Masters of the Planet - The Search for Our Human Origins

A leading researcher on human evolution proposes a new and controversial theory of how our species came to be

In this groundbreaking and engaging work of science, world-renowned paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer sets out a new theory of humanity's origin, challenging both the multiregionalists (who hold that modern humans developed from ancient ancestors in different parts of the world) and his own "out of Africa" theory, which maintains that humans emerged rapidly in one small part of Africa and then spread to replace all other humans within and outside the continent. Stringer's new theory, based on archeological and genetic evidence, holds that distinct humans coexisted and competed across the African continent—exchanging genes, tools, and behavioral strategies.

Stringer draws on analyses of old and new fossils from around the world, DNA studies of Neanderthals (using the full genome map) and other species, and recent archeological digs to unveil his new theory. He shows how the most sensational recent fossil findings fit with his model, and he questions previous concepts (including his own) of modernity and how it evolved.

Lone Survivors will be the definitive account of who and what we were, and will change perceptions about our origins and about what it means to be human.

Put aside everything you thought you knew about Neanderthals. Evolutionary detective Danny Vendramini’s meticulous research shows they were not docile omnivores, but savage, cannibalistic carnivores: the ‘apex predators’ of the stone age. And everything else—including humans—was their prey.

Vendramini’s Neanderthal predation theory argues that the evolution of modern humans—including our unique physiology, sexuality and human nature–is the result of systematic long-term sexual predation and cannibalism by Eurasian Neanderthals.

Neanderthal predation theory is one of those groundbreaking concepts that revolutionizes scientific thinking. It represents a quantum leap in our understanding of human origins.

“Danny Vendramini presents a truly unique and innovative picture of the role of Neandertal predation in human evolution… Vendramini pulls together countless different threads of scientific evidence to re-cast Neandertals as “apex