As archeology evolves, we know more and more about the Neanderthal, who lived next to our human ancestors roughly between 400,000 to 40,000 years ago. Rebecca Wragg Sykes brings them back to life in this wonderfully written book "
Kindred". She gives an overview of 160 years of research into this species of hominins part of whome eventually interbred with homo sapiens, and then disappeared from the world. Wragg Sykes gives an overview of the more than 100 archeological sites where remains of Neanderthal were found, reconstructing their tools, their way of life, their hunting, their migrations. They appear to have been much more evolved than generally depicted in less scientific publications. And even more than archeology, genetic research on Neanderthal DNA opens up new ways of identifying them, and understanding our intimate relationship with them.
While giving a deep view into our common past, highlighting a raw, tough but pristine world of untarnished nature, she also keeps up the mirror of an entire species driven to extinction, as it could well happen with homo sapiens.
Next to the myriad of scientific factoids and insights into our deep past, many questions remain, and it is fascinating to see how much has been discovered in recent years, making us hope to get even more answers in the years to come.
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