Overview

Approximately 200,000 years ago, as modern humans began to radiate out from their evolutionary birthplace in Africa, Neanderthals were already thriving in Europe--descendants of a much earlier migration of the African genus Homo. But when modern humans eventually made their way to Europe 45,000 years ago, Neanderthals suddenly vanished. Ever since the first Neanderthal bones were identified in 1856, scientists have been vexed by the question, why did modern humans survive while their evolutionary cousins went extinct? The Invaders musters compelling evidence to show that the major factor in the Neanderthals' demise was direct competition with newly arriving humans. Drawing on insights from the field of invasion biology, Pat Shipman traces the devastating impact of a growing human population: reduction of Neanderthals' geographic range, isolation into small groups, and loss of genetic diversity. But modern humans were not the only invaders who competed with Neanderthals for big game. Shipman reveals fascinating confirmation of humans' partnership with the first domesticated wolf-dogs soon after Neanderthals first began to disappear. This alliance between two predator species, she hypothesizes, made possible an unprecedented degree of success in hunting large Ice Age mammals--a distinct and ultimately decisive advantage for humans over Neanderthals at a time when climate change made both groups vulnerable.

Full Product Details

9798200011575

Table of Contents

Reviews

"""An engagingly comprehensive overview of the rapidly evolving understanding of our own origins."" -- ""Wall Street Journal"" ""Few if any readers of this lucid and compelling exposition will come away believing that the early modern Europeans were not deeply implicated in the Neanderthals' disappearance."" -- ""Times Literary Supplement"""

Author Information

Pat Shipman is an anthropologist and a retired adjunct professor of anthropology at Pennsylvania State University. She is the author of several books, including The Animal Connection, The Man Who Found the Missing Link, and Taking Wing, which won the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Donna Postel, an Earphones Award-winning narrator, is absolutely passionate about audiobooks and has narrated close to fifty titles across multiple genres, from memoir and biography to literary fiction, romance, mystery, and suspense. She uses her innate curiosity, talent, and decades of experience on stage and in the recording studio to bring books to life. When she's not in the studio, she can be found down at the barn cleaning up after and occasionally riding horses.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available