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Our perception of the Neanderthals has undergone a metamorphosis since their discovery 150 years ago, from the losers of the human family tree to A-list hominins. Spanning scientific curiosity and popular cultural fascination means that there is a wealth of coverage in the media and beyond – but do we get the whole story? Despite enormous advances in the scientific study of this fascinating human ancestor, barely anything beyond their ice-age extinction escapes the scientific journals to make it into the mainstream media. The reality of 21st century Neanderthals is complex and fascinating, yet remains virtually unknown and inaccessible outside the scientific literature.
In Beyond the Ice, Neanderthal expert Becky Wragg Sykes shoves aside the cliché of the shivering ragged figure in an icy wasteland, and reveals the Neanderthal you don't know, who lived across vast and diverse tracts of Eurasia and survived through hundreds of thousands of years of massive climate change. Using a thematic rather than chronological approach, this book will shed new light on where they lived, what they ate, and the increasingly complex Neanderthal culture that is being discovered. The reader will journey through the surprisingly exotic and immensely varied worlds of the Neanderthals, from coasts to mountains to deserts as well as the great European forests we might recognise today, while the endless wind-swept tundras of the ice ages are explored with a fresh eye.
Based on the author's first-hand experience at the cutting-edge of Palaeolithic research and theory, this easy-to-read but information-rich book lays out the full picture we now have of the Neanderthals for the first time, from amazing new discoveries changing our view of them forever, to the more enduring mysteries of how they lived and died, and the biggest question perhaps of them all, their relationship with modern humans.
Published | 01 Dec 2020 |
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Format | Hardback |
Edition | 1st |
Extent | 400 |
ISBN | 9781472937490 |
Imprint | Bloomsbury Sigma |
Dimensions | 234 x 153 mm |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
Important reading not just for anyone interested in these ancient cousins of ours, but also for anyone interested in humanity. - Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens
The New York Times
Beautiful, evocative, authoritative. Kindred is a beautifully written exploration of our fast-developing understanding of Neanderthals and their culture and a compelling insight into how modern science is revealing the secrets of an extinct species who, for 350 thousand years before Homo Sapiens became dominant, inhabited a world “as wide and rich as the Roman Empire.”
Professor Brian Cox, Physicist and TV presenter
Rebecca Wragg-Sykes's fact-packed but highly readable book puts us right with a superbly authoritative guided tour of much new evidence. It's tempting to say, "If you read only one book about the Neanderthals, read this one" -- except that if the next 20 years provide as many revelations about our ancestors as the past 20 have done, she will need to produce just as weighty a second volume.
Richard Morrison, The Times
Blending cutting-edge science with lyrical storytelling, Rebecca Wragg Sykes paints a detailed portrait of our enigmatic relatives.
Professor Alice Roberts, anatomist, author and broadcaster
Written with such pleasing, elegant prose, Kindred is a captivating ode to the subtle complexities of palaeoanthropology – the thrill of discovery, the frustrating gaps in the evidence, the tantalising question marks hovering above our favourite ideas. Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes balances admirable scientific caution with her joyous enthusiasm, and the result is a generous, enthralling history of how we first came to know our ancient cousins, and how we're still getting to know them today.
Greg Jenner, historian and author
'Kindred is a thrillingly full account of what we currently know about the Neanderthals… Wragg Sykes' project is to write about Neanderthals as an end in themselves, not as a failed version of humanity.'
London Review of Books
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