How To Think Like a Neandertal by Thomas Wynn (PDF)

Description

There have been many books, movies, and even TV commercials featuring Neandertals–some serious, some comical. But what was it really like to be a Neandertal? How were their lives similar to or different from ours?In How to Think Like a Neandertal, archaeologist Thomas Wynn and psychologist Frederick L. Coolidge team up to provide a brilliant account of the mental life of Neandertals, drawing on the most recent fossil and archaeological remains. Indeed, some Neandertal remains are not fossilized, allowing scientists to recover samples of their genes–one specimen had the gene for red hair and, more provocatively, all had a gene called FOXP2, which is thought to be related to speech. Given the differences between their faces and ours, their voices probably sounded a bit different, and the range of consonants and vowels they could generate might have been different. But they could talk, and they had a large (perhaps huge) vocabulary–words for places, routes, techniques, individuals, and emotions. Extensive archaeological remains of stone tools and living sites (and, yes, they did often live in caves) indicate that Neandertals relied on complex technical procedures and spent most of their lives in small family groups. The authors sift the evidence that Neandertals had a symbolic culture–looking at their treatment of corpses, the use of fire, and possible body coloring–and conclude that they probably did not have a sense of the supernatural. The book explores the brutal nature of their lives, especially in northwestern Europe, where men and women with spears hunted together for mammoths and wooly rhinoceroses. They were pain tolerant, very likely taciturn, and not easy to excite.Wynn and Coolidge offer here an eye-opening portrait of Neandertals, painting a remarkable picture of these long-vanished people and providing insight, as they go along, into our own minds and culture.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Neandertal men, or Neandertals have intrigued people since the discovery of the first fossil remains were discovered in the Meander Valley back in 1856. Early ideas about Neandertals were heavily influenced by preconceptions about human ancestry current at that time and so Neandertals were believed to be the missing link between human and ape and so Neandertals were depicted as bestial, sub-human primitives. More recent research has revealed that Neandertal Man or Homo neanderthalensis was very closely related to modern Homo sapiens, perhaps even a subspecies of sapiens. More recent depictions of Neanderthals have tended to be more sympathetic, including Jean M. Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear and the Geico cavemen.Paleontological research and the sequencing of Neanderthal DNA have taught us a lot about their appearance and habits, but not so much, what they were really like. How “human” were the Neanderthals? Were as intelligent as modern humans, or more, or less? Would they fit into modern society?Thomas Wynn and Frederick L. Coolidge attempt to answer these questions in their book, How to Think Like a Neandertal. Wynn, an archaeologist and Coolidge, a psychologist, go over the available evidence to try to reconstruct how Neanderthals really thought. This exercise necessarily requires a lot of speculation since there are no living Neanderthals to examine, but most of their guesses seem to be sound, based on the evidence they present.Wynn and Coolidge believe that Neanderthals were as intelligent as modern humans were. Judging from the artifacts they left, they were certainly not stupid. Yet, their intelligence seems to be subtly different from ours. Neanderthals did not innovate much. Their tools are much the same in design throughout their range. The tools were well made, but they lacked the sort of regional variations that are characteristic of tribes of modern humans who live far apart. The tools remain retain the same designs for tens of thousands of years, while the tools of even the most primitive modern humans show some development over time. Wynn and Coolidge speculate that Neandertals were very conservative in temperament and did not like the new or unexpected.Neadertals were very strong compared to modern humans and lived hard and dangerous lives. Wynn and Coolidge assert that emotionally, Neanderthals were stoic and used to dangers and injuries. They took care of injured members of their communities. These communities or bands were rather small, perhaps no more than a dozen or two dozen individuals. Neadertals did not travel much and did not interact with other bands except on rare occasions. They do not seem to have engaged in any sort of trade between bands. Because of this, Neadertals were probably suspicious of strangers and less sophisticated in social interactions than modern humans who lived in larger communities that interacted with one another.Neadertals almost certainly had language. They had the same genes that in humans control the acquisition and use of language. There is no way now to know what their languages were like and how they compare to the languages of our time. Wynn and Coolidge believe that their language must have been different from any language used by Homo sapiens, perhaps more context specific and with more use of stock phrases as part of their conservatism. Their humor might also have been different, more physical and maybe far less use of word play. I think, though, that this subject is the one in which their speculations are less well based on available evidence. I believe that unless a Neadertal is resurrected using “Jurassic Park” technology, we simply do not have enough evidence on which to base any speculations.How to Think Like a Neandertal is an interesting book about an interesting people. I only wish it were possible to know more about the Neandertals.

