The Last Neanderthal : The Rise, Success, and Mysterious Extinction of Our Closest Human Relatives (Paperback)

by Ian Tattersall (Author) "NEANDERTHAL No noun in the entire lexicon of science is more evocative, but apart from vague imputations of primitive brutishness, how many of us can..." (more)
Key Phrases: suprainiac depression, human fossil record, modern human origins, Upper Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic, Ice Age (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Tattersall, a polished presenter of paleoanthropology (The Fossil Trail ), turns this album toward a specific vexation of the field: the relation of our species to the Neanderthals. Do they constitute lineal ancestors or a separate evolutionary branch? Were they exterminated or absorbed by humans about 30,000 years ago? Interpretations of the evidence excite strenuous debate among the experts, as chronicled in James Shreeve's The Neandertal Enigma , so what's a curious amateur to make of the brouhaha? That's where Tattersall (also a museum curator) excels as he conveys the essentials of the technical literature to the public. These consist of methods by which Neanderthal sites are dated, what inferences may be drawn from the fossils' anatomy, and for background, a narrative of current knowledge about the hominid line. Abundant full-page photos of specimens and archaeological digs cement Tattersall's clarity on the topic, making this an immeasurable aid to students and armchair anthropologists alike. Gilbert Taylor --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
This intense, illustrated consideration of the origins and extinction of early Man uses recent discoveries to explain why Neanderthals continue to be so perplexing a scientific mystery. This includes plenty of background history to probe both the foundations for past and present theories and the likely applications of new scientific research and discoveries. -- Midwest Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; Revised edition (December 2, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813336759
• ISBN-13: 978-0813336756
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #348,429 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excelent and profound book. Read it!, June 15, 2000

By	Roberto Caballero (Bolivia, South America) - See all my reviews

This profusely illustrated and well written book deals with the Neanderthals and the world they lived in, as well as their lifestyles and "technology". Starting in Chapter 1, the author gradually introduces the reader in the Neanderthal world, also explaining other interesting areas related to their study, such as how evolution works, how was the world during Neanderthal periods, and techniques used in dating the antiquity of fossils. The book contains a lot of photographs on Neanderthal skulls and skeletons, as well as some of the tools they used. Requiring almost no background in anthropology or paleoanthropology, this book contains a lot of information and it is very thought provoking, and I think is a must for anyone interested in learning about our closest relatives.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Intro To Our Neanderthal "Cousins", May 19, 2001

By A Customer

I am a high school student with an interest in human origins and I found "The Last Neanderthal" fascinating. The author does justice to Neanderthals without making the book too academic. He answers, as much as current theory and evidence allow, many of the questions I had about Neanderthals: How much like us in intellect and abstract thought were the Neanderthals? Were they our ancestors? What was their geographic range? How many were there? When did they disappear? Did modern humans eliminate them? And so on. Tattersall discusses cranial shapes and skeletal remains, other human ancestors, genetics, stone tools, cave bears, and what have you. There are plenty of photographs of skeletons, skulls, tools, maps, and plenty of sidebar topics. This is a great book for intelligent laypeople of all ages and I greatly recommend it.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Illustrations, Clear Concepts, Outstanding Text, December 13, 2003

By	Jeffery Steele (Taipei, Taiwan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Neanderthal: The Rise, Success, and Mysterious Extinction of Our Closest Human Relatives (Hardcover)

I'm not a reader who usually pays too much attention to photos and illustrations, but I could recommend "The Last Neanderthal" on that basis alone. There are nearly 150 of them in this 200-page book, some covering an entire page in my oversized edition. Almost all of them are superb. The illustrations are mostly of various fossilized bones and reconstructions. They are not haphazardly thrown throughout the book or tightly grouped in the middle, but introduced when appropriate for the text.

Ian Tattersall's set-up of what is known about Neanderthals is masterful. Most of the first third of the book is about evolution, how fossilization works, and a brief description about what is known of the precursors to both Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. Tattersall is clearly at home with this material and confident in his presentation of it. He takes his time in this area - even though it has little to directly do with the topic of his book - because one cannot understand Neanderthals unless one has some understanding of other pre-modern humans and the scientific techniques used to understand them.

The set-up is not wasted on a flat ending. When Tattersall finally gets to the Neanderthals, he maintains a high level of interest for the reader by first showing how the scholarly views on Neanderthals have changed so much over the last hundred-fifty years (much more fascinating than it sounds) and then by moving into areas about its evolution and what is known about its lifestyle. He appears to be a fair partisan, pointing out evidence both for and against different sides of the numerous controversial topics on Neanderthals.