Sawyer posits that his Neandertals went straight from foraging to a highly "technological" culture, which benevolently controlled populations, environments, etc. But, as I said, something of this *same* pattern is seen among certain Inuit groups. And apparently Sawyer --- and the sources he used --- are unaware of this.
Well, that's indeed an interesting remark. It contradicts pure Marxist Historical Materialism doesn't it.. But actually we've had another example of a society jumping Marxists theoretical society steps: USSR which went directly to socialism without the capitalist period :-)
I would have liked to read parts which would give a little more insights about why Neanderthals, in the fictional logic of Sawyer, had such a different technological development than Homo Sapiens Sapiens invented. He gives a few hints but I find that unsatisfactory. For example, the link
No Religion => no wars => no development of rockets nor combustion engine
could be developped.
But then, these sources consider Neandertals to be an entirely different "species" from ourselves. The trouble with that is, there is an increasing amount of archaeological evidence, the latest of which is that report of Neandertal hunting strategies out of the Georgian Republic, which suggests that Neandertals hunted pretty much the same way "modern" humans did. So, behaviorally, N's weren't all that different, if different at all, from "moderns". Make of this what you will, because these questions are basically unresolved. Which, for novelistic purposes, leaves room for all sorts of interpretations.
The fact that Neanderthals may have been "wired" differently than Homo Sapiens Sapiens from a cognitive point of view doesn't bother me. May be it is because I have the experience with people with autism who seem to be indeed to have a different "cognitive style" according to Francesca Happé
(Click here for more) who is one of the leading researcher in autism in the UK. For me the fact that they are so different doesn't mean that they can't have a very advanced mode of thinking. An excellent example of this different mode of thinking is brilliantly illustrated in "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" novel by Mark Haddon.
I have great admiration for people with autism, as different they may be from us as they are and would feel the same about Neanderthals being differently "wired".
Sorry if I didn't answer your question,
Anne G
On the contrary, you answered perfectly :-)
Thanks.
Paul
PS: I wander if other readers have their own favourite fiction books about prehistory... Or if they have different views on this subject...
