The Singing Neanderthals

The Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body

Prof Steven Mithen

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English

Phoenix
01 June 2006

Psychology; Mathematics & Sciences; Science: general issues

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.

By: Prof Steven Mithen
Imprint: Phoenix
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 136mm, Spine: 24mm
Weight: 352g
ISBN: 9780753820513
ISBN 10: 075382051X
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 01 June 2006
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Steven Mithen is Professor of Early Prehistory and head of the School of Human and environmental Sciences at Reading University. Author of numerous books and articles, he has also consulted and appeared on TV and radio programmes about prehistory around the world. He has directed fieldwork in Western Scotland and is currently co-directing excavations in Wadi Faynan, southern Jordan.

Reviews for The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body

'An interesting attempt to probe the long-term history of feeling as well as of thought... [This] book is intelligent, important and clear. Anyone who likes to ask broad questions about intelligence, religion and experience, as well as anyone interested in long-term human history, will be able to read and argue with [this] book with enjoyment and profit.' THES (3/3/06) 'There is much illuminating and thought-provoking material.' -- Ross Leckie THE TIMES 'Wonderfully evocative... a highly original view of our musical origins.' GUARDIAN (1/4/06)