Full Description
Since the Western world first became aware of the existence of Neanderthals, this Pleistocene human has been a regular focus of interest among specialists and also among the general public. In fact, we know far more about Neanderthals than we do about any other extinct human population. Furthermore, over the past 150 years no other palaeospecies has been such a constant source of discussion and fierce debate among palaeoanthropologists and archaeologists. This book presents the status of our knowledge as well as the methods and techniques used to study this extinct population and it suggests perspectives for future research.
Contents
1. The Genus Homo: Origin, Speciation and Dispersal. - 2. Before the Neanderthals: Hominid Evolution in Middle Pleistocene Europe. - 3. The Earliest European Human Peopling after the Recent Discoveries: Early Neanderthals or Different Lineages?. - 4. The Gran Dolina-TD6 Human Fossil Remains and the Origin of Neanderthals. - 5. The Hominid Fossils from China Contemporaneous with the Neanderthals and Some Related Studies. - 6. Behavioral and Cultural Origins of Neanderthals: A Levantine Perspective. - 7. Discontinuities in the Faunal Assemblages and Early Human Populations of Central and Western Europe during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. - 8. Neanderthal Geographical and Chronological Variation. - 9. A Preliminary Approach to the Neanderthal Speciation by Distance Hypothesis: a View from the Shoulder Complex. - 10. Facts and Ideas in Paleolithic Growth Studies (Paleoauxology). Evidence from Neanderthals in Europe. - 11. Dental Development and Age at Death of a Middle Paleolithic Juvenile Hominin from Obi-Rakhmat Grotto, Uzbekistan
12. Computerized Reconstruction of Prenatal Growth Trajectories in the Dentition: Implications for the Taxonomic Status of Neandertals. - 13. Endostructural Characterisation of the Regourdou 1 Neanderthal Proximal Arm: Bilateral Asymmetry and Handedness. - 14. A Three-dimensional Lookat the Neanderthal Mandible. - 15. Integration and Homology of "Chignon" and "Hemibun" Morphology. - 16. Virtual Synthesis of the Skull in Neanderthals by FESS. - 17. Neandertal mtDNA from a Late Pleistocene Human Mandible from the Cova del Gegant (Spain). - 18. Towards Neanderthal Paleogenomics. - 19. Twelve Years of Neandertal Genetic Discoveries : State-of-the-art and Future Challenges. - 20. Radiocarbon Dating the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Transition: the Demise of the Last Neanderthals and the First Appearance of Anatomically Modern Humans in Europe. - 21. Archaeological, Paleontological and Genomic Perspectives on Late European Neandertals at Vindija Cave, Croatia. - 22. Late Neandertals and Early Modern Humans in Europe: Population Dynamics and Paleobiology. - 23. Aliens from Outer Time? Why the "Human Revolution" Is Wrong, and Where Do We Go from Here? . - 24. Neandertals and the Roots of Human Recency. - 25. Epilogue 150 Years of Neanderthal
