Recommend me (a) book(s) on Early Modern Humans and/or Neanderthals

[Steel Icarus]

Please

I know nothing about this stuff so I'm not even layman level. So nowt too scholarly and dry. And as recent as poss, I know even ten year old books on this have been superceded by super science

Cheers

 

[killer b]

This latest research is all you need, afaik

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I'd like to know, too. The books I've read are more than 10 years old. That's a decent cut-off point cos it's when the Denisovans were discovered, which rather set the cat among the pigeons. Regular articles in New Scientist changing the story all the time.

The Singing Neanderthals by Steven Mithen is a good read, but it's 15 years old, so pre-Denisovan-era. It's quite speculative, although Mithen does signal when he's speculating, but a fair bit of that speculation will be wrong now.

 

[Part-timah]

 

[Jay Park]

This latest research is all you need, afaik

I’ve had worse dinner guests

 

[Orang Utan]

Paging ringo

 

[ringo]

I haven't read any very recent books but I would always look for what Chris Stringer thinks first. He's arguably the best in the field and presents/writes very well for both the professional and layperson. He had a book out in 2018 which looks like the one:

Our Human Story - Louise Humphrey & Chris Stringer (Pub by Natural History Museum). 2nd hand copies for a fiver on Amazon etc.

Alice Roberts is even more accessible, and also respected - Evolution: The Human Story 2nd Edition 2018. Seems to be hard cover only though so twenty odd quid.

 

[Sweet FA]

signal when he's speculating

he only signals when he's speculating, signals when he's speeecuuulaaating etc

 

[scifisam]

I have this one on order from Abe books: Our Human Story by Louise Humphrey and Chris Stringer: Used; Good Paperback (2018) | Greener Books They seem to have a lot of them, though the Alice Roberts book for some reason only comes from the US so is rather expensive.

 

[strung out]

The first half of Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari looks at this, and is very accessible and available cheaply. Plenty of stuff to disagree with in there wrt Harari's own reasoning about how and why humankind evolved in the way it did, but I found it thought provoking and extremely readable.

(edit: just searched the forum and see you've read it. Will leave the recommendation up for anyone else interested)

 

[Little Piranha]

I'm reading Humankind by Rutger Bregman atm. It's just come out. It's got a lot of stuff about early humans and how opinions on them have changed over time/research has developed. The emphasis is on how societies were organised and the fundamentals of 'human nature'. It's not super academic but it seems like that's not what you're after anyway.

Also it's just an uplifting and interesting read for dark times when we're all told how terrible people are and that's just reality. Got some good stuff saved up for next time my father in law tries to tell me that it's human nature to be selfish and that's why we should all be right wing.

 

[chilango]

I'm reading Humankind by Rutger Bregman atm. It's just come out. It's got a lot of stuff about early humans and how opinions on them have changed over time/research has developed. The emphasis is on how societies were organised and the fundamentals of 'human nature'. It's not super academic but it seems like that's not what you're after anyway.

Also it's just an uplifting and interesting read for dark times when we're all told how terrible people are and that's just reality. Got some good stuff saved up for next time my father in law tries to tell me that it's human nature to be selfish and that's why we should all be right wing.

Looking forward to reading this one.

 

[ringo]

The first half of Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari looks at this, and is very accessible and available cheaply. Plenty of stuff to disagree with in there wrt Harari's own reasoning about how and why humankind evolved in the way it did, but I found it thought provoking and extremely readable.

Got this on my 'to read'pile.

 

[JimW]

Just read this and found it interesting, demographic modelling suggests there were likely only ever 10,000 Neanderthal individuals alive at any one time, and the maximum they posit just 70,000：

Living on the edge: Was demographic weakness the cause of Neanderthal demise?

The causes of disappearance of the Neanderthals, the only human population living in Europe before the arrival of Homo sapiens, have been debated for decades by the scientific community. Different hypotheses have been advanced to explain this demise, such as cognitive, adaptive and cultural...

journals.plos.org

 

[Steel Icarus]

Thanks for posting this JimW - will read it later when I'm supposed to be working

 

[JimW]

Fairly sophisticated operation extracting tar to use as an adhesive:

Neanderthal adhesive manufacturing site found in Gibraltar cave

Cut into a Gibraltar cliff face overlooking the Alboran Sea, a cave opening leads back in time to one of the earliest manufacturing sites on the planet—a Neanderthal-built tar distillation oven hidden for 65,000 years.

phys.org

 

[Idaho]

Highly recommend this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kindred-Neanderthal-Life-Love-Death/dp/1472937473/ref=asc_df_1472937473?mcid=e33069d247f639a9ba84ee0f8cdd80db&th=1&psc=1&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696450770528&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1787471916278589971&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045344&hvtargid=pla-1037946994446&psc=1&gad_source=1

The poetry that starts each chapter does a great job of driving home the point of neanderthal humanity.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Coincidentally (I'd forgotten I'd made this thread) I'm currently reading Home by Francis Pryor, a pre-history of how and where humans lived. Very interesting

 

[Crispy]

Please

I know nothing about this stuff so I'm not even layman level. So nowt too scholarly and dry. And as recent as poss, I know even ten year old books on this have been superceded by super science

Cheers

If you don't mind listening instead of reading, Tides of History podcast did a big long season on ancient humans, from early hominids up to the bronze age collapse, going over all the latest research and with lots of interviews with the scientists involved. Plenty of coverage of stuff outside of the Mediterranean too.

Tides of History - Season 4: Prehistory

Written and narrated by Patrick Wyman; Sound Engineer - Sergio Enriquez; Produced by Morgan Jaffe; Executive Producers - Jenny Lower Beckman and Marshall Lewy

wondery.com

also available Wherever You Get Your Podcasts

 

[Steel Icarus]

If you don't mind listening instead of reading, Tides of History podcast did a big long season on ancient humans, from early hominids up to the bronze age collapse, going over all the latest research and with lots of interviews with the scientists involved. Plenty of coverage of stuff outside of the Mediterranean too.

Tides of History - Season 4: Prehistory

Written and narrated by Patrick Wyman; Sound Engineer - Sergio Enriquez; Produced by Morgan Jaffe; Executive Producers - Jenny Lower Beckman and Marshall Lewy

wondery.com

also available Wherever You Get Your Podcasts

I've listened to a few of these,but thanks for reminding me!

 

[Idaho]

If you don't mind listening instead of reading, Tides of History podcast did a big long season on ancient humans, from early hominids up to the bronze age collapse, going over all the latest research and with lots of interviews with the scientists involved. Plenty of coverage of stuff outside of the Mediterranean too.

Tides of History - Season 4: Prehistory

Written and narrated by Patrick Wyman; Sound Engineer - Sergio Enriquez; Produced by Morgan Jaffe; Executive Producers - Jenny Lower Beckman and Marshall Lewy

wondery.com

also available Wherever You Get Your Podcasts

Thanks, that's on the list