Name: Kindred
ISBN: 9781472937476

Rebecca Wragg Sykes

Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art

Kindred

tianna

They split, join and pool in hollows until the waters overspill and reunite with deep channels cutting into the earth.

When histories and lineages merge with land, what happens to the bodies of the dead becomes one of the most powerful ways to invest a place with social potency.

Theirs was a dynamic dance with stone, waltzing to different rhythms that merged external factors with ideas, choices, foibles... As routinely as breathing, Neanderthals paid attention to their rock: selecting the choicest types, playing with novel ways to fragment, shifting concepts and skills as needed.

a decently enjoyable read and a great summary of neandertal literature

Laura Mauler

I didn't finish this book, and yet I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's weird but I just felt like I had my fill of Neanderthals and I was ready to move on. I own this book, and I've got my place in it marked, so I can always come back to it if the mood strikes.

"Kindred is important reading not just for anyone interested in these ancient cousins of ours, but also for anyone interested in humanity."--The New York Times Book Review "[A] bold and magnificent attempt to resurrect our Neanderthal kin."--The Wall Street Journal In Kindred, Neanderthal expert Rebecca Wragg Sykes shoves aside the cliché of the shivering ragged figure in an icy wasteland, and reveals the Neanderthal you don’t know, our ancestor who lived across vast and diverse tracts of Eurasia and survived through hundreds of thousands of years of massive climate change. This book sheds new light on where they lived, what they ate, and the increasingly complex Neanderthal culture that researchers have discovered. Since their discovery 150 years ago, Neanderthals have gone from the losers of the human family tree to A-list hominins. Our perception of the Neanderthal has changed dramatically, but despite growing scientific curiosity, popular culture fascination, and a wealth of coverage in the media and beyond are we getting the whole story? The reality of 21st century Neanderthals is complex and fascinating, yet remains virtually unknown and inaccessible outside the scientific literature. 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 first full picture we have of the Neanderthals, 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 of them all: their relationship with modern humans.

Fantastic summary of everything Neanderthal related.

Derek Barlas

Mat Connor

'Beautiful, evocative, authoritative.' Professor Brian Cox 'Important reading not just for anyone interested in these ancient cousins of ours, but also for anyone interested in humanity.' Yuval Noah Harari Kindred is the definitive guide to the Neanderthals. Since their discovery more than 160 years ago, Neanderthals have metamorphosed from the losers of the human family tree to A-list hominins.Rebecca Wragg Sykes uses her experience at the cutting-edge of Palaeolithic research to share our new understanding of Neanderthals, shoving aside clichés of rag-clad brutes in an icy wasteland. She reveals them to be curious, clever connoisseurs of their world, technologically inventive and ecologically adaptable. Above all, they were successful survivors for more than 300,000 years, during times of massive climatic upheaval. Much of what defines us was also in Neanderthals, and their DNA is still inside us. Planning, co-operation, altruism, craftsmanship, aesthetic sense, imagination, perhaps even a desire for transcendence beyond mortality. Kindred does for Neanderthals what Sapiens did for us, revealing a deeper, more nuanced story where humanity itself is our ancient, shared inheritance.

Kindred Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art

Reviews

Highlights