⭐It’s late in the process, but i’ve gotta say something about this book.First, the title’s too cute by half. But published by Oxford and favorably referred to by the well-known paleontologist, Mithen in a review I read on some other subject. So I took a flyer.First remark: animals vs. people. That’s a mental divide, so to speak, a lot of plain folks and and even – or sometimes especially – PhD’s, ethologists and perfessers just cannot cross.. I’ll admit where I’m coming from. Grew up during the era of behaviorism and also surrounded by farm animals and for all my life by many pets, mainly cats and dogs. But I’m also a beekeeper. I believe almost any beekeeper will tell you bees are conscous animals that make decisions. Of course, at the final level nobody can prove it. But at the final level nobody can prove my wife is conscous either!So second remark. It’s not a question of figuring out whether Neandertals or Chimps fall on one side or another of a bright dividing line. So how can you tell what their mental lives are like? I’ve got the dog and my wife with me all the time, so by comparing their behavior with my own and other animals, I can make a go at it. But I’ve never seen a Neandertal, how to approach that?This book has two great strengths. From the paleontology side it takes a very conservative stance. True, some assumtions are made which other reviewers have (rightly) in my judgement criticised. For instance, the lack of division of labor, the inference that small hearths relates to story telling abilty and at least a few more. But we do NOT get Neandertals, singing, playing instruments, well dressed, having burial rituals, (or even much in the way of burials at all) religious beliefs and so on.Much as many people – and me too- would like to imagine it was like that, the archeological evidence just doesn’t support it – or we can say it’s very much dsiputed. So the reconstruction here is really based on what we know, not on what we’d like to believe. That’s a necessary place to begin.The second strength of the book is the work of the psychologist. Seldom have I been so convincingly led from the physical facts (in this case, all indirect archeological facts) to the inner life of a creature. We may dispute the sociological interpretation of some of the sites, but GIVEN the interpretations, the inferences from the external evidence (small groups, tool manufacture and so on) were masterful. I actually came away with at least some sort of notion of what life may have been like from the inside of one of these people. I think if you’re of a philosophical bent, this book will give you lots to think about as you read it and give you some food for thought long after.

⭐This is a truly excellent read that mixes academic rigour, real research data/reporting and the latest theories (at least at the time of publication) with a very captivating writing style. It is both engaging, intellectually challenging, humorous (at least in places) and a real page turner. I’d rate this of being of interest to both the specialist and more interested lay reader.I brought this having read Palaeolithic archaeology at university and having worked for a couple of years in a research/field capacity, so I could be considered reasonably knowledgeable on the subject. But that was over 15 years ago now and so this had lots of finds, data and theories that I was not up to date with. It was a great way to get right up to date on various theories and finds in this intersting area of the palaeolithic. Whilst it might help being somewhat aware of archaeology, I don’t think it would be essential to get lots out of this book. It is written in such a style that it really does provide all of the information the reader needs as they go along. It contains a reasonable glossary but I didn’t need to refer to that when reading, as the authors did a good job of clearly defining terms, contexts and places as they went along. I must say I really liked the way they did that – that kind of writing can help open up interesting academic areas of study and I think shows a writer/scientist that is really interested in communicating their subject. Rather than just an academic using complex words as a mask of intellectual elitism. That or a good editor.From the nature of the subject, the book does get a bit weaker towards the end, as the theroy gets more distant from the physical archaeological record. The dreams section is the weakest from my perspective and I did find myself wondering at times. I was still keen to read on though. The authors clearly explain their rationale for this section and are open that this is indeed the weakest part of their theory. They do it in a totally captivating way.An excellent read all round. It made me wish I’d stayed in archaeology and will certainly get me reading some more in this area.

⭐Wynn and Coolidge draw not just from archaeology here, but also cognition, psychology, and zoology, supporting their propositions with multiple layers of evidence. They readily admit the shortcomings in the text, and make it very clear that wherever there is uncertainty, they have erred on the most conservative interpretation of the facts. The result is quite palatable; the authors appear to have engaged in self-critique, transparency about what they are doing, and have restrained themselves from wild leaps between evidence and conclusions.

⭐Bought this book last week & finished it yesterday, I was totally engrossed & a good many questions answered. I always wanted to read more about the cognitive behaviour of our enigmatic Neanderthals, easy reading which is not dull & prosaic. Very in depth & definitely a favourite book of mine on this subject. Loved the ‘You’ve got personality’ & ‘Thinking like a Neanderthal’ chapters especially. Very enlightening to read up on how a Neanderthal would live & learn if brought up by us, what career/jobs etc they could do. This book is a must if you love anything to do with Neanderthals! (Yes I am aware that it is spelt Neandertal in this book-no right or wrong way).

⭐It is nice to know that occasionally academics have the courage to voice some direct opinions. They usually throw in a lot of possibilities with no real narrative to guide you. This book however does have the narrative to cut through the background noise of too many possibilities and no guidance. This was a very interesting read and provides a well researched guideline for how Neandertals probably lived and interacted. I will be recommending to anyone interested in the subject

⭐Beautifully written and considered exploration of the Neandertal, their view of the world, their interaction with their environment and the lives that they would have led.

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