The Palaeolithic Societies of Europe

Clive Gamble's overview of Palaeolithic societies, building on his The Palaeolithic Settlement of Europe (1986).

How did Neanderthal societies differ from those of the first modern humans in Europe 35,000 years ago? This investigation of archaeological evidence from stone tools, hunting and campsites reveals much about the differing scale of social interaction and abilities to negotiate social worlds, and enhances our understanding of this period.Palaeolithic societies have been a neglected topic in the discussion of human origins. In this book, which succeeds and replaces The Palaeolithic Settlement of Europe, published by Cambridge University Press in 1986, Clive Gamble challenges the established view that the social life of Europeans over the 500,000 years of the European Palaeolithic must remain a mystery. In the past forty years archaeologists have recovered a wealth of information from sites throughout the continent. Professor Gamble now introduces a new approach to this material. He examines the archaeological evidence from stone tools, hunting and campsites for information on the scale of social interaction, and the forms of social life. Taking a pan-European view of the archaeological evidence, he reconstructs ancient human societies, and introduces new perspectives on the unique social experience of human beings.