Buried Alive: The Startling Truth About Neanderthal Man

Customer Reviews:

Caveat Emptor.......2007-10-06

If you are prepared to believe that God created the earth only a few thousand years ago; that the story of Noah and the flood is not a biblical folk tale but verifiable history; that Homo neanderthalensis is not a separate species but was invented by "evolutionist" scientists as part of a world-wide, century-old, anti-Christian conspiracy; that opponents of creationism have stalked the author around Europe with nefarious intent - then this is the book for you.

If you're looking for a sober, scientific treatise on Neanderthals, look elsewhere. This is neither scientific nor very sober.

But it's an amazing book, in the way that von Daniken's books are: amazing that an educated man can believe and write such garbage.

This good doctor makes an unwitting case for the theory of the development of modular intelligences and against evolution: His common sense module clearly failed to evolve. This is sad and rather scary stuff.

Kudos!.......2007-05-25

A great deal of credit must be given to Dr. Cuozzo who is one of a very select few individuals who have ever been allowed to study actual Neanderthal skulls--as opposed to the plaster copies that litter universities and museums around the world.

His studies--from an orthodontic perspective--shine great illumination on the biases and presuppositions that plague much of modern evolutionary science. Biases that still live--yet are rooted in the Victorian "sciences" of the 17th and 18th centuries.

The original skulls and jaws, when studied objectively (and not "assembled" so as to appear deliberately ape-like) show evidence of extreme longevity based Dr. Cuozzo's dental studies and other research which is included in great detail in this book.

Also, the sheer excitement of watching the French government try to shut him down as he threatens to expose some of the misrepresentations and even frauds that he discovers is a great read. Heaven forbid that the Neanderthal tourist industry be threatened as Dr. Cuozzo attempts to excavate the truths which, for so long have been deliberately "Buried Alive"!

His agenda drives him to a highly selective use of evidence. . . ........2006-10-30

First, let's clear something up: An evolutionary process is perfectly compatible with the revelations of Genesis.

To understand how this is possible, you must put Genesis in the context of the society in which it was written. It is a cosmogony. The cosmogony was a literary genre utilized in ancient societies for the purpose of telling the WHO and the WHY of creation. Cosmogonies were not written to tell scientific and historical facts. And no ancient person reading a cosmogony would ever have thought to force one of these accounts into use as a scientific or historical account. It has only been in the centuries since the cosmogony genre fell into disuse that readers, unaware of its context, symbolism, and purpose, began to read Genesis with the earnest literal-mindedness that results in its abuse as a straightforward play-by-play of Creation.

This sort of explanation makes many Christians nervous and even angry because it is assumed that if the work is not literal, scientific fact, the only other conclusion is that it is mythology. Why? The ancient world, in which context it was written, would never have been forced to such conclusions. Genesis reveals truth _within its genre_, and that is that God is the sole Maker and Master of an ordered creation--however He chose to establish that creation (evolution being one hypothesis). That is what Genesis was intended to tell us, not scientific fact, not a historical timeline--but Jack Cuozzo does not seem to know this, and the entire book proceeds from this fatal misapprehension of revelation. Had he been willing to examine Genesis in its context, he might well have discovered that there is no dogmatic reason Homo sapiens could not have been brought to be from lower animals, and that fossils which seem to reveal this are nothing that need to be explained away (see Father John Hardon's The Catholic Catechism, pp 91-102; Cuozzo presents his reasons against evolution on pp 98-99, most of which are evidence of a lack of instruction in theology).

As for the book itself, Cuozzo is an egregiously sloppy writer. The text rambles away within poorly structured, carelessly punctuated sentences. All right, we can forgive him for not being a natural writer--but that the publishing house (Master Books) allowed the book to be presented to the public in such a state of undress leads me to question its credibility as a serious work. As other reviewers have pointed out, Cuozzo is also unnecessarily pedantic, which means that even had he solid scientific conclusions to draw, the layman would not be likely to comprehend them. And, yes, he is extremely paranoid. Each time a fossil is mislaid, poorly studied, or improperly diagrammed or reconstructed he throws out asides equivalent to a wink, since "we" know what "they" were up to with all that. (An example, from p. 42: "This could truly be called evolution after death. . . . Pretty imaginative, wouldn't you say?") What's hilarious is that amidst all his talk about the political reconstructions of "the evolutionists," anytime he finds a fossil not meeting his own expectations we find him conjecturing that it simply must have been "doctored-up" or "deliberately damaged" so that no one would know the truth (see, for example, his study of the tympanomastoid fissure on pp 187-189).

Credit should go to him, however, for his honesty. Cuozzo has an agenda, and that agenda is to prove that Neanderthal man was post-Flood man with the morphology of long-lived men. He states, "I really hesitate to call the 'absolutes' [sic] of the Bible 'assumptions,' but this is only done in a quest for continuity of scientific thought . . . . Underlying both positions is a basic faith upon which a scientific model is built" (p. 81).

However, he makes such a point of the agenda, and therefore untrustworthiness, of the opposite side that it really must be asked why we're supposed to think Cuozzo's agenda and resultant conclusions are any more trustworthy. And if anything, the book reveals a great deal of evidence-lassoing, viz.:

1. Cuozzo's hypothesis is that Neanderthal fossils are actually the fossils of the long-lived descendants of Noah. Projecting the rates of growth of the modern human crania and the rate of wear on teeth, he claims that the evidence proves that the shape of the Neanderthal crania--sloping forehead, brow ridges, lack of chin--and the worn-down teeth are actually the normal shape and condition of the Homo sapiens crania and teeth at the biblical ages of, say, 500 and up. Since this sounds good, and since these are the only features discussed by Cuozzo, the unsuspecting reader may then be under the impression that except for these two features, Neanderthal morphology is not otherwise different than Homo sapiens morphology.

