How To Think Like a Neandertal

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Biological Sciences, Evolution, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology
Cover of the book How To Think Like a Neandertal by Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge, Oxford University Press, USA
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge ISBN: 9780199912339
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA Publication: October 27, 2011
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge
ISBN: 9780199912339
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Publication: October 27, 2011
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

There have been many books, movies, and even TV commercials featuring Neandertals--some serious, some comical. But what was it really like to be a Neandertal? How were their lives similar to or different from ours? In How to Think Like a Neandertal, archaeologist Thomas Wynn and psychologist Frederick L. Coolidge team up to provide a brilliant account of the mental life of Neandertals, drawing on the most recent fossil and archaeological remains. Indeed, some Neandertal remains are not fossilized, allowing scientists to recover samples of their genes--one specimen had the gene for red hair and, more provocatively, all had a gene called FOXP2, which is thought to be related to speech. Given the differences between their faces and ours, their voices probably sounded a bit different, and the range of consonants and vowels they could generate might have been different. But they could talk, and they had a large (perhaps huge) vocabulary--words for places, routes, techniques, individuals, and emotions. Extensive archaeological remains of stone tools and living sites (and, yes, they did often live in caves) indicate that Neandertals relied on complex technical procedures and spent most of their lives in small family groups. The authors sift the evidence that Neandertals had a symbolic culture--looking at their treatment of corpses, the use of fire, and possible body coloring--and conclude that they probably did not have a sense of the supernatural. The book explores the brutal nature of their lives, especially in northwestern Europe, where men and women with spears hunted together for mammoths and wooly rhinoceroses. They were pain tolerant, very likely taciturn, and not easy to excite. Wynn and Coolidge offer here an eye-opening portrait of Neandertals, painting a remarkable picture of these long-vanished people and providing insight, as they go along, into our own minds and culture.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

There have been many books, movies, and even TV commercials featuring Neandertals--some serious, some comical. But what was it really like to be a Neandertal? How were their lives similar to or different from ours? In How to Think Like a Neandertal, archaeologist Thomas Wynn and psychologist Frederick L. Coolidge team up to provide a brilliant account of the mental life of Neandertals, drawing on the most recent fossil and archaeological remains. Indeed, some Neandertal remains are not fossilized, allowing scientists to recover samples of their genes--one specimen had the gene for red hair and, more provocatively, all had a gene called FOXP2, which is thought to be related to speech. Given the differences between their faces and ours, their voices probably sounded a bit different, and the range of consonants and vowels they could generate might have been different. But they could talk, and they had a large (perhaps huge) vocabulary--words for places, routes, techniques, individuals, and emotions. Extensive archaeological remains of stone tools and living sites (and, yes, they did often live in caves) indicate that Neandertals relied on complex technical procedures and spent most of their lives in small family groups. The authors sift the evidence that Neandertals had a symbolic culture--looking at their treatment of corpses, the use of fire, and possible body coloring--and conclude that they probably did not have a sense of the supernatural. The book explores the brutal nature of their lives, especially in northwestern Europe, where men and women with spears hunted together for mammoths and wooly rhinoceroses. They were pain tolerant, very likely taciturn, and not easy to excite. Wynn and Coolidge offer here an eye-opening portrait of Neandertals, painting a remarkable picture of these long-vanished people and providing insight, as they go along, into our own minds and culture.

More books from Oxford University Press, USA

Cover of the book Strategy: A History by Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge
Cover of the book How the Light Gets In: Writing as a Spiritual Practice by Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge
Cover of the book The American Occupation of Japan : The Origins of the Cold War in Asia by Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge
Cover of the book A Slap in the Face: Why Insults Hurt--And Why They Shouldn't by Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge
Cover of the book Infotopia : How Many Minds Produce Knowledge by Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge
Cover of the book Polio:An American Story by Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge
Cover of the book Among the Creationists:Dispatches from the Anti-Evolutionist Front Line by Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge
Cover of the book Guardians Of The Revolution : Iran And The World In The Age Of The Ayatollahs by Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge
Cover of the book The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture:The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament by Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge
Cover of the book Twelve Examples Of Illusion by Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge
Cover of the book Beer:Tap into the Art and Science of Brewing by Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge
Cover of the book Thomas Jefferson by Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge
Cover of the book The Jewish Teachers of Jesus, James, and Jude:What Earliest Christianity Learned from the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha by Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge
Cover of the book The Infested Mind: Why Humans Fear, Loathe, and Love Insects by Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge
Cover of the book Constantine the Emperor by Thomas Wynn, Frederick L. Coolidge
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy