The Neanderthal Legacy: An Archaeological Perspective from Western Europe
480
The Neanderthal Legacy: An Archaeological Perspective from Western Europe
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Overview
The Neanderthals populated western Europe from nearly 250,000 to 30,000 years ago when they disappeared from the archaeological record. In turn, populations of anatomically modern humans, Homo sapiens, came to dominate the area. Seeking to understand the nature of this replacement, which has become a hotly debated issue, Paul Mellars brings together an unprecedented amount of information on the behavior of Neanderthals. His comprehensive overview ranges from the evidence of tool manufacture and related patterns of lithic technology, through the issues of subsistence and settlement patterns, to the more controversial evidence for social organization, cognition, and intelligence. Mellars argues that previous attempts to characterize Neanderthal behavior as either "modern" or "ape-like" are both overstatements. We can better comprehend the replacement of Neanderthals, he maintains, by concentrating on the social and demographic structure of Neanderthal populations and on their specific adaptations to the harsh ecological conditions of the last glaciation.
Mellars's approach to these issues is grounded firmly in his archaeological evidence. He illustrates the implications of these findings by drawing from the methods of comparative socioecology, primate studies, and Pleistocene paleoecology. The book provides a detailed review of the climatic and environmental background to Neanderthal occupation in Europe, and of the currently topical issues of the behavioral and biological transition from Neanderthal to fully "modern" populations.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781400843602 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Princeton University Press |
| Publication date: | 12/22/1995 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 480 |
| File size: | 105 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
The Neanderthal Legacy
An Archaeological Perspective from Western Europe
By Paul Mellars
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
Copyright © 1996 Princeton University PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4008-4360-2
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
The Neanderthals have always been something of an enigma. Since their initial discovery in the middle of the last century opinions have tended to polarize between two extremes: between those who saw the Neanderthals as standing directly astride the main course of human evolution, only slightly different in either their physical or mental capabilities from modern populations; and those who saw them, by contrast, as much more primitive figures, with behavioural and physical capacities radically different from those of later populations and almost certainly representing an extinct side branch of human evolution. According to one viewpoint the Neanderthals were our direct ancestors, while according to the other they were rather distant, and not very respectable, cousins. A spate of characterizations in media cartoons, as well as more thoughtful presentations in popular novels (such as William Golding's The Inheritors, and Jean Auel's The Clan of the Cave Bear) have served to enhance the mystique and uncertainty surrounding the true role of the Neanderthals in our own evolution.
Research and discoveries over the past ten years have tended to heighten rather than reduce these long-standing controversies over the place of the Neanderthals in human evolution. Recent research in molecular genetics has been interpreted to suggest that the Neanderthals may have made no direct contribution to the genetic ancestry of biologically modern populations in Eurasia, and indeed that the Neanderthals as a whole might well represent a separate biological species (Cann et al. 1987, 1994; Stoneking & Cann 1989; Stone king et al. 1992; Stringer & Gamble 1993 etc.). Similarly, recent dating of a range of essentially modern anatomical remains at the sites of Skhul and Qafzeh in Israel, and at a number of sites in southern Africa, has shown that forms closely similar to ourselves had already emerged in several parts of the world long before their appearance, in a remarkably sudden and abrupt form, in the more western zones of Eurasia (Stringer & Andrews 1988; Stringer 1990, 1992, 1994; Stringer & Gamble 1993; Brauer 1989; Vandermeersch 1989). These conclusions have been contested by proponents of the 'regional continuity' or 'multi-regional evolution' school, who argue that the entire framework of both genetic and anatomical evidence which has been used to support the demographic extinction of the Neanderthals is based on rank misrepresentations of the biological evidence, or at best on serious ambiguities in the interpretation of this evidence (Wolpoff 1989, 1992; Wolpoff et al. 1994; Thorne & Wolpoff 1992; Smith 1991, 1994). According to them European readers of this book are far more likely to have a strong component of Neanderthal genes in their direct ancestry than genes of a hypothetical intrusive modern population, from some exotic African or Asian source.
Similar debates have plagued recent interpretations of the archaeological records of Neanderthal behaviour. To many prehistorians the archaeological records of the Neanderthals suggest a pattern of behaviour which is not only radically and fundamentally different from that of the ensuing biologically modern populations but which indicates a fundamentally different structure of mind. Recent characterizations in this vein have suggested that the Neanderthals may have been incapable of hunting most of the larger species of animals; that they formed social groupings which were more akin to the sexually segregated foraging units of most primate communities than the family- based structure of modern human populations; that they lacked the capacity for long-range planning or organization of their economic and social activities; and that they almost certainly lacked complex, highly structured language (Binford 1989; Lieberman 1989; Chase & Dibble 1987; Soffer 1994; Stringer & Gamble 1993). Opposing this view are those who see the general behaviour and cultural capacities of the Neanderthals as only marginally different from those of later populations, with the exception of a few post-Neanderthal embellishments in the form of representational art, more complex forms of bone and antler technology and a general predilection for manufacturing stone tools from more elongated and economical blade forms in preference to larger and heavier flakes (Clark & Lindly 1989; Lindly & Clark 1990; Clark 1992; Hayden 1993). The latter developments, it is argued, are more likely to represent a gradual, cumulative increase in the overall complexity of behavioural patterns over the course of later human evolution than a radical transformation in the underlying intellectual and cultural capabilities of the populations involved.
So what exactly are the central issues in current studies of the Neanderthals? The question which lies at the heart of the present debate centres on the precise relationships of the Neanderthal populations of Europe with the ensuing populations of anatomically and behaviourally modern humans, a transition which seems to have taken place in most regions of Europe between ca 40,000 and 35,000 years ago. Specifically, the major issues in this context can be reduced to three critical questions:
1. To what extent, if at all, did the Neanderthals contribute to the genetic ancestry of later populations in Europe?
2. How far, and in what ways, did the behaviour of Neanderthal populations contrast with that of the ensuing anatomically and behaviourally modern populations?
3. If we can document major contrasts between the behavioural patterns of Neanderthal and modern populations, how should these contrasts be explained? Do they reflect simply a gradual, progressive increase in the overall complexity of different behavioural systems over the course of time? Or do they represent a much more sudden and radical shift in behavioural patterns, which reflects an equally profound shift in the associated mental and cognitive capacities for behaviour of the populations involved?
These questions, addressed primarily to the archaeological records from western Europe, form the central focus and subject matter of the present book.
Who were the Neanderthals?
I shall make no attempt to discuss in any detail here the biological and anatomical features of the Neanderthals since this has already been dealt with comprehensively in two recent books – In Search of the Neanderthals by Chris Stringer and Clive Gamble (1993), and The Neanderthals: Changing the Image of Mankind by Erik Trinkaus and Pat Shipman (1993). Both studies seem to agree that, in at least their major anatomical features, the Neanderthals form a reasonably distinctive and fairly well defined taxonomic grouping, even if the precise geographical and chronological limits of the grouping are more difficult to define. As in other fossil hominids, the most distinctive features of Neanderthal morphology are reflected in the skull and facial regions. In the case of the Neanderthals these include heavily enlarged supraorbital brow ridges, a generally low and flattened cranial vault with a strongly developed occipital 'bun', the heavily built structure of the jaws and teeth, with little trace of a chin, and a surprisingly large cranial capacity of around 1400–1600 cc implying an overall brain volume at least as large as that of modern populations. There seems to be equal agreement that at least some of these distinctive features of Neanderthal morphology can be seen as an adaptation to the specific environmental conditions of the more northern zones of Eurasia during the colder, glacial and sub-glacial episodes of the later Pleistocene. Thus the large noses and the generally inflated form of the facial region as a whole are often seen as an adaptation to accommodate the very large nasal channels that were essential to warm the cold, dry air of these exceptionally harsh climates (How ell 1957; Coon 1962; Wolpoff 1980 but see Trinkaus 1989b for a different view). Similarly, the generally short, heavy body structure typical of the Neanderthals is usually seen not only as an adaptation to a very active and strenuous life style which demanded considerable physical strength, but also as an adaptation to conserve body heat in severe, seasonally fluctuating climates (Trinkaus 1983, 1989b; Trinkaus & Shipman 1993; Smith 1991). Whether all the distinctive features of Neanderthal morphology can be explained in these terms is more controversial. Smith and others, for example, have suggested that the large and heavily built form of the Neanderthal face may have been related more to the stresses involved in the habitual use of jaws and teeth for various 'paramasticatory' activities (i.e. using the jaws as tools) than to any cold-climatic adaptation (Smith & Paquette 1989).
To put exact limits on the Neanderthals in a time and space framework is more difficult. However, there seems to be reasonable agreement that most of the distinctive features of Neanderthal anatomy can be traced across a broad arc of Europe and western Asia, extending from the Atlantic coasts of France and the Iberian peninsula to the western parts of the Middle East and central Asia – for example at Tabun, Amud and Kebara in Israel, at Shanidar in Iraq, and as far eastwards as Teshik Tash in Uzbekistan (Smith 1991; Stringer & Gamble 1993; Trinkaus & Shipman 1993). Whether anything distinctively Neanderthal can be identified to the south of this zone (for example, some of the North African fossils such as those from Jebel Irhoud and Dar-es-Soltan in Morocco) remains more controversial. The main geographical range corresponds, in other words, to the more western zones of Eurasia, and predominantly to those areas which experienced recurrent episodes of sharply colder climate during the middle and later stages of the Pleistocene.
In a chronological sense, most of the well dated and 'classic' Neanderthal forms belong to the earlier stages of the last glacial period, between ca 110,000 and 35,000 BP. Both Trinkaus & Ship man (1993) and Stringer & Gamble (1993), however, have argued that many distinctive Neanderthal traits can be traced back into the period of the penultimate glacial and perhaps, as for example in the remains from Biache-Saint-Vaast in northern France, to the period of isotope stage 7, around 200-250,000 BP. Earlier forms such as the hominids from Swanscombe in England, Steinheim in Germany, Petralona in Greece and Tautavel in France tend to be regarded as 'pre' or 'proto' Neanderthal forms, anatomically transitional between the late Homo erectus/Homo heidelbergensis populations of Europe and the succeeding Neanderthal forms (Stringer et al. 1984; Stringer & Andrews 1988; Stringer & Gamble 1993). Clearly, if one accepts that the Neanderthals are indeed the direct descendants of the earlier erectus populations in Europe it would be unrealistic to expect to recognize a sharp line of demarcation between these taxa in anatomical or evolutionary terms.
Similar problems are encountered in attempts to define the precise chronological limits of what conventionally has been defined as the 'Middle Palaeolithic' phase of technological development. It should be stressed that it is not the aim of this book to look at the problem of the technological origins or emergence of Middle Palaeolithic technology from the earlier patterns of Lower Palaeolithic technology. Any serious study of this question would not only require a book in its own right but would be seriously handicapped by the extremely patchy, coarse-grained and above all very poorly dated records of human technological development prior to the last 250,000 years. As a working definition I am happy to conform to what has now become the conventional practice of regarding the prime hallmark of Middle Palaeolithic technology as being the emergence of more complex and sophisticated patterns of prepared-core flaking, classically illustrated by the various Levallois and allied techniques discussed in Chapter 2. As several workers have recently stressed, the emergence of these techniques could be seen as a major turning point not only in a purely technological sense but also as a potential watershed in the whole conceptual and cognitive basis of lithic technology, implying a much greater degree of forward planning, time depth, and capacity for strategic problem-solving in the working of stone resources (Roebroeks et al. 1988; Rolland 1990; Mellars 1991; Klein 1989a). Whether or not this viewpoint is accepted, it is now clear that remarkably complex and varied forms of prepared-core techniques were being practised in several parts of the Old World by the time of the penultimate interglacial period between ca 200,000 and 250,000 BP (for example at Biache-Saint-Vaast and the Grotte Vaufrey in France and Maastricht-Belvédère in Holland) and probably at roughly the same time at a range of sites in western Asia and Africa (see Chapter 4, and Klein 1989a; Bar-Yosef 1992). Whether it is entirely coincidental that these complex stone-working techniques appeared in Europe at roughly the same time as the rapid increase in cranial capacities which is one of the most distinctive features of the Neanderthals, is an interesting point for speculation.