This is not the case, and even Cuozzo has to refer to this from time to time, as on page 96: "They did try to make a different species case as well, on the basis of the labyrinth of the inner ear. . . . I can't say they were too convincing, either." But why should we believe you, when we know you have an agenda, too? In fact, Neanderthal morphology differs in a number of ways, to wit, pelvic dimensions and the phonetic apparatus.

In the case of the first, Cuozzo does make reference to the larger Neanderthal pelvis, but, weirdly, states that this is because Eve's broad hips would have been designed to facilitate a painless childbirth. But if this is so, they why on earth would Neanderthals, who are supposed to be post-Flood humans and therefore well removed from Eve, still exhibit a characteristic only typical of the single pre-Fall female?

In the case of the second, Cuozzo also makes reference to the discovery of a Neanderthal skeleton with a modern hyoid bone: "Kebara II had the only hyoid bone ever found for a Neanderthal. . . . It is essential for speech and the Kebara hyoid was that of a normal human" (p. 252-253). What he doesn't tell you is that based on the placement of this very bone and the associated apparatus as revealed by the Kebara fossil, Neanderthal speech has been reproduced via a computer program--and it is not the speech of modern humans at all. In fact, the Neanderthal was incapable of producing the long e, the long u, and the short o--the cardinal vowels. If Cuozzo's hypothesis is correct, then the vocal apparatus of these long-lived sons of Noah would with age migrate into such a position as to make basic Homo sapiens-level communication pretty darn near impossible (which, incidentally, interferes with a later supposition he makes about the true meaning of some Sumerian texts).

2. He presents a single Neanderthal tooth (an upper bicuspid) with indications of having been precisely carved, apparently to resharpen a worn edge, as evidence that Neanderthals possessed the dexterity not normally attributed to them. But . . . if this were evidence of regular Neanderthal dexterity we would expect to see the same work done on other teeth--and the carving is not repeated on any of the multitudes of teeth Cuozzo examined. (Why did he attribute the work to a Neanderthal in the first place? I'll come back to that.) What's interesting is that in his research notes, Cuozzo admits that the physical evidence is not in favor of Neanderthal dexterity; he writes, "[I]n comparison with a modern man's thumb, the end bone of the Neanderthal thumb is longer and the next bone of the Neanderthal thumb is shorter; therefore, the muscles were at a disadvantage in the thumb grip" (p. 286). No matter, he says, that just means they had to work harder at it. (And wait a minute, do our thumb bones change with age, too?)

Well, ok: Neanderthals were as perfectly capable of executing finely wrought works of art and ornamentation as Homo sapiens turned out to be. If that's the case, then Cuozzo would not need to rely on a single tooth to make his case--their teeth would regularly exhibit dental work, Neanderthal burials would regularly turn up hand-crafted goods, and, of course, there would be cave art associated with Neanderthal occupation.

We've already exhausted the dental record; as to burials, the French site Grotto du Renne is so far the only site that I'm aware of to reveal Neanderthal craftsmanship beyond tool-making, turning up beads, rings, and necklaces. While this is interesting, the fact remains that because almost all Neanderthal sites lack intricately carved goods, we still must conclude that they did not routinely practice craftsmanship--and unfortunately for his hypothesis, Cuozzo does not provide any evidence to the contrary.

Now, remember, Cuozzo wants us to believe that Neanderthals were the long-lived grandsons of Noah, and therefore capable of fine art, so he must find examples of this art to support--not create--this predetermined hypothesis. Burials don't provide it; dentistry doesn't provide it; therefore, cave art must provide it. So, brazenly, he asserts that the real reason scientists say Neanderthals had less manual dexterity than a Cro-Magnon would have had is simply because they want to eliminate them as possible creators of the lovely Upper Paleolithic cave murals, and, of course, that way we can make them into a separate species (wink, wink). (Astonishing, given his own admission that the physical evidence supports the conclusion that the Neanderthals could not execute such art!)

He offers as proof of Neanderthal dexterity a handful of examples of cave art which in his opinion (which is all it is) that Neanderthals practiced imaginative art. First, he relates his illegal trespass in the off-limits cave of Bernifal, France, and reproduces for us what I'm sure he considers his ace, what he describes as a depiction of a dinosaur battling a woolly mammoth. Now, he does raise a very good point: if man as we know him ever co-existed with dinosaurs, where are the depictions in cave art? None have ever been produced (and I will agree that it's definitely possible none have ever been produced for purely political reasons). However, this ill-gotten photo he provides us with is, well, pathetic--it looks nothing like a dinosaur. Besides that, woolly mammoths and dinosaurs existed millions of years apart in time anyway--how could anyone therefore have drawn such a battle?

