The Singing Neanderthals (Paperback)

Prof Steven Mithen

ISBN 10: 075382051X / ISBN 13: 9780753820513

Published by Orion Publishing Co, London, 2006

About this Item

Paperback. A fascinating and incisive examination of our language instinct from award-winning science writer Steven Mithen.Along with the concepts of consciousness and intelligence, our capacity for language sits right at the core of what makes us human. But while the evolutionary origins of language have provoked speculation and impassioned debate, music has been neglected if not ignored. Like language it is a universal feature of human culture, one that is a permanent fixture in our daily lives.In THE SINGING NEANDERTHALS, Steven Mithen redresses the balance, drawing on a huge range of sources, from neurological case studies through child psychology and the communication systems of non-human primates to the latest paleoarchaeological evidence.The result is a fascinating and provocative work and a succinct riposte to those, like Steven Pinker, who have dismissed music as a functionless and unimportant evolutionary byproduct. A fascinating and incisive examination of our language instinct from award-winning science writer Steven Mithen. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780753820513

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Singing Neanderthals (Paperback)
• Publisher: Orion Publishing Co, London
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 075382051X
• ISBN 13: 9780753820513
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

A fascinating and incisive examination of our language instinct from award-winning science writer Steven Mithen.

Along with the concepts of consciousness and intelligence, our capacity for language sits right at the core of what makes us human. But while the evolutionary origins of language have provoked speculation and impassioned debate, music has been neglected if not ignored. Like language it is a universal feature of human culture, one that is a permanent fixture in our daily lives.

In THE SINGING NEANDERTHALS, Steven Mithen redresses the balance, drawing on a huge range of sources, from neurological case studies through child psychology and the communication systems of non-human primates to the latest paleoarchaeological evidence.

The result is a fascinating and provocative work and a succinct riposte to those, like Steven Pinker, who have dismissed music as a functionless and unimportant evolutionary byproduct.

About the Author

Steven Mithen is Professor of Early Prehistory and Head of the School of Human and Environmental Sciences at the University of Reading.