Reviews

In this meandering story, Spanish paleoanthropologist Arsuaga examines a plethora of scientific data in order to establish the place of the Neanderthals in our developmental lineage. Based on discoveries of skeletal remains on the Iberian peninsula, he argues that the Neanderthals possessed a larger skull-and hence a larger brain-than previous hominids of the apelike Australopithecines. In the author's view, the Neanderthals might well have used their cerebral capacities to solve problems, make tools and interact socially in their community; archeological evidence shows Neanderthals were very likely the first hominids to make two-sided tools for hunting and building. In addition, cave art indicates that Neanderthals understood, tentatively at least, the value of giving meaning to their world through symbols and stories. Eventually, the Cro-Magnons, with more highly developed brains and social systems, moved into Europe, competing with the Neanderthals for food and shelter. The latter disappeared from the earth, and today we think of the Cro-Magnons as our direct hominid ancestors. Although Arsuaga's thesis is clear enough, his narrative rambles erratically . For example, he spends three chapters on the fauna and flora of the Ice Age without clearly connecting them to his main ideas. In addition, his account requires familiarity with scientific jargon ("Mode I technology," "cladistics," "biogeography"), that Arsuaga does not explain adequately. What could have been a fascinating story instead devolves into a hodgepodge of paleontological and anthropological theories. (Dec. 2) FYI: A related exhibit, based on Arsuaga's work, opens at New York's American Museum of Natural History in January 2003. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

The work of noted Spanish paleoanthropologist Arsuaga at excavations at Sierra de Atapuerca (where he is codirector) has influenced our understanding of human evolution. This ambitious work not only tracks the twisted course of human evolution but puts it in the context of ecosystems, colonization, and glaciations. According to the author, Neanderthals evolved independently in Europe; science knows when they disappeared but not why or how. Arsuaga speculates as to how Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons (our direct ancestors) interacted with one another and why the latter were able to survive while the former became extinct after hundreds of thousands of years of successful existence. Arsuaga contends that Neanderthals never developed the capacity for symbolic language, either oral or visual, favoring a natural type of intelligence instead. Conversely, Cro-Magnons developed symbolic language and thought, which led them to invent and develop new tool technology and thus quickly outdistance the Neanderthals. A provocative book for scholars and people with an interest in human origins; recommended for larger academic anthropology collections. [A major exhibit based on the author's work will open at New York's American Museum of Natural History in January 2003.-Ed.]-Gloria Maxwell, Penn Valley Community Coll. Lib., Kansas City, MO Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Whatever happened to that nice Neanderthal family that lived down the lane? Bad things, this lively prehistory tells us—courtesy, perhaps, of our Cro-Magnon ancestors.

As Spanish paleoanthropologist Arsuaga writes, prehistorians have long suspected that the Neanderthals, a northerly branch of the human family, were done in by the early modern humans who arrived in Europe from Africa about 40,000 years ago. The process may have taken thousands of years, he adds, and other factors may have had more to do with the demise of the Neanderthal line than Cro-Magnon nastiness, including the sad fact that Neanderthals didn’t live very long to begin with. (Life expectancy at birth was "well under thirty years.") The competition was one-sided in any event. Neanderthals and modern humans, "alternative human models, each representing a different but effective evolutionary response to the identical challenges they faced," had very different skills, and the brute strength of the former was in the end no match for the cunning of the latter. Writing of a climatologically confused time when tigers and wooly mammoths lived side by side, Arsuaga offers an engaging tour of prehistoric Europe and especially of ancient Spain and southern France, from which the bulk of the archaeological evidence comes. He explores some of the critical differences that obtained between Neanderthals and modern humans: physically compact, the first were better suited to life in a cold climate than the newcomers, but the second had the crucial tool of language and symbolic thought at their disposal. The Cro-Magnons were thus able to scheme up traps and fibs, but, more importantly, also to plan ahead, save for a rainy day, and"reap the maximum benefit from what nature had to offer at any given time of the year." On such differences does extinction or survival hinge, and Arsuaga does a good job of detailing the particulars of evolution’s logic.

A satisfying, up-to-date outing for students of ancient humankind and its less fortunate cousins.

Kirkus Reviews