Second, he collects three strange Upper Paleolithic sculptures of men with very long noses as proof that the nose "does grow in old age. . . . ancient men knew this was happening to them and wanted to document it" (p. 241), thereby attributing the works to Neanderthal ("post-Flood") men. It is worth noting that two of the three faces are executed without brow ridges; the third is reproduced for us in an illustration drawn by him, and contains lines near the forehead which he says are a "series of elevations. . . . portraying future growth of the brow ridges and frontal area" (p.242). Not only is that a huge assumption, but since the ridges aren't evident on the other two sculptures, why associate them at all as a body of Neanderthal cave art? Even if all these WERE depictions of Neanderthals, first, that would hardly be a vast body of evidence constituting proof of Neanderthal dexterity, and secondly, it is not exactly wild theorizing to attribute them to Cro-Magnon man instead, since cave art all over Europe is known to have been worked by them. (He dismisses the idea of a Cro-Magnon authorship without much explanation as to why; more on that in a second).

3. But the most egregiously manipulated piece of "evidence" appears in Chapter 29, "Creation Model Predicts Downward Path." Cuozzo believes that age at the onset of puberty is falling, and will keep falling, due to devolution. First, he quotes a handful of classical and medieval sources which mention the age of puberty as around fourteen (none of these sources appear to be medical works), and then cites several studies from different nations showing that the average menarche (age at first menstrual period) has fallen. Finally, he brings in the condition known as Precocious Puberty; those with PP mature sexually at abnormal ages, even as young as ten months.

What's wrong with this chapter? First, he does not have any reliable data for actually establishing the age at onset of puberty for the last, say, six thousand years. So, how does he know it has _consistently_ fallen from an average age of about 30 circa the Flood (4459 B.C., the date he gives)? More to the point, though, is that most doctors DO agree that the age at menarche is falling--for one group of modern humans, and that is Westernized girls. Why? Better nutrition. This is what his cited studies actually show: all of them are from Westernized nations! One in particular proves my point: Japanese women born before 1900 were compared to Japanese women born during the 1960s; the age at menarche fell from 15 yrs for the first group to 12.5 for the second. What had happened in Japan by 1960? Western influence, that's what! And, in fact, among non-Western modern societies the age of menarche still holds steady in the upper teens--but, wink, wink, did you expect him to tell you that?

He wraps up the chapter with a solemn warning about Precocious Puberty, apparently because he thinks that what is classified as an abnormal condition is actually evidence of devolution. If PP is the shape of things to come, then the age at onset of puberty will continue to fall until an age of ten months is normal for sexual development--come on.

Cuozzo has a few other bizarre theories to share with you; he uses the book of Job as proof of post-Flood man's healing saliva, which we have lost (apparently unaware that Job was written after the return from the Babylonian captivity, and once again being excessively literal with a poetic text). He also performs an exegesis (more like esegesis) on a handful of Sumerian texts which refer to "the big brothers" and "big foreheads," linking them to a text which refers to "the first generations.," of whom we are to inquire (p 247). These are, of course, the long-lived sons of Noah, with the heavy brow ridges of age. Leaving aside how presumptive it is to interpret with assurance a figure of speech used 5,000 years ago, if we are to inquire of them we won't get much out of them, since according to the Kebara II fossil record, Neanderthal man couldn't communicate much of anything!

But, besides the above examples of evidence-lassoing, it is also clear that Cuozzo's interpretation of that evidence is being warped, first, by a refusal to acknowledge the paleoanthropological consensus that Neanderthal man and Cro-Magnon man co-existed for many thousands of years, and second, by a puzzling ignorance of the relationship of Neanderthal man to Homo sapiens. Beginning with the first, he touches on this archeologically attested fact by mentioning the Mt Carmel sites, which provide evidence that "both modern man and Neanderthal were thought to co-exist for 50,000 years" (p. 97). Instead of dealing with this evidence, he first makes a joke about Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons dealing with each other as the Palestinians and Jews do today, and then, returning to the subject later in the book (p. 253), explains that the reason Neanderthal fossils have been found at levels higher than Cro-Magnon burials is not because of co-existence, but because Neanderthals (the grandfathers, so to speak) would have been longer-lived than the Cro-Magnons (actually their devolving grandsons), and so would have outlived them, thus been buried after them.

His inability to work a Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal co-existence into his hypothesis leads him, therefore, to make several weird comments. First, discussing the aforementioned carved upper bicuspid, he states, "Unless La Chapelle had visited the local Cro-Magnon dentist, it appears as if he attempted to sharpen his own upper tooth" (41). One can't help but wait for the punchline, because, well, La Chapelle could very well HAVE visited a Cro-Magnon dentist. In another passage dealing with cave art, he remarks, " I doubt if a Neanderthal sat and had his portrait carved by a Cro-Magnon in France" (p. 243). Why? Cro-Magnon man frequently made artistic representation of the life abounding around him--why not his Neanderthal neighbor? Again, if Neanderthals were capable of artistic representation comparable to Homo sapiens, then their teeth, burials, and cave sites would all exhibit it--but they don't.

That's minor, however, when compared to his astonishing ignorance of the relationship of the Neanderthal to Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens is not, repeat, NOT, supposed to have descended from Neanderthals. Rather, H. sapiens and Neanderthal man both descend, but separately, from Homo antecessor. I do not know how he could have written this entire book under the impression that anybody still thinks Homo sapiens is evolved from Neanderthal man, yet he makes the following statements:

"[Regarding the Mt Carmel sites] According to evolution, the order should be the more modern skulls on top and the primitive or archaic ones on the bottom. Because they are found in reverse or too close to the same levels on Mt. Carmel, one could not have simply evolved into the other, so they were thought to co-exist" (p. 97)

"I believe that this child was not a Neanderthal but most likely in the group devolved from Neanderthals called modern man (Homo sapiens)" (p. 248).

