The complex and fascinating story of the Neanderthals - shoving aside the cliche of the brutish figure in an icy wasteland, this book showcases the culture, ecology and biology of these people, areas of research that have seen astonishing recent advances.
Rebecca Wragg Sykes has been fascinated by the vanished worlds of the Pleistocene ice ages since childhood, and followed this interest through a career researching the most enigmatic characters of all, the Neanderthals. After a PhD on the last Neanderthals living in Britain, she was a Marie Curie Fellow at the PACEA laboratory, Universite de Bordeaux, France, working on Neanderthal landscapes and territories in the Massif Central, south-east France. Her writing has featured in the Guardian, Aeon and Scientific American, and she has appeared on history and science programmes for BBC Radio 4. @LeMoustier / www.rebeccawraggsykes.com/
Important reading not just for anyone interested in these ancient
cousins of ours, but also for anyone interested in humanity. -
Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens * The New York Times *
Beautiful, evocative, authoritative. Kindred is a beautifully
written exploration of our fast-developing understanding of
Neanderthals and their culture and a compelling insight into how
modern science is revealing the secrets of an extinct species who,
for 350 thousand years before Homo Sapiens became dominant,
inhabited a world "as wide and rich as the Roman Empire." --
Professor Brian Cox, Physicist and TV presenter
Rebecca Wragg-Sykes's fact-packed but highly readable book puts us
right with a superbly authoritative guided tour of much new
evidence. It's tempting to say. "If you read only one book about
the Neanderthals, read this one" -- except that if the next 20
years provide as many revelations about our ancestors as the past
20 have done, she will need to produce just as weighty a second
volume. -- Richard Morrison * The Times *
Blending cutting-edge science with lyrical storytelling, Rebecca
Wragg Sykes paints a detailed portrait of our enigmatic relatives.
-- Professor Alice Roberts, anatomist, author and broadcaster
Rebecca Wragg Sykes's book paints a vivid portrait of our adaptable
ancient relatives ... immersive. -- Josie Glausiusz * Nature *
Written with such pleasing, elegant prose, Kindred is a captivating
ode to the subtle complexities of palaeoanthropology - the thrill
of discovery, the frustrating gaps in the evidence, the tantalising
question marks hovering above our favourite ideas. Dr Rebecca Wragg
Sykes balances admirable scientific caution with her joyous
enthusiasm, and the result is a generous, enthralling history of
how we first came to know our ancient cousins, and how we're still
getting to know them today. -- Greg Jenner, historian and
author
Kindred is a tour de force. A rich and beautiful synthesis of all
that is known about Neanderthal biology and culture, it should be
required reading for anyone interested in the history of humanity.
-- Dr Tori Herridge, palaeontologist and TV presenter
Wragg Sykes paints a fascinating picture of a field transformed
almost beyond recognition over the past 30 years. -- Simon Ings *
New Scientist *
Current, compelling, well researched, beautifully written and
poetical, Kindred is like no other book you've read on
Neanderthals. -- Professr Lee. R. Berger, University of
Witwatersrand
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