Palaeolithic Pioneers

Archaic humans were present for over a million years in western Mediterranean Europe where they left very many traces of their early stone-age activities and behaviour, and sometimes even human skeletal remains. This book evaluates archaeological findings about their life-ways at many important sites in Italy, southern France, and Spain, from the earliest ones 1,300,000 years ago, to those of Neanderthals fifty-thousand years ago, just before they were superseded by skeletally-"modern" humans. The cognitive and manual skills of archaic humans in western Mediterranean Europe are considered in the Pleistocene contexts of major climatic fluctuations and changing environmental circumstances. The book focusses on their remarkable capacity to adapt, frequently reinvent themselves, and persist for long periods of time, even though finally they did not endure. Their achievements and abilities withstand comparison to those of ancient humans in Africa or Asia during Early, Middle, and early Late Pleistocene times.