"The older evolutionists like McCown and Keith would have liked to see a nice passage of archaic Neanderthal features into a modern Homo sapiens to make evolution smooth" ( p. 251)

"They would expect that this phenomenon happened all over the world with all moderns going through a Neanderthal 'phase' although not necessarily at the same time" (p. 251).

Overall, his work is a sloppy, disjointed embarrassment proceeding from a pre-determined agenda. Like the evolutionists he frequently lambastes, he has his story and he's sticking to it, no matter what the facts say. Sure, the "other side" has an agenda too. For that reason, and that reason alone, this book should be read, along with respectable paleoanthropological works: because somewhere, between Darwinism and six-days literalism, you can come to the truth.

Good Work.......2006-09-23

To put it simply this book is very eye opening in showing some of the great lengths the Evolutionists will go to cover up and hide their deception. it shows just how much will twist the evidence to suit their goals to deceive everyone about evoluton and great ages. Cuozzo has done excellent dective work in helping expose the lies. I also commend him upon showing the reader that Neanderthals were not some kind of primitive pre-human but rather extremely old humans. He uses scientific studies and evidences upon the skulls of Neanderthals he was allowd acess to as well as statments and claims from the Bible to back up his finds.
A book I found hard to put down.

Well researched, thought out, and supported with evidence........2006-06-21

Having almost killed myself through boredom reading paleo everything type books, I have found Jack Cuozzo's book a real breath of fresh air. It is well written, well researched, and has carefully supported conclusions. Something that is becoming increasingly lacking in today's world of science. Although there are minor points in the book I wish were covered in more detail, it is so well written even layman can walk away from this reading knowing it has been well worth their time invested. Excellent book, good writing, and now that I've heard him speak, I would say he is an even better speaker.

The Neandertal Enigma : Solving the Mystery of Modern Human Origins

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engrossing, all round exploration of the Neandertals
a good primer for the beginner
Not just about Neandertals
Every armchair anthropologist should read this book!
Intimations of our distant past

The Neandertal Enigma : Solving the Mystery of Modern Human Origins
James Shreeve
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0380728818

Customer Reviews:

engrossing, all round exploration of the Neandertals.......2007-03-26

This book is probably already outdated, but it is still a good read. Everything about the Neandertals, as the book make clear, is the subject of often heated controversy. The author does a good job of giving all sides in the story their say, even if the to-and-fro arguments make it hard to come to come to a conclusion. There's plenty of information here in a not too-hard-to-read book.

a good primer for the beginner.......2005-06-24

This is a great book to get you started on more serious writing about paleoanthropology. Shreeve gives consideration to many theories without taking sides. His writing is clear & easy-going. I would have loved more illustrations & maps.

Not just about Neandertals.......2004-05-19

The best thing about this book is that it is not just about Neandertals or Human origins. It covers enough from peripheries of science and the humanities as well as detailed natural history to make it accessible and interesting to anyone who has the slightest interest in this confusing subject.

Though Shreve identifies the complex issues allowing us to doubt everything, the book is far from confusing and there is an enormous amount of travel and biographical notes of the people he has met that Shreve has marshalled in. By all accounts this was an expensive and time consuming book to put together and almost no stone has been left unturned.

I think the fascination with this topic is because it asks the big question - What makes us human? Fortunately, though many answers are offered, Shreve takes care not to make any dogmatic assertion and provides a balanced overview of all the ideas, key workers and key debates.

As a student, I liked the way he discussed the basics of the biological species concept showing how difficult separating species can be at times, especially if using fossils. He also shows us how lots of ideas can be manufactured only to be holed by later workers or evidence.

Most of the book is very fluid. My only criticism is the lack of more illustrations of neandertals - perhaps in colour and a lack of any detail on the classic illustration showing Ramapithecus leading to Cromagnon which has been shown so many times, though this famous picture is discussed.

I think this book shows what science is not. It is not about a solution to the problem that you can believe and cling to. Rather, it is a provisional statement of current understanding and if it seems to explain things, all the better (speaking in the context of human origins).

So many people and ideas are mentioned that this is true journalism, no holes barred, sharp, comical, witty and above all accessible.

I thouroughly recommend it to anyone.

Every armchair anthropologist should read this book!.......2004-04-30

I read this book many years ago and it is still one of my all-time favorites. It combines an anthropologist's journey to answer questions about neanderthals with the scientific debates over human evolution. It is suspenseful and thought-provoking. Mr. Shreeve is a creative, objective and often witty science writer who will make you want to read more about this fascinating science.

Though the mitochondrial DNA evidence was just starting to be accepted when this book was written, it is still an excellent resource. It will also enlighten new anthropology enthusiasts about the separate battlecamps of multi-regional and replacement theorists in the human origins debate.

If you are on this page, you should just buy the book already. Then go get The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes!

