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

Arsuaga, Juan Luis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1568583036 ISBN 13: 9781568583037

Publisher: Basic Books, 2004

Synopsis

The Neanderthals provide a surprising mirror for modern-day humanity. They belonged to our evolutionary group and lived like the Cro-Magnons, our ancestors, did — worshipping, socializing, and hunting. The struggle between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons lasted thousands of years. The Cro-Magnons were not biologically fit for extreme cold weather, but their ingenuity allowed them to settle down, band together, and survive. In this tale of life, death, and the awakening of human awareness, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Spain's most celebrated paleoanthropologist, depicts the dramatic struggle between two clashing species, of which only one survives.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Has there ever been a life form on earth that was as conscious of its own existence as ours? Quite possibly.

The Neanderthals occupied the earth for around 100,000 years and co-existed with our ancestors for at least 10,000 years. Their intelligence was probably very close to our own. They were able to manufacture stone tools like the Cro-Magnons, our ancestors, and they used language, hunted, socialised and practised funerary rituals. Additionally, they were physically better adapted than our ancestors for a cold climate.

Yet the Neanderthals died out while our ancestors survived. Juan Luis Arsuaga suggests that our ancestors’ ability to use symbols combined with their dexterity with tools, such as sewing implements, may have helped them to survive.

This is a story of the sweeping landscapes of a young Earth, of mountains and lakes and of the Ice Age. Within this vista, a drama is being played out between two species. Both are intelligent, conscious and part of reasonably sophisticated communities - only one will survive.

This is a book about our origins and where we came from.

From the Back Cover:

"A lively and very personal account of the earliest inhabitants of Europe by the continent’s leading palaeoanthropologist and hominid fossil finder. Arsuaga’s viewpoint comes as a refreshing and instructive contrast to much of the English language literature on the Neanderthals and their relatives. This book should be read by anyone interested in their own origins and our extinct relatives."
—Dr Ian Tattersall, Curator in the Department of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History and author of The Fossil Trail and The Last Neanderthal.

"As an internationally renowned professor of human palaeontology . . . [Arsuaga] certainly knows his stuff, so we get the necessary evolutionary and environmental background to this complex story, all well-told for the general reader."
—New Scientist

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1568583036
• ISBN 13: 9781568583037
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 334