Overview

It’s August 2015. After twenty-five years of archaeological research in a secluded cave overlooking the Rhône Valley in southern France, Ludovic Slimak uncovers the remains of a Neanderthal, frozen in time – a discovery that casts fresh light on a critical turning point in human history. Could these remains belong to one of the last Neanderthals? As scientists from around the world analyze the site, their findings disrupt everything we thought we knew about the final days of these ancient humans. This discovery takes us to the defining threshold when multiple human species, once coexisting in the same world, are wiped from history—leaving Homo sapiens as the sole human survivor. Slimak takes the reader on an extraordinary journey of discovery that is both scientific and profoundly human, blending rigorous research with evocative storytelling. This breathtaking exploration of the past not only unearths the lost world of the Neanderthals but forces us to confront the unspoken question: is this how humanity dies? A compelling narrative spanning millennia, The Last Neanderthal is both a groundbreaking scientific revelation and a profound reflection on the fragility of humanity and the threads that connect us to the distant past.

Full Product Details

Author:   Ludovic Slimak ,  Andrew Brown (Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, West Sussex, UK)
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Imprint:   Polity Press
Dimensions:   Width: 16.00cm , Height: 2.80cm , Length: 23.10cm
Weight:   0.476kg
ISBN:  

9781509569588

ISBN 10:   1509569588
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   26 September 2025
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Table of Contents

First words Chapter I - Unexpected complications on the way to the unthought Boldly risking a step into the unknown Another place, another time? French poems… Wandering through the naves of our thermonuclear cathedrals Nanotechnologies of the first humans From impressionistic dots to thick lines A thousand millennia of Anatolian transgressions Mythologies of the first modern humans Human beings known as shadows A first contact with inverted values Making the best of a bad job Chapter II - The last Neanderthal? An improbable encounter The last Neanderthal! The imaginary realms lying between two worlds Upside down... Thorin is one hundred and five millennia old! From rivers that unite to rivers that separate Light beyond the unknown lands A last Neanderthal, in his place? Touching the unquantifiable From flesh to bone The mind in matter and the gaze versus reality Mental processes on the edge of the hole For a few centimetres too many The first of the last contacts? Three waves breaking against the intellectual Titanic Genetic surprises The stone ship Gone with the Wind The oases of the sea A simplified world Chapter III - How do humans die? A grammar between two worlds Apology for the stifled No one escapes the sphere Men from the sky and white opossums The gods must be crazy Acculturation and the implosions of the spheres Men in the trees The gods must be crazy 2.0 In our disordered memories The times of extinction Epilogue. This is how humans die Acknowledgements

Reviews

""Immersing yourself in the world of these lost people in The Last Neanderthal is a rare treat"" New Scientist

Author Information

Ludovic Slimak is a paleoanthropologist at the University of Toulouse and Director of the Grotte Mandrin research project. His work focuses on the last Neanderthal societies and he is the author of several hundred scientific studies on these populations. His research has been featured in Nature, Science, Cell, The New York Times, the Guardian and elsewhere.

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