Intimations of our distant past.......2002-08-22

During the great space race of the cold war, Sergei Korolev, the visionary architect of the failed Soviet lunar program, included a writer as an essential part of any expedition to the moon, displaying an informed sensibility of the role of artists in interpreting the philosophical impact of science for the masses. In the spirit of Korolev's unrealized, intrepid writer, James Shreeve explores the enigmatic rise and fall of our vanished first cousins, the Neandertals, and their significance in understanding the origins of modern humans. Shreeve's work on the subject is distinctive for its highly engaging pace and style, reading like a sprawling, pan-millennial detective story, but ultimately, it is his own speculation on the nature of Neandertal consciousness - well deserved after so much exhaustive research - that makes this work such an essential read. After an absorbing globe spanning search for clues, Shreeve's odyssey though the ever shifting revelations and counter-revelations of the scientific community culminates in the brave, intuitive synthesis of facts and mysteries that is the calling of a great writer, revealing the philosophical - and spiritual - dimensions of our interest.

Customer Reviews:

No complaints here!.......2005-09-22

The book was in perfect condition and the shipping was really fast.

Brilliant.......2005-07-30

Having only a cursory knowledge about human pre-history, I asked a colleague in the anthropology department for a good primer. He gave me this. It was a veritable cornicoupia of information, even as the authors sought to provide their own answers to quesitons of acadmeic controversey.

The central question Stringer and Gamble seek to answer is: are modern humans kin to Neaderthals, or are we distantly related? In answering this, readers are treated to a briefing on the ice age world of the Lower and Middle Paleolithic, the relation of Neanderthals to other early humans, the way in which Neanderthals have been understood (and seen) by science and the public, before the book really hits its stride in disucssing the archaeology of Neanderthal sites and what they tell us about these early humans.

The authors belive that modern humans are related to (rather than directly from) Neanderthals, and that by the Upper Paleolithic, were being replaced by modern humans coming out of Africa ("Out of Africa II"). The evidence in support of this is strong, although not overwhelming: mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) as well as behavioural data are primarily used.

In all, it was a worthwhile and fascinating read, and certainly provides more depth on the specific case of Neanderthals than other books on early humans.

Well done..........2001-04-28

The authors really do a great job in doing a detailed study of Neanderthals, their lives and their world. They catalogue the fossils found, examine how we know what we know from the bones, tools and even the ash from the fires.
The only problem is that the book was published in 1993-1994 and does not take into account later DNA tests and the four-year-old child who lived five thousand years after the last of the Neanderthals SHOULD of died (found in 1999)who showed signs of interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals. So, while the conclusion in the book that we did not come from Neanderthals may not be correct (and still open to debate), the chapters dealing in detail with Neanderthal tools, camp sites, society, art and burial are a must for people interested in the subject...

Neanderthal: Neanderthal Man and the Story of Human Origins

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What we currently know about human evolution
Best coverage of Neanderthal
Heavy on the Fact of Human Evolution, But Not Well Written
A updated book about Neanderthals...
An outstanding, informative and up-to-date survey.

Neanderthal: Neanderthal Man and the Story of Human Origins
Paul Jordan
Manufacturer: Sutton Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0750926767

Book Description

Was Neanderthalman our direct ancestor, or was he perhaps a more alien figure genetically very different?

Customer Reviews:

What we currently know about human evolution.......2007-07-26

Why this human specie didn't make it, that was the motivation to learn more about Neanderthal people. This book was of great help, explaining the story we currently know about Neanderthals and also human evolution, using fossil and in some cases mitochondrial DNA found in different places, mostly in Europe and Asia. The life of these people was hard and difficult, they were predators but also prey, and they managed to make it through for ten of thousands of years until Homo Sapiens started to populate Europe. The fossil bones and skulls of these people tell us that they had marked differences with Homo sapiens but we cannot say much about their skin color or whether they interbreed or not with Homo Sapiens (we also don't know the skin color of those too). In my opinion is very strange that a whole race became extinct and probabilities say that some interbreed must have happened, at least providing the fittest Homo Sapiens of some genes, for instance a white skin color. Australian aborigines have very particular characteristics, but those are dissapearing little by little due to the mixture with other races.

This book is great to make you think about how difficult has been for human kind to reach up to this point, all the sufferings of people trying to make their best to survive.

Best coverage of Neanderthal.......2002-10-03

This book, as the title suggests, concentrates on Neanderthal finds, fossils, and tool-making, and it goes into a great deal of detail on the current state of our knowledge. In fact, I would say it's probably the most thorough discussion I've found of all the important Neanderthal finds, along with the many intermediate fossil discoveries that show the evolutionary progression of the Neanderthal line.

These include finds such as the Spanish Sima de los Huesos fossils, and the Greek Petrolona fossils, both of which strongly seem to represent an early, archaic form of Neanderthal in their heavier brow-ridges and smaller (about 1200 cc) braincases. Along with these, there are discussions of the several classic Neanderthal finds from France and Germany, too. As I mentioned, the author goes into a fair amount of anatomical detail discussing and comparing the fossils from the many different sites, and so this book may be somewhat difficult, dry, and technical for the non-specialist. Overall, however, it's a very thorough and detailed discussion of the state of our knowledge about this important homonid. The average reader, however, may find the author's prose a little turgid, and the overall technical level a little rough going, but in general, I can't fault the writing too much given the level of technical difficulty of the book.

In addition to the comparative anatomy, the author also discusses Neanderthal tool-making and cultural artifacts, such as the Mousterian industry, and others.

