Customer Reviews

Nova - Neanderthals on Trial [VHS]

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4 star:		(1)
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"Neanderthals on Trial" looks at the theory that modern humans are not related to Neanderthals, but that both descended from an earlier, common ancestor (as opposed to being more directly related).

Anthropologists from both sides of the debate are heard, with neither side coming out on top. Some DNA evidence does suggest that there is no relation, as one scientist demonstrates with some analyses. But another theorizes that the Neanderthals inter-breeded with Homo Sapiens, blending themselves into the population. If this is true, then they didn't totally disappear, and their genes continue with some of us today. But neither is able to offer conclusive proof of his theory.

It's a thought-provoking topic worthy of your time, even if the answer is unclear. Four stars.

This documentary is one of a kind. The subject of Neanderthals, and whether they died out or were bred out, is an extremely controversial subject. It is controversial primarily because no Neanderthal fossils have ever been found in Africa. Hence, while scientists will never come out and say so plainly, which ever side of the argument turns out to be correct has monumental implications regarding the equality, or inequality, of the races of mankind.

This PBS Nova documentary manages to present all sides of the debate in a fair and balanced manner.

By the way, if you want to see what an totally biased treatment of the subject looks like, view the Discovery Channel's "The Last Neanderthal".

"So easy a caveman can do it." So touts a Geico ad of its pricing/registration procedure. Of course, the ad also depicts "cavemen" as insulted by this slur, but nevertheless the stereotype of cavemen--presumably Neanderthals--lives on.

This makes Neanderthals on Trial a particularly valuable documentary. The video offers both sides of a longstanding question: were Neanderthals an evolutionary dead end or were they our ancestors and do we have some of their genes? The film makes a through representation of both sides of the questions, pointing out the strengths and deficits of both perspectives.

For example we learn that there was not just one Classic Neanderthal; the 400 known specimens show infinite variation. Some "Neanderthal" characteristics are found among today's human populations--heavy brow ridges and occipital buns among indigenous Australian populations, for example. The implications for race and racism among today's populations are clear.

There is too much content to summarize here, and that a one-hour documentary could cover it all evenhandedly is a feat in itself. Howard Dibble, a specialist in the Middle Paleolithic, provides an excellent summary by showing how pencils of varying lengths can be assigned to different categories.

We do this, he points out, in typologies of physical Neanderthal forms and typologies of the tools they make. Then we quibble forever on the "real" typologies we made ourselves. This informs much of the debate about the question of Neanderthal ancestry.

I would strongly recommend this film for biological anthropology and archaeology classes. Beyond that, the film is appropriate for any class for which methodology is a central concern. It shows vividly how preconceptions affect definitions, typologies, research procedures, and interpretaton of results--in any topic.