Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art - Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes
Saturday, 27th November 2021, 13:30 - 15:00
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THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS Tickets: ALL TICKETS WILL BE REFUNDED.
Rebecca Wragg Sykes is an archaeologist, author and Honorary Fellow in the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool. Alongside her academic expertise and consultancy work, Rebecca has earned a reputation for exceptional public communication, with her writing featuring in The New York Times, The Times, The Guardian, Aeon and elsewhere. She is a popular speaker, appearing on programmes for BBC Radio 3 and 4 such as Front Row, Start The Week and The Infinite Monkey Cage, as well as numerous podcasts. Fascinated by the past since childhood - including digging for pot shards in the family garden - Rebecca studied archaeology through to PhD level. She was especially drawn to the ancient world of the Paleolithic.
Her doctoral thesis, awarded in 2010, was the first synthesis of evidence for late Neanderthals in Britain, and she has since accrued numerous academic publications on their broader archaeology.
Kindred is the definitive guide to the Neanderthals. Since their discovery more than 160 years ago, Neanderthals have metamorphosed from the losers of the human family tree to A-list hominins.Rebecca Wragg Sykes uses her experience at the cutting-edge of Palaeolithic research to share our new understanding of Neanderthals, shoving aside clichés of rag-clad brutes in an icy wasteland. She reveals them to be curious, clever connoisseurs of their world, technologically inventive and ecologically adaptable. Above all, they were successful survivors for more than 300,000 years, during times of massive climatic upheaval.
Much of what defines us was also in Neanderthals, and their DNA is still inside us. Planning, co-operation, altruism, craftsmanship, aesthetic sense, imagination, perhaps even a desire for transcendence beyond mortality. Kindred does for Neanderthals what Sapiens did for us, revealing a deeper, more nuanced story where humanity itself is our ancient, shared inheritance.
"Important reading...for anyone interested in humanity." Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens
"Beautiful, evocative, authoritative." Professor Brian Cox, author and TV presenter
"Blending cutting-edge science with lyrical stroytelling, Rebecca Wragg Sykes paints a detailed portrait of out enigmatic ancestors."
Professor Alice Roberts, anatomist, author and broadcaster