Continuity and discontinuity in the peopling of Europe : one hundred fifty years of Neanderthal study ; Proceedings of the international congress to commemorate "150 years of Neanderthal discoveries, 1856-2006", organized by Silvana Condemi, Wighart von K

Since the Western world first became aware of the existence of Neanderthals, this Pleistocene human has been a regular focus of interest among specialists and also among the general public. In fact, we know far more about Neanderthals than we do about any other extinct human population. Furthermore, over the past 150 years no other palaeospecies has been such a constant source of discussion and fierce debate among palaeoanthropologists and archaeologists. This book presents the status of our knowledge as well as the methods and techniques used to study this extinct population and it suggests perspectives for future research. Front Matter....Pages i-xxi Neanderthals and Emergent Palaeoanthropology 50 Years Ago....Pages 1-9 One Hundred Fifty Years of Neanderthal Discoveries: Continuity and Discontinuity....Pages 11-16 The Genus Homo : Origin, Speciation and Dispersal....Pages 17-45 Before the Neanderthals: Hominid Evolution in Middle Pleistocene Europe....Pages 47-53 The Earliest European Human Peopling After the Recent Discoveries: Early Neanderthals or Different Lineages?....Pages 55-66 The Gran Dolina-TD6 Human Fossil Remains and the Origin of Neanderthals....Pages 67-75 The Hominid Fossils from China Contemporaneous with the Neanderthals and Some Related Studies....Pages 77-87 Behavioral and Cultural Origins of Neanderthals: A Levantine Perspective....Pages 89-100 Discontinuities in the Faunal Assemblages and Early Human Populations of Central and Western Europe During the Middle and Late Pleistocene....Pages 101-112 Neanderthal Geographical and Chronological Variation....Pages 113-125 A Preliminary Approach to the Neanderthal Speciation by Distance Hypothesis: A View from the Shoulder Complex....Pages 127-138 Facts and Ideas in Paleolithic Growth Studies (Paleoauxology)....Pages 139-153 Dental Development and Age at Death of a Middle Paleolithic Juvenile Hominin from Obi-Rakhmat Grotto, Uzbekistan....Pages 155-163 Computerized Reconstruction of Prenatal Growth Trajectories in the Dentition: Implications for the Taxonomic Status of Neandertals....Pages 165-173 Endostructural Characterisation of the Regourdou 1 Neanderthal Proximal Arm: Bilateral Asymmetry and Handedness....Pages 175-178 A Three-Dimensional Look at the Neanderthal Mandible....Pages 179-192 Integration and Homology of “Chignon” and “Hemibun” Morphology....Pages 193-202 Virtual Synthesis of the Skull in Neanderthals by FESS....Pages 203-211 Neandertal mtDNA from a Late Pleistocene Human Mandible from the Cova del Gegant (Spain)....Pages 213-217 Towards Neanderthal Paleogenomics....Pages 219-221 Twelve Years of Neandertal Genetic Discoveries: State-of-the-Art and Future Challenges....Pages 223-238 Radiocarbon Dating the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Transition: The Demise of the Last Neanderthals and the First Appearance of Anatomically Modern Humans in Europe....Pages 239-298 Archaeological, Paleontological and Genomic Perspectives on Late European Neandertals at Vindija Cave, Croatia....Pages 299-313 Late Neandertals and Early Modern Humans in Europe, Population Dynamics and Paleobiology....Pages 315-329 Aliens from Outer Time? Why the “Human Revolution” Is Wrong, and Where Do We Go from Here?....Pages 331-366 Neandertals and the Roots of Human Recency....Pages 367-377 Epilogue: 150 Years of Neanderthal Research – A Hopeless Situation but Not Serious....Pages 379-381 Back Matter....Pages 383-386