NOVA Online | Neanderthals on Trial

Resources
Links | Books | Special Thanks | Credits

Becoming Human
http://www.becominghuman.org/
The Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University offers this eye-catching broadband site full of information on human evolution. Visit this site to find out what a prehistoric archeologist does on the job, take a virtual walk in a real-life excavation, ogle some hominid Object VRs, or watch a documentary on human origins hosted by Donald Johanson. The site also provides a daily news update on current excavations and finds around the world.

Neanderthal Museum
http://www.neanderthal.de/
You may not be able to travel to Metmann, Germany to visit the Neanderthal Museum, but you can always visit its Web site. The museum's exhibition outlines five periods in the history of mankind, incorporating information about Neanderthal tools, diet, and communication along the way. The Web site will take you on a tour of the museum and includes images of the displays.

The Fire Within: The Unfolding Story of Human Mitochondrial DNA
http://biocrs.biomed.brown.edu/Books/Essays/MitochondrialDNA.html
For more information on mitochondrial DNA, including what it is and what it can tell us about family lineage, visit this section of Brown University's Biology Department Web site.

Neandertals: A Cyber Perspective
http://sapphire.indstate.edu/~ramanank/
For answers to all your who, what, where, when, why, and how questions about Neanderthals, visit this site. Divided into sections by topic, such as "The Fate of Neandertals," "Hunting and Diet," and "Linguistic Capability," this site is an easy-to-navigate resource.

In Search of the Neanderthals: Solving the Puzzle of Human Origins by Christopher Stringer and Clive Gamble New York: Thames & Hudson, 1994
Though a little out of date, this book, coauthored by paleoanthropologist Christopher Stringer and archeologist Clive Gamble, does a good job of placing Neanderthals in the context of human evolution for a popular audience. Profusely illustrated with useful maps, charts, tables, and black-and-white photographs.

Extinct Humans: by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey H. Schwartz Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2000
In this concise review of human evolutionary history, Ian Tattersall, curator of anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History, and Jeffrey Schwartz, a professor of physical anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh, examine virtually every hominid fossil ever found (and display them in stunning photographs) to come up with a compelling theory as to why the many human species extant up until about 25,000 years ago dwindled to just one today.

The Neanderthals: Changing the Image of Mankind by Erik Trinkaus and Pat Shipman New York: Knopf, 1992
A very readable history of the discovery, analysis, and contentious nature of Neanderthal fossils, from the very first found in Germany's Neander Valley in 1856. Written by paleoanthropologists at Washington University in St. Louis (Trinkaus) and Penn State University (Shipman).

Jon Alper, WGBH Interactive
Mark Davis, producer, "Neanderthals on Trial"
Dr. Harold L. Dibble, University of Pennsylvania
Nathan Hendrie, assistant producer, "Neanderthals on Trial"
Dr. Daniel Lieberman, Harvard University
Jon Marks, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Shannon P. McPherron, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Lauren Aguirre, Executive Editor
Katie Caldwell, Associate Designer
Molly Frey, Technologist
Carl Gold, Intern
Rick Groleau, Managing Editor
Brenden Kootsey, Technologist
Lexi Krock, Editorial Assistant
Peter Tyson, Editor in Chief
Anya Vinokour, Senior Designer

Compiled by Lexi Krock

Printer-Friendly Format

Feedback