Given the difficulty of the book, I would recommend that many people read Richard Klein's The Dawn of Human Culture before tackling this book, unless you're already somewhat knowledgeable about human evolution. This is a more accessible and very readable book that discusses all the early pre-homonids and homonids from Ardipethicus ramidus up to Homo sapiens, giving much more equal weight to the different stages in human evolution. It will give you a better perspective on the entire line of human evolution before reading Jordan's more specialized volume, which heavily emphasizes Neanderthal. Jordan does provide later chapters discussing earlier and later fossils, so eventually he places Neanderthal in the context of the other homonids, but you don't find these until about half-way through the book.

Another nice point about Klein's book is the interesting discussion of high-tech dating methods and how they're being used, such as radio-isotope methods, luminescence dating, ESR or electron spin resonance techniques, and so on. Klein is also careful to discuss the pros and cons of each dating method, and what the difficulties are in using each method.

Overall, Jordan's book is an excellent, thorough, and fairly technical discussion of the subject which is worth reading despite being somewhat tough going for many readers.

Heavy on the Fact of Human Evolution, But Not Well Written.......2001-09-10

Paul Jordan provides a lot of detail as far as comparative anatomy and the location of various discoveries. He, essentially, has his facts straight and, at times, provides the reader with interesting insights and a discussion of the issues. But the book "Neanderthal" is not well organized and his style of writing leaves much to be desired. His very last chapter, the "epilogue," is the only one in the book where a readable style is apparent. Consequently, I would view this more as a reference work as it is not enjoyable reading. There are many pictures of skulls but almost none have explanitory notes as to what we should be looking for. One is left searching through text to try to make them useful. A few explanatory charts or graphs would have been helpful to try to make sense out of the wealth of factual material he presents. And his discussion of the "Out of Africa" vs "Multi-Regional" hypothesis is strewn all over the book and difficult to come to grips with for those uninitiated. His discussions of DNA testing etc can be mind numbing.

All in all, I wanted to give this book three stars, but I had to relent and give it four due to its discussion of many of the important issues of human evolution and its wealth of detail. Oh, and also, if you are looking for something specific to Neanderthals...less than half this book deals with them. You can do better on Neanderthals with other authors.

A updated book about Neanderthals..........2001-04-28

This book has it all, from fossils to DNA tests. Paul Jordan knows his stuff and has the facts all at his finger tips as he takes us on a tour of the world of the Neanderthals AND the history of their discovery. The only complaint I can say is that it is a tad disorganized in format and might confuse people new to the subject. Lots of photos, but few charts or timelines to help the readers.

People just beginning might wish to read IN SEARCH OF THE NEANDERTHALS by Christopher Stringer and Clive Gamble. Being published in the 1993-4, it is already outdated, but most of the basic information on fossils, camp sites, food sources and stone tools are still valid, aided with maps, charts and timelines. THAN come to Paul Jordan's book for the updated data and ideas.

An outstanding, informative and up-to-date survey........2000-06-04

In Neanderthal: Neanderthal Man And The Story Of Human Origins , Paul Jordan draws upon his archaeological expertise to bring the reader up to date on our current understandings and interpretations of the Neanderthal species and its relationship to homo sapiens. Recently genetic testing on original bones from Germany show that the Neanderthal are not our direct ancestors, but rather a hominid off-shoot from a common ancestor shared with homo sapiens, having diverged from our line of evolution at least half a million years ago and doomed to die out during the last ice age. Jordan also surveys the evidence of about five thousand years of overlapping co-existence with homo sapiens, and some archaeological signs of interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthal types. Neanderthal brings together under one cover all the research into the Neanderthal, their world, technology, way of life, death rituals, origins, and relationships to modern man. Ideal for the non-specialist general reader, Neanderthal is enhanced with more than one hundred black and white illustrations and eight pages of color photography. Also highly recommended are Paul Jordan's early works: Early Man; Riddles Of The Sphinx; and Ancestral Images: The Iconography Of Human Origins.

Your Mother Was a Neanderthal (Time Warp Trio) r/i (Time Warp Trio)

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Time Traveling
My Review of Your Mother was a Neanderthal
Mostly entertaining
Your Mother was a Neanderthal
An amusing sci-fi comedy

Your Mother Was a Neanderthal (Time Warp Trio) r/i (Time Warp Trio)
Jon Scieszka
Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0142400483

Book Description

Everyone's favorite time-travelers are changing their style! The Time Warp Trio series now features a brand-new, eye-catching design, sure to appeal to longtime fans, and those new to Jon Scieszka's wacky brand of humor.

Customer Reviews:

Time Traveling.......2005-12-17

Time Traveling
By Zachary

Your Mother Was A Neanderthal is about three boys named Fred,Sam,and Joe who go to the past and see LIVE NEANDERTHALS!!! When they are there,they go through a lot of adventures such as teaching the Neanderthals to read and write.They got to the past by a book called The Book that Joe's uncle gave to Joe for his birthday.
Hope is found in this book because they hoped they would get back to the future because they were in the past.
A message in the story is never get ahead of your self.I agree with this because sometimes when I write stories,I put important things in front of other important things.Another is never give up.I agree with this because I never give up when hard things happen.
If I could trade places with a character in the story it would be Sam because I could recreate modern civilization in the Stone Age.
I think Sam represents intelligence because he can make clothes using leaves and vines.I think Joe represents magic because he knows a lot of magic tricks.
My point of view about the characters is I think Joe,Fred,and Sam are good characters.
Before I read Your Mother Was A Neanderthal I thought that you should give up if things were way to hard but after I read this book I changed my schema,now I think you should never give up.
I recommend this book to boys and girls because both might like the setting.Also recommend this book to kids in reading level 2 through reading level 4.I gave my book a 5 star rating.

