The Neanderthal Legacy

An Archaeological Perspective from Western Europe

Paul A. Mellars (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

480 Seiten

2015
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-16798-5 (ISBN)

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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.

Paul Mellars is both Reader in Prehistory and President of Corpus Christi College of the University of Cambridge. He is the editor, with Christopher Stringer, of The Human Revolution: Behavioral and Biological Perspectives on the Origins of Modern Humans (Princeton).

List of TablesList of IllustrationsPrefaceCh. 1Introduction1Ch. 2The Environmental Background to Middle Palaeolithic Occupation9Ch. 3Stone Tool Technology56Ch. 4Tool Morphology, Function and Typology95Ch. 5The Procurement and Distribution of Raw Materials141Ch. 6Industrial Taxonomy and Chronology169Ch. 7Middle Palaeolithic Subsistence193Ch. 8Sites in the Landscape245Ch. 9The Spatial Organization of Middle Palaeolithic Sites269Ch. 10The Significance of Industrial Variability315Ch. 11Neanderthal Society356Ch. 12The Neanderthal Mind366Ch. 13The Big Transition392References420Index of Sites461General Index465

Verlagsort	New Jersey
Sprache	englisch
Maße	178 x 254 mm
Gewicht	595 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Archäologie
ISBN-10	0-691-16798-2 / 0691167982
ISBN-13	978-0-691-16798-5 / 9780691167985
Zustand	Neuware