ANTH 253(S) Neanderthals: Gods or Monsters?
Ever since the discovery of the first Neanderthal skull in Germany in 1856, debate has raged in science as in popular culture over the degree of humanity of Neanderthals, our closest prehistoric relatives. Were they shuffling, depraved cannibals, or intelligent and caring beings? Did they lack the qualities we define as uniquely human, such as language and the ability to produce art, or did they create the first symbolic objects, care for their wounded and their dead, and develop complex tool kits? In this course we will review the fossil, archaeological, and genetic evidence on the origins, adaptations, and ultimate fate of the Neanderthals. In addition, we will examine the shifting views on Neanderthals in relation to the changing intellectual and sociopolitical climate of the last 150 years. The course concludes by tackling the controversial and often emotional topic of whether Neanderthals were our direct ancestors, or a side-branch which competing modern humans slaughtered into extinction in what some have called the "Pleistocene Holocaust." Class format: seminar. Requirements: full attendance and participation, class presentations, and three 4- to 6-page essays. No prerequisites. Open to first-year students.