My Review of Your Mother was a Neanderthal.......2005-05-12

I think this book should be rated 5 stars because it's really funny and has a lot of smart remarks. In the story Sam Joe and Fred, in other words the time warp trio travel to the time 40,000 BC. There they meet cavemen and cave women. The problem is that they have to find the magic book to get back to their own time. There they met three cavegirls who took them up to meet their leader Ma. Then Ma locked them up a cave and that's when thier problems started. But they finally escaped by running away when Ma opened the gate. After awhile they met cavemen and their leader Ug. Then Ug showed them maggot infested meat. When Sam Joe and Fred tried to get out of the smelly hole in the ground Ug pulled them down and said no caw. That's when they saw a sabre tooth tiger and they came up with an idea. They dressed like a really ugly monster and scared the tiger off. Then they went back to the cave and found the book. They used the book to go back home.

By Kayla Overman

Mostly entertaining.......2002-12-31

Overall, this was a pretty good book, but it doesn't match Knights of the Kitchen Table and Sam Samurie for Time Warp Trio fun. While it was entertaining to watch them run from the girls, hide from the sabertooth, etc., it was hard to believe that they were in any danger. The dialogue was often witty, but the plot a little thin which took away from the adventure. If you've read the other Time Warp Trio books, then you should read this one, but if you've never enjoyed the adventures of Fred, Sam and Joe you should try one of the better ones first.

Also recommended - King Fortis the Brave - probably the best young adult fantasy book to come out since the Chronicles of Narnia were published.

Your Mother was a Neanderthal.......2002-10-03

The book that I'm reading is Your Mother Was a Neanderthal by Jon Scieszka. This book is very interesting and mysterious. It's all about going through time and seeing what life was like in the past. The part I like best is when they find the Neanderthal, but you'll have to find that out yourself. Anyone who likes to read fantasy should get this book. It makes you feel like your really there and this is no joke. I'm sure you will agree with me but that's your decision to make.

This is a very good book for all ages even for adults and theirs a series too! Try the books that are The Time Warp Trio. Some other books you might want to try are Summer Reading Is Killing Me, 2095, and It's All Greek To Me! I have read mostly all of the series of the Time Warp Trio books and I'm still trying to finish it up. Try the best you can a getting these books and I hope you enjoy them!

An amusing sci-fi comedy.......2001-12-19

"Your Mother Was a Neanderthal," by Jon Scieszka, is a young adult novel in the "Time Warp Trio" series. The book features illustrations by Lane Smith. The story is narrated by Joe, a young schoolboy. With the aid of a magic book, he and his pals Sam and Fred travel back to prehistoric times. They have an adventure involving primitive humans and dangerous prehistoric beasts.

This is a humorous story that is nicely complemented by Smith's surreal, funny drawings. The prehistoric characters are amusing and likeable, and the three "modern" heroes have an entertaining chemistry. Overall, a pretty good adventure.

Average customer rating:

A speculative introduction

Superb Illustrations, Clear Concepts, Outstanding Text

great intro to current thoughts on neanderthals

the last neanderthal

Wonderful Illustrations!

The Last Neanderthal: The Rise, Success, and Mysterious Extinction of Our Closest Human Relatives
Ian Tattersall
Manufacturer: Macmillan Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0028608135

Customer Reviews:

A speculative introduction.......2007-01-17

This is an introduction into investigating the "Neanderthal". The prologue is a speculative story of the final days of the last family. Their appearance as presented is complete conjecture. The book contains a selection of fossils, tools and jewelry photos with detailed descriptions of each. Tattersall lists a few apologetic references for further reading. Obviously a fascinating subject, but fleeting, why?

Were they oddities in the rise to humans? Were they just old men as the bible tells us, or possibly early humans with rickets?--please check out the book "Buried Alive". They had the same brain capacity as us. He donates a brief chapter on evolution; this could have been left out, instead Ian should have focused on the hard science of the so called "Neanderthal" man. The chapter on "Before the Neanderthals" is very much in doubt and some has been proven false, such as: Australopithecus, "Java Man", and "Peking Man". A lot of soft science; light weight, even for evolutionists.

Wish you well
Scott

Superb Illustrations, Clear Concepts, Outstanding Text.......2003-12-13

I'm not a reader who usually pays too much attention to photos and illustrations, but I could recommend "The Last Neanderthal" on that basis alone. There are nearly 150 of them in this 200-page book, some covering an entire page in my oversized edition. Almost all of them are superb. The illustrations are mostly of various fossilized bones and reconstructions. They are not haphazardly thrown throughout the book or tightly grouped in the middle, but introduced when appropriate for the text.

Ian Tattersall's set-up of what is known about Neanderthals is masterful. Most of the first third of the book is about evolution, how fossilization works, and a brief description about what is known of the precursors to both Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. Tattersall is clearly at home with this material and confident in his presentation of it. He takes his time in this area - even though it has little to directly do with the topic of his book - because one cannot understand Neanderthals unless one has some understanding of other pre-modern humans and the scientific techniques used to understand them.

