Ebook The Smart Neanderthal Cave Art Bird Catching and the Cognitive Revolution Clive Finlayson Books
Download As PDF : The Smart Neanderthal Cave Art Bird Catching and the Cognitive Revolution Clive Finlayson Books
Since the late 1980s the dominant theory of human origins has been that a 'cognitive revolution' (C.50,000 years ago) led to the advent of our species, Homo sapiens. As a result of this revolution our species spread and eventually replaced all existing archaic Homo species, ultimately leading to the superiority of modern humans.
Or so we thought.
As Clive Finlayson explains, the latest advances in genetics prove that there was significant interbreeding between Modern Humans and the Neanderthals. All non-Africans today carry some Neanderthal genes. We have also discovered aspects of Neanderthal behaviour that indicate that they were not cognitively inferior to modern humans, as we once thought, and in fact had their own rituals and art. Finlayson, who is at the forefront of this research, recounts the discoveries of his team, providing evidence that Neanderthals caught birds of prey, and used their feathers for symbolic purposes. There is also evidence that Neanderthals practised other forms of art, as the recently discovered engravings in Gorham's Cave Gibraltar indicate.
Linking all the recent evidence, The Smart Neanderthal casts a new light on the Neanderthals and the "Cognitive Revolution". Finlayson argues that there was no revolution and, instead, modern behaviour arose gradually and independently among different populations of Modern Humans and Neanderthals. Some practices were even adopted by Modern Humans from the Neanderthals. Finlayson overturns classic narratives of human origins, and raises important questions about who we really are.
Ebook The Smart Neanderthal Cave Art Bird Catching and the Cognitive Revolution Clive Finlayson Books
"This is an interesting and odd book.
The author, Clive Finlayson, is an anthropologist whose base of operations is Gibraltar. Finlayson has two scientific passions, bird-watching and Neanderthals. In this book, he brings the two together as a way of providing insights into the lives of Neanderthals. Finlayson makes the point that while most of the megafauna that interacted with Neanderthals have long gone extinct, the birds we see today are the same species that the Neanderthals saw.
The book's principal focus is the claim that Neanderthals were less cognitively developed than modern homo sapiens. The argument is made that the homo sapien's cognitive advantage gave them a greater ability to exploit the environment by hunting smaller and faster animals, while cognitively limited Neanderthals were restricted to slow and large animals. Finlayson argues against this position by pointing out that Neanderthals could easily exploit the bird population and that there is archeological evidence that Neanderthals captured raptors for their feathers. The evidence comes in the form of cut marks on the fossilized wing bones of birds that are consistent with taking feathers. The speculation is that the feathers were taken for display and that perhaps Neanderthals taught homo sapiens to wear feathers as ornaments.
One point made by Finlayson that was particularly interesting was his explanation for why it took modern homo sapiens approximately 60,000 years to move from the Middle East to Europe, namely the Neanderthals kept them out of Europe. That is a simple and direct explanation, but it conjures the idea of a border way lasting fifteen times longer than human history.
Astounding.
The book has drawbacks. If you are a birder, you will find the long descriptions of birds fascinating, but if you are not, then they may be something to skim through. Likewise, Finlayson wants to give the book a human feel with descriptions of his life as a birdwatcher and his family's work on Gibraltar. Some of this is interesting but it gives the book a somewhat scattered feel as a quasi-travelogue, quasi-text.
Nonetheless, I did find the text interesting. It does offer some insights into Neanderthal life from an unusual angle."
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Tags : The Smart Neanderthal Cave Art, Bird Catching, and the Cognitive Revolution (9780198797524) Clive Finlayson Books,Clive Finlayson,The Smart Neanderthal Cave Art, Bird Catching, and the Cognitive Revolution,Oxford University Press,0198797524,General Adult,General Science,Great Britain/British Isles,HISTORY / General,History,History/World,Non-Fiction,SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General,SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Physical,SOCIAL SCIENCE / Archaeology,Social Science/Archaeology,UNIVERSITY PRESS
The Smart Neanderthal Cave Art Bird Catching and the Cognitive Revolution Clive Finlayson Books Reviews :
The Smart Neanderthal Cave Art Bird Catching and the Cognitive Revolution Clive Finlayson Books Reviews
- This is an interesting and odd book.
The author, Clive Finlayson, is an anthropologist whose base of operations is Gibraltar. Finlayson has two scientific passions, bird-watching and Neanderthals. In this book, he brings the two together as a way of providing insights into the lives of Neanderthals. Finlayson makes the point that while most of the megafauna that interacted with Neanderthals have long gone extinct, the birds we see today are the same species that the Neanderthals saw.
The book's principal focus is the claim that Neanderthals were less cognitively developed than modern homo sapiens. The argument is made that the homo sapien's cognitive advantage gave them a greater ability to exploit the environment by hunting smaller and faster animals, while cognitively limited Neanderthals were restricted to slow and large animals. Finlayson argues against this position by pointing out that Neanderthals could easily exploit the bird population and that there is archeological evidence that Neanderthals captured raptors for their feathers. The evidence comes in the form of cut marks on the fossilized wing bones of birds that are consistent with taking feathers. The speculation is that the feathers were taken for display and that perhaps Neanderthals taught homo sapiens to wear feathers as ornaments.
One point made by Finlayson that was particularly interesting was his explanation for why it took modern homo sapiens approximately 60,000 years to move from the Middle East to Europe, namely the Neanderthals kept them out of Europe. That is a simple and direct explanation, but it conjures the idea of a border way lasting fifteen times longer than human history.
Astounding.
The book has drawbacks. If you are a birder, you will find the long descriptions of birds fascinating, but if you are not, then they may be something to skim through. Likewise, Finlayson wants to give the book a human feel with descriptions of his life as a birdwatcher and his family's work on Gibraltar. Some of this is interesting but it gives the book a somewhat scattered feel as a quasi-travelogue, quasi-text.
Nonetheless, I did find the text interesting. It does offer some insights into Neanderthal life from an unusual angle. - The author makes a very strong and cohesive argument for Neandertals being every bit as smart as "modern" humans. His research was meticulous, and the results fascinating without the sense that he was overreaching in his conclusions, so I definitely recommend this. That said, the writing in places needed a bit more polishing, with tenses changing within the same sentence and such and some sentences that just did not make sense, which were distracting, and some segues were so abrupt and nonlinear I had to stop and reread the previous passage, thinking I'd somehow missed something. This might seem to be unimportant, but to me it broke my train of thought and I found myself backtracking to regain my focus. I also found a certain repetition in the unnecessary descriptions of places he stayed--all early nights and hearty breakfasts and traveling through dark and snowy forests. All well and good for a travelogue but that's not why I bought the book. I wanted to learn about what he'd uncovered about Neandertals and their relationship to fast moving prey. There was also an issue with the images at the end of the book. Perhaps the issue is just with the kindle version, but the captions and images do not match. These issues were relatively minor, but should have been addressed before the book was published. I still give it a strong recommendation, especially to those who steadfastly maintain that Neandertals were little better than the old cliché of knuckle dragging "cave men", or possibly worse, being little better than brown hyenas.
