Description
Product Description
When the first Neanderthal skeleton was discovered nearly 150 years ago, scientists presented the race as barely developed brutes. But recent findings indicate that Neanderthals made complex tools, organized group hunts, cared for their sick and injured,and buried their dead.
From School Library Journal
Grade 6 Up—Who were the Neandertals? Why did they die out? How are modern humans related to them? These questions and others are addressed in La Pierre's lively and intriguing study. The author begins with the first fossil discoveries and continues by showing how scientists have struggled to determine Neandertals' connection to Homo sapiens and how they lived. The text includes sharp color photos of skeletal remains, black-and-white portraits of scientists, and artists' varied interpretations of how Neandertals looked. La Pierre clearly describes the varying viewpoints on their physiology as well as culture. The glossary definitions are often too technical to be useful to beginning anthropologists, but the extensive bibliography gives budding researchers plenty of current articles to examine. A short list of further reading includes appealing fiction as well as nonfiction. Little has been published specifically on Neandertals for a younger audience, and this book will make a great addition to the anthropology section of both public and school libraries.—
Denise Schmidt, San Francisco Public Library, CA
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From Booklist
This entry from the Discovery! series provides a fascinating look at the human species known as Neandertals (also spelled Neanderthals). Explaining how the first skeleton discovered 150 years ago was viewed through the prism of evolution, the book goes on to examine the many paradoxes surrounding the species. Were they a missing link or a separate shoot on the human tree? What do their remains (as well as artifacts such as tools) really tell about them? Did they live beside modern humans? Interbreed with them? Most provocatively, author La Pierre asks if modern humans viewed Neandertals with what she describes as racism, killing them because they were seen as different. Some answers are provided, while others can never be known, but there is plenty of explanation about how the facts were arrived at. Illustrated with paintings and museum displays, as well as photos of scientists at work, this will pique readers’ interest and get them thinking as well. The extensive end matter includes a glossary, bibliography, and lists of further-reading options and Web sites. Grades 6-8. --Ilene Cooper
About the Author
Yvette La Pierre is the author of
Ghana in Pictures. She also wrote
Josephina's World, which is one of the Pleasant Company American Girl books. She is a former editor of
National Parks magazine.