The set-up is not wasted on a flat ending. When Tattersall finally gets to the Neanderthals, he maintains a high level of interest for the reader by first showing how the scholarly views on Neanderthals have changed so much over the last hundred-fifty years (much more fascinating than it sounds) and then by moving into areas about its evolution and what is known about its lifestyle. He appears to be a fair partisan, pointing out evidence both for and against different sides of the numerous controversial topics on Neanderthals.

great intro to current thoughts on neanderthals.......2003-12-09

This book was my entry into current theory on neanderthal man and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Very well written, it covered most if not all of my basic questions. The author's biases are clear yet he is seemingly forthwright about opposing views. The language he uses betrays the complexities of conjecture and theory behind many finds, rather than simply laying things out as 'fact'. Many excellent photographs, paintings, etc...

the last neanderthal.......2002-11-19

Tattersall's book is a must have. It covers all the basics in a compelling style and with particular focus on site locations. The photos and illustrations are as good as those of any "coffee table" book. It is too light on some particular aspects concerning extinction, e.g. hybridization, pelvic ring size, birth/death ratios, and exotic disease resistance, but is superior in descriptions of Neanderthal morphology and environment.

Wonderful Illustrations!.......2002-04-08

The Last Neanderthal is a wonderfully illustrated book perfect for anyone interested in human evolution. While providing an excellent overview of human evolution and the history of the discovery and study of Neanderthals, this book's true merit lies in its photographs of all the major finds of both Neanderthals and other human ancestors. Great as a reference for someone wishing to begin a more in-depth study of Neanderthals for class or just for fun.

Neandertals and Modern Humans in Western Asia

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Neandertals and Modern Humans in Western Asia

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0306459248

Book Description

In this fascinating volume, the Middle Paleolithic archaeology of the Middle East is brought to the current debate on the origins of modern humans. These collected papers gather the most up-to-date archaeological discoveries of Western Asia - a region that is often overshadowed by African or European findings - but the only region in the world where both Neandertal and early modern human fossils have been found. The collection includes reports on such well known cave sites as Kebara, Hayonim, and Qafzeh, among others. The information and interpretations available here are a must for any serious researcher or student of anthropology or human evolution.

The Neandertals: Of Skeletons, Scientists, and Scandal

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Paleontology and Politics

The Neandertals: Of Skeletons, Scientists, and Scandal
Erik Trinkaus
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679732993
Release Date: 1994-03-15

Amazon.com

As a fierce debate rages around the question of whether Neanderthals are the ancestors of modern people, Erik Trinkaus and Pat Shipman begin their book by taking us back to 1856, when the first known remains of a Neanderthal were found in Germany. The authors provide a fascinating history of the science surrounding these mysterious people and the legends that have grown up around them. The Neandertals (most scientists have dropped the H from the name, but popular culture has not yet followed suit) is rich with stories and characters. It reveals much of what we know about the prehistoric past (the last Neanderthal probably died 25,000 years ago), as well as how contemporary biases influence the way we interpret this history.

Book Description

To one nineteenth-century scholar, their fierce, ridged brows were evidence of a "moral darkness" that set them irrevocably apart from human beings. Some commentators accused them of cannibalism. Yet by the 1970s the Neandertals were being hailed as "the first flower people" and praised for their apparent compassion and religious piety.

The story of how scientists could come to such divergent conclusions about a set of bones unearthed in Germany in 1856 unfolds with irresistible detail in this enthralling book. Even as The Neandertals assesses the identity, kinship, and character of our possible ancestors, it casts a wry eye on the modern Homo sapiens who have embraced or disavowed them and illuminates the peculiar way in which even science is shaped by human needs and biases.

Customer Reviews:

Paleontology and Politics.......1999-04-15

This is a fascinating and very well-written account of the discovery of the first Neandertal skeletons, and the shock waves they caused (and are still causing) throughout science.

The Victorian mania for collecting, cataloging and naming natural specimens led to the formulation of the Great Tree of Life, or Chain of Being, arranged from the lowliest organisms in an orderly progression up to "the pinnacle of creation, Man" -- or more accurately, white Anglo-Saxon Englishmen in waist-coats.

The discovery of proto-human remains in Germany in 1856 threw this 'orderliness' of nature into disarray. Did not The Bible state that everything was created all-at-once in perfect harmony? How then could an obviously human skeleton -- but equally obviously not that of a modern Englishman -- have come to rest in the soil beneath their feet?

The ripples from these discoveries were to penetrate the farthest reaches of scientific endeavor, as man began to comprehend geologic time (as opposed to the Biblical timeframe), repeated mass extinctions (as opposed to Christian creation myths) and mankind's own humble origins, starkly laid out on the table before them.

With the help of a certain Mr. Charles A. Darwin, whose own ideas on the mutability of species he had been harboring privately for 20 years, science was soon to face a new conception of itself, basing theory on evidence and logic rather than religious texts and teachings. It is a revolution which is still very much on-going today.

The authors are to be commended for making a potentially dry and technical subject come alive, with the intrigues, power struggles, vanity, hubris and anguish of the revolution ably depicted.

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Life Nature Library: Early Man

Manufacturer: Time-Life Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000I3Z9NM

Product Description

This book covers the ideas surrounding the beginnings of early man and what constitutes a species.

Cave People (All Aboard Reading. Level 2)

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Cave People (All Aboard Reading. Level 2)
Linda Hayward
Manufacturer: Grosset & Dunlap
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Travel way back in time to the Ice Age and meet the Neanderthals! You'll learn what they looked like, where they lived, and how they survived--in spite of cave bears and giant woolly mammoths!

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