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Neanderthals: A History of Interpretation
Author(s) -
Drell Julia R. R.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
oxford journal of archaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1468-0092
pISSN - 0262-5253
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0092.00096
Subject(s) - neanderthal , ideology , creatures , humanity , interpretation (philosophy) , history , perception , archaeology , epistemology , philosophy , politics , natural (archaeology) , law , linguistics , political science , theology
This paper investigates the history of Neanderthal construction in different domains of social life and media. It establishes three broad tendencies within Neanderthal reconstructions: following the expulsion of Neanderthals from ‘humanity’ in the nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth century, the 1950s are characterized by a shift in this perception. From then, Neanderthals appear as essentially human creatures trapped in archaic bodies. Following this initial ideological oscillation the recent decades represent a parallel existence of both paradigms as well as a widening of conceptualizations. This paper argues that these ideological constructs remain operative, continuing to inform and form our perceptions of what Neanderthals are/are not.