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Delving into the mind of Neanderthals and other ancient humans is a
fashionable preoccupation for many evolutionary biologists, anthropologists,
psychologists, archaeologists and others. Modelling the Early Human Mind, edited
by Paul Mellars and Kathleen Gibson (Oxbow/McDonald Institute of Archaeological
Research, Cambridge, £30, ISBN 0 9519420 1 8), is another title in the
burgeoning list of books on the evolution of human cognition. Although it is a
collection of 17 conference papers (not usually a good advertisement), the
volume has first-rate contributors from the relevant disciplines, touches on the
important issues, and has a useful introduction for those coming to this
controversial subject for the first time.