2006/11/17 by Mark White · 63 citations
Social Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Neanderthal #Interpretation (philosophy) #History #Archaeological record #Archaeology #Genealogy #Survival of the fittest #Philosophy #Linguistics
paper · open access · doi:10.1080/00438240600963031
published in World Archaeology 38(4), 547-575 (Routledge)
openalex publication_date 2006/11/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
This paper examines Neanderthal survival skills in Britain. Its starting point is that there are major tensions between the three main sources of relevant information – archaeological, palaeoanthropological and palaeoenvironmental data and their subsequent interpretation – that make our understanding of Neanderthal survival much more precarious than is generally supposed. The paper is speculative, and proffers questions not answers. It challenges us to look past the often mute material record, and to equip Neanderthals with a number of logically prerequisite but generally archaeologically invisible survival tools and practices, beyond the well-trodden paths of mobility, hunting and planning.