Updating Neanderthals. Understanding Behavioural Complexity in the Late Middle Palaeolithic

Table of Contents

1. Updating Neanderthals: taking stock of more than 160 years of studies 2. The climatic and environmental context of the Late Pleistocene 3. Biotic interactions in the Middle and Late Palaeolithic 4. Different species on the horizon: Denisovan hominins 5. Neanderthal: anatomy, genes, and evolution 6. Neanderthal brain 7. Neanderthal subsistence: selective or opportunistic hunters? 8. Small animal use by Neanderthals 9. The use of plants by Neanderthals 10. Neanderthal technological variability: a wide-range geographical perspective in the Final Middle Palaeolithic 11. The organisation of living spaces in Neanderthal campsites 12. Fire among Neanderthals 13. "Art": Neanderthal symbolic graphic behaviour 14. Spiritual and symbolic activities of Neanderthals 15. Beyond European boundaries: Neanderthals in the Armenian Highlands and the Caucasus 16. Methodological advances in ancient Paleolithic studies 17. The arrival of Homo sapiens in Europe

Authors

Francesca Romagnoli Universidad Aut�noma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain. Francesca Romagnoli, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Universidad Aut�noma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain. She is specialized in the study of Neanderthal socio-economy. Her research is aimed at understanding adaptations and diversity of cultural behaviors in European Neanderthals, with a special focus in coastal adaptations. She has published innovative research on Neanderthal shell technology, site formation processes, and the relationships between human mobility, technological costs, and stone tool resources. Florent Rivals Institut Catal� de Paleoecologia Humana i Evoluci� Social, Tarragona, Spain. Florent Rivals, PhD, ICREA is a Research Professor at the Institut Catal� de Paleoecologia Humana i Evoluci� Social, Tarragona, Spain. He is specialized in the study of Neanderthal paleoecology. His research focuses on the impact of climate-driven environmental changes on humans, and Neanderthals in particular. He has published significant papers aimed to reconstruct ancient environments, tracking shifts related to climatic changes, and understanding hominin behavioral strategies in different ecological settings. Stefano Benazzi Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. Stefano Benazzi, PhD, is a Full Professor at the University of Bologna, Department of Cultural Heritage, in Bologna, Italy. He is specialized in the study of Neanderthal skeletal morphology. His research is aimed at understanding the time and mode of the biological and cultural shifts that led to the demise of the autochthonous Neanderthals and their replacement by modern humans. He has published significant papers aimed to assess the taxonomical affiliation of isolated human teeth, to evaluate Neanderthal and modern human morphological variability, and to track the earliest arrival of modern humans in Europe.