Palaeolithic Europe : a demographic and social prehistory / Jennifer C. French.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

French, Jennifer, 1987- author.

Series:

Cambridge world archaeology.

Cambridge world archaeology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Prehistoric peoples--Europe.

Prehistoric peoples.

Human evolution--Europe.

Human evolution.

Paleolithic period--Europe.

Paleolithic period.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xviii, 332 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2021.

Summary:

In this book, Jennifer French presents a new synthesis of the archaeological, palaeoanthropological, and palaeogenetic records of the European Palaeolithic, adopting a unique demographic perspective on these first two-million years of European prehistory. Unlike prevailing narratives of demographic stasis, she emphasises the dynamism of Palaeolithic populations of both our evolutionary ancestors and members of our own species across four demographic stages, within a context of substantial Pleistocene climatic changes. Integrating evolutionary theory with a socially oriented approach to the Palaeolithic, French bridges biological and cultural factors, with a focus on women and children as the drivers of population change. She shows how, within the physiological constraints on fertility and mortality, social relationships provide the key to enduring demographic success. Through its demographic focus, French combines a 'big picture' perspective on human evolution with careful analysis of the day-to-day realities of European Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer communities-their families, their children, and their lives.

Contents:

Preface

Glossary

Towards a social palaeodemography of early prehistory

Stones, bones, and genes: a palaeodemographic database

Hunter-gatherer demography

Visitation: the first European populations (1.8 million-300,000 years ago)

Residency: the Neanderthals and their neighbours (300,000-40,000 years ago)

Expansion: the arrival of Homo Sapiens and the extinction of the Neanderthals (50,000-35,000 years ago)

Intensification: mid-to-Late upper palaeolithic population dynamics (35,000 years ago-15,000 years ago)

Palaeolithic Europe: demography and society.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 27 Oct 2021).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-108-75106-7

1-108-59089-6

OCLC:

1255524115