The chronological scope of this book therefore coincides essentially with the period from the final disappearance of the Neanderthals in western Europe around 30–35,000 years ago to the period of oxygen-isotope stage 7 around 250,000 BP. The surviving archaeological records of human behaviour within this time range are very unevenly distributed and are far more abundant, more fully documented and more chronologically fine-grained during the later stages of the Middle Palaeolithic than during its earlier stages. The book should therefore be seen primarily as a study of the archaeological evidence of human behaviour during the earlier stages of the last glacial period, between ca 115,0000 and 35,000 years ago. It is this period for which I will reserve the term 'Mousterian' throughout the book. In my view it is only for this period that we have a sufficient quantity of well documented evidence, and sufficient control over the quality and resolution of this evidence, to present any really secure and convincing reconstructions of human behavioural patterns within the Neanderthal time range.
The archaeological perspective
It soon became clear in planning this book that to attempt a general survey of the archaeological evidence for Neanderthal behaviour across the whole geographical range discussed above – i.e. extending from the Atlantic coast of Europe to the Middle East – would not only be a daunting task in terms of the amount of material and data to be considered, but could become a rather questionable exercise. There are two principal reasons for this. First, there is the problem of knowing exactly where in the archaeological records of western Eurasia we see the products of Neanderthal populations. One of the most significant facts to emerge during the last decade is that we can no longer assume that all archaeological assemblages conventionally classified as 'Middle Palaeolithic' in a purely technological sense were indeed the products of Neanderthals, or indeed other archaic forms of hominids. The discoveries at both Skhul and Qafzeh in Israel and possibly at Staroselje in the Crimea have demonstrated that in certain contexts technologically Middle Palaeolithic industries were produced by hominids who in most anatomical respects were much closer to biologically modern populations than to Neanderthals – and at the remarkably early date of around 100,000 BP (Vandermeersch 1989; Bar-Yosef 1992; Stringer & Gamble 1993). Even in parts of central and eastern Europe there is still debate as to whether some of the skeletal remains recovered from Middle Palaeolithic contexts (such as Krapina in Croatia, or Kulna in Moravia) can be confidently attributed to Neanderthals as opposed to anatomically modern populations (Smith 1984, 1991). These observations raise critical questions concerning the ultimate relationships between Neanderthal and anatomically modern populations in these areas, which will be pursued further in the final chapter of this book. The fact remains, however, that it is only in the extreme western zones of Europe that we have a sufficiently large, well documented and consistent association between technologically 'Middle Palaeolithic' industries and taxonomically 'Neanderthal' remains to make any reasonably confident correlations between the archaeological and skeletal records. While we can never be sure that every Middle Palaeolithic industry in western Europe was produced by a Neanderthal, we can be far more confident in making this correlation in this region than in any other part of Eurasia.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Neanderthal Legacy by Paul Mellars. Copyright © 1996 Princeton University Press. Excerpted by permission of PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS.
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Table of Contents
List of TablesList of Illustrations
Preface
Ch. 1 Introduction 1
Ch. 2 The Environmental Background to Middle Palaeolithic Occupation 9
Ch. 3 Stone Tool Technology 56
Ch. 4 Tool Morphology, Function and Typology 95
Ch. 5 The Procurement and Distribution of Raw Materials 141
Ch. 6 Industrial Taxonomy and Chronology 169
Ch. 7 Middle Palaeolithic Subsistence 193
Ch. 8 Sites in the Landscape 245
Ch. 9 The Spatial Organization of Middle Palaeolithic Sites 269
Ch. 10 The Significance of Industrial Variability 315
Ch. 11 Neanderthal Society 356
Ch. 12 The Neanderthal Mind 366
Ch. 13 The Big Transition 392
References 420
Index of Sites 461
General Index 465