In the shadow of man. The Neandertal and the human condition

Abstract

This thesis takes a critical look at the boundaries established between the Middle and Upper Paleolithic, and how these have, and continue to affect the research on Neandertals. It deals with both the biological and the social material in order to gain an understanding of how these have affected each other when constructing theories. It seeks to understand why the Middle and Upper Paleolithic are often studied in different ways, and ultimately what the difference between Neandertals and Homo sapiens sapiens are.

It concludes with an argument about how biases and myths are allowed to influence the way data is interpreted and distributed. Thus, at the present it is difficult to encounter any real difference between the Middle Paleolithic Neandertals and the successive Homo sapiens sapiens.