The Neandertals: Changing the Image of Mankind 9780224036481, 0224036483

Table of contents :
Frontmatter
Author's Note (page ix)
Important Fossil Discoveries (page xi)
Cast of Characters (page xiii)
Prologue (page 3)
CHAPTER 1 God or Beast? (page 8)
CHAPTER 2 Not My Ancestor: 1856-1865 (page 46)
CHAPTER 3 L'Affaire Moulin Quignon: 1865-1885 (page 91)
CHAPTER 4 Shuffling into the Light: 1886-1905 (page 126)
CHAPTER 5 The Proper Study of Mankind: 1906-1918 (page 159)
CHAPTER 6 An Okapi of Humanity: 1918-1939 (page 209)
CHAPTER 7 Global Thinking for Global Times: 1940-1954 (page 253)
CHAPTER 8 Race and Unreason: 1955-1970 (page 299)
CHAPTER 9 Welcome to Hard Times: 1971-1983 (page 342)
CHAPTER 10 Created in Our Own Image: 1984-1991 (page 384)
Epilogue (page 411)
Notes (page 421)
Index (page 439)

Citation preview

THE NEANDERTALS

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First published in Great Britain 1993 © Erik Trinkaus and Pat Shipman 1993 Jonathan Cape, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London swiv 2sa Erik Trinkaus and Pat Shipman have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the authors of this work

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0-224-03648-3 , Printed in the United States of America

To Kim and Alan,

| Zachary and Amelia, Sable and Chutney: thanks

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| CONTENTS

Authors’ Note ix Important Fossil Discoveries xi

Cast of Characters xiii CHAPTER I God or Beast? 8

Prologue 3

CHAPTER 2 Not My Ancestor: 1856—-1865 46 CHAPTER 3 L’Affaire Moulin Quignon: 1865-1885 gI CHAPTER 4 Shuffling into the Light: 1886-1905 126 CHAPTER 5 The Proper Study of Mankind: 1906-1918 159

CHAPTER 6 An Okapi of Humanity: 1918-1939 209 CHAPTER 7 Global Thinking for Global Times: 1940-1954 = 253

CHAPTER 8 Race and Unreason: 1955-1970 299

| Epilogue 4Il Notes A421 CHAPTER 9 Welcome to Hard Times: 1971-1983 342 CHAPTER IO Created in Our Own Image: 1984-1991 384

Index | 439

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| | AUTHORS’ NOTE

_ This is a book about the history of science and the science of history. It is also a book about people, from long-dead Neandertals to living scientists, and the way in which each person’s present shapes his or her view of the past. Neither , | of us is an historian of science, nor is this a scholarly text. It is simply a _

story—as accurate a tale as we can make it, but one that is shaped by the _ | recognizable imprint of our own prejudices and biases. It is, inevitably, ourown |

i peculiar view of a field in which we both grew up. > : Oo a

oe _ In writing this work, we have quoted liberally from the written and spoken words of many others. With the exception of occasionally trying to improve

clarity (for example, by changing the capitalization of words from uppercase to _ i lowercase or vice versa), we have left each author’s words as they were written, a | complete with archaic or alternative spellings and grammar. Our intent is to transmit the full flavor and ambiance of the originals. For our own words, we

have chosen to follow current spellings of names and places—Neandertal instead of Neanderthal, for example, or Beijing instead of Peking. And yet, where these words are incorporated into the name of an institution, we have given that institution’s preferred spelling at the time in question. To avoid pedantry, we have ignored the technical distinction between cranium (the bones of the upper jaw, face, and braincase) and skull (a cranium plus a lower jaw) and have used the terms interchangeably. The notes at the end of the text give full references (and occasional asides) for the reader who wishes to know more. Throughout this enterprise, many colleagues, friends, and acquaintances have

shared their knowledge with us, ferreted out obscure information or photographs, or entertained and educated us with reminiscences about events and persons long gone. We are indebted to those listed below. If we have omitted individuals or institutions, it is not from a lack of gratitude. We owe so much to so many that it is difficult to compile a comprehensive list. Thanks to Ofer Bar-Yosef, Amilcare Bietti, Lewis R. Binford, Daniel Borzeix,

Authors’ Note | x Mme. Bouyt, C. Loring Brace IV, Ginter Brauer, Gert Brieger, Daniel Cahen, Rachel Caspari, Jean-Jacques Cleyet-Merle, Claudine Cohen, Glen Cole, Silvana Condemi, Yves Coppens, Jean-Marie Cordy, Suzanne Dallemegne, John de Vos, Giacomo Giacobini, Phillip Gingerich, Mrs. Hooijer-Ruben, F. Clark Howell, William W. Howells, Jean-Jacques Hublin, Robert Kruszynski, Steven Kuhn, André Langaney, André Leguebe, D. Loubatiéres, Giorgio Manzi, Ernst Mayr, Rosine Orban, Jakov Radovéi¢, Mrs. J. Seebo, B. Holly Smith, Fred H.

Smith, Ralph S. Solecki, Frank Spencer, T. Dale Stewart, Mary C. Stiner, Christopher B. Stringer, Anne-Marie Tillier, Francois Twiesselmann, Bernard Vandermeersch, Randall White, (the late) Allan Wilson, and Milford Wolpoff. And also our special gratitude to Jonathan Segal, our editor at Knopf, for his thoughts, encouragement, and enthusiasm. We have also been aided and abetted by the staffs of the Musée de Homme, the Bibliothéque Nationale, the Natural History Museum (London), the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, the Harvard Peabody Museum, the American Museum

of Natural History, the Smithsonian Institution, the Welch Library of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the Enoch Pratt Library. For encouragement and sometimes unwitting but crucial moral support, we also thank Ginny Armstrong, Marla Caplan, (the late) Galina Gorokhoff, John de Montfort, Gail and Roger Lewin, Claire Van Vliet, and Delta Willis. Finally, let us flourish a cliché and thank our spouses, without whom...

IMPORTANT FOSSIL DISCOVERIES

HUMAN GEOGRAPHIC REGION & SITES | YEARS PHASES OF THE GENERA BEFORE PALEOLITHIC & SPECIES | EUROPE ASIA AFRICA PRESENT

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stone tools. That the child was some sort of human was apparent, but the crushing and distortion of the bones and the sheer youth of the

individual (it was about nine months old at death) meant that the e

Neandertal aspects of its features were very subtle. Despite the obvious success of the first field season, Solecki did not return until 1956, when he had been awarded one of the first Fulbright scholarships for study abroad. That year, the excavation focused mainly - on the more recent layers, with mundane results. But in April and May e|e 1957, as the field season was winding up, the team recovered three adult Neandertal skeletons (known as Shanidar 1, 2, and 3). Shanidar 3 was excavated first, but because it was fragmentary, the bones were initially identified as nonhuman. This meant that it was not until April 27, 1957, the day on which they excavated Shanidar 1—an extraordinarily wellpreserved Neandertal adult male—that Solecki knew he had found what were truly Neandertal burials. Then, in the closing week of the work, one of his team, Philip Smith,

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60. The Shanidar 1 Neandertal skull as it was exposed during excavation. It was the first adult skeleton out of nine Neandertals found at the site, all of which led to a kinder, gentler view of these prehistoric humans.

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