Reassessing Paleolithic Subsistence
Reassessing Paleolithic Subsistence
The contribution of Neandertals to the biological and cultural emergence of early modern humans remains highly debated in anthropology. Particularly controversial is the long-held view that Neandertals in Western Europe were replaced 30,000 to 40,000 years ago by early modern humans expanding out of Africa. This book contributes to this debate by exploring the diets and foraging patterns of both Neandertals and early modern humans. Eugène Morin examines the faunal remains from Saint-Césaire in France, which contains an exceptionally long and detailed chronological sequence, as well as genetic, anatomical and other archaeological evidence to shed new light on the problem of modern human origins.
- Discusses the fate of the last Neandertals - a highly debated topic
- Considers recent human evolution in Western Europe, looking at archaeological evidence
- Sheds light on the expansion of early modern humans
Reviews & endorsements
'The overwhelming strength of Morin's book is that it takes a rather niche topic, subsistence practices in a limited area of Western Europe, and effectively addresses a significant archaeological question within a much larger regional framework, using methods that are applicable to other time periods and locations … an extremely important contribution and excellent model for future analysts studying the region.' Britt M. Starkovich, Current Anthropology
Product details
April 2012Adobe eBook Reader
9781139335386
0 pages
0kg
112 b/w illus. 4 maps 61 tables
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
Table of Contents
- 1. The research problem
- 2. Human origins and the problem of Neandertals
- 3. Foraging theory and the archaeological record
- 4. Saint Césaire
- 5. The fauna
- 6. Taphonomy
- 7. Seasonality
- 8. Transport decisions and currency analysis
- 9. Testing the hypotheses
- 10. Diet breadth at the regional level
- 11. An alternative look at the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition
- 12. Concluding thoughts.
