Between Ape and Human An Anthropologist on the Trail of a Hidden Hominoid
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Sprache:Englisch
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Produktdetails
Format
ePUB
Kopierschutz
Ja
Family Sharing
Ja
Text-to-Speech
Ja
Erscheinungsdatum
03.05.2022
Verlag
Simon + Schuster LLCSeitenzahl
336 (Printausgabe)
Dateigröße
15373 KB
Sprache
Englisch
EAN
9781639361441
A remarkable investigation into the hominoids of Flores Island, their place on the evolutionary spectrum-and whether or not they still survive.
While doing fieldwork on the remote Indonesian island of Flores, anthropologist Gregory Forth came across people talking about half-apelike, half-humanlike creatures that once lived in a cave on the slopes of a nearby volcano. Over the years he continued to record what locals had to say about these mystery hominoids while searching for ways to explain them as imaginary symbols of the wild or other cultural representations.
Then along came the 'hobbit'. In 2003, several skeletons of a small-statured early human species alongside stone tools and animal remains were excavated in a cave in western Flores. Named Homo floresiensis, this ancient hominin was initially believed to have lived until as recently as 12,000 years ago- possibly overlapping with the appearance of Homo sapiens on Flores. In view of this timing and the striking resemblance of floresiensis to the mystery creatures described by the islanders, Forth began to think about the creatures as possibly reflecting a real species, either now extinct but retained in 'cultural memory' or even still surviving.
He began to investigate reports from the Lio region of the island where locals described 'ape-men' as still living. Dozens claimed to have even seen them.
In Between Ape and Human, we follow Forth on the trail of this mystery hominoid, and the space they occupy in islanders' culture as both natural creatures and as supernatural beings. In a narrative filled with adventure, Lio culture and language, zoology and natural history, Forth comes to a startling and controversial conclusion.
Unique, important, and thought-provoking, this book will appeal to anyone interested in human evolution, the survival of species (including our own) and how humans might relate to 'not-quite-human' animals. Between Ape and Human is essential reading for all those interested in cryptozoology, and it is the only firsthand investigation by a leading anthropologist into the possible survival of a primitive species of human into recent times-and its coexistence with modern humans.
While doing fieldwork on the remote Indonesian island of Flores, anthropologist Gregory Forth came across people talking about half-apelike, half-humanlike creatures that once lived in a cave on the slopes of a nearby volcano. Over the years he continued to record what locals had to say about these mystery hominoids while searching for ways to explain them as imaginary symbols of the wild or other cultural representations.
Then along came the 'hobbit'. In 2003, several skeletons of a small-statured early human species alongside stone tools and animal remains were excavated in a cave in western Flores. Named Homo floresiensis, this ancient hominin was initially believed to have lived until as recently as 12,000 years ago- possibly overlapping with the appearance of Homo sapiens on Flores. In view of this timing and the striking resemblance of floresiensis to the mystery creatures described by the islanders, Forth began to think about the creatures as possibly reflecting a real species, either now extinct but retained in 'cultural memory' or even still surviving.
He began to investigate reports from the Lio region of the island where locals described 'ape-men' as still living. Dozens claimed to have even seen them.
In Between Ape and Human, we follow Forth on the trail of this mystery hominoid, and the space they occupy in islanders' culture as both natural creatures and as supernatural beings. In a narrative filled with adventure, Lio culture and language, zoology and natural history, Forth comes to a startling and controversial conclusion.
Unique, important, and thought-provoking, this book will appeal to anyone interested in human evolution, the survival of species (including our own) and how humans might relate to 'not-quite-human' animals. Between Ape and Human is essential reading for all those interested in cryptozoology, and it is the only firsthand investigation by a leading anthropologist into the possible survival of a primitive species of human into recent times-and its coexistence with modern humans.
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I had the unabridged audiobook…
Ruth aus Deutschland am 02.10.2022
Bewertungsnummer: 2856378
Bewertet: eBook (ePUB)
I had the unabridged audiobook version, which was a joy from beginning to end and very well read with a British accent. A lot of care went into pronouncing the Indonesian or Lio terms approximately correctly. This is a very thorough treatment of a very limited subject, namely, whether a species of ape like creature from the folk knowledge of the Lio people on the island of Flores (no, it's not the famous Ebu Gogo that got some publicity after the discpvery of the Floresiensis fossils) , reportedly very rare, might or might not be a hitherto scientifically undescribed hominin, and if so, whether this species might or might not correspond or be related to the fossil Flores hominin (Homo floresiensis). The author is an ethnologist well versed in local tradition and languages, and the book is a very systematic, matter of fact presentation of the material and a good analytic critical discussion of it that includes cognitive and emotional aspects of memory and the sociological context. The final part on the Homo floresiensis fossils and on scientific practices of declaring species extinct I found quite brilliant. I am somewhat less sanguine than Forth in the interpretation of the material, but this is a very good book for anyone remotely interested in the subject. I recommend a look at the chapter headings in the Contents section that give a good impression of what to expect. To my surprise, I was never bored, not even during the long iteration of witness accounts. Incidentally, one learns quote a lot about local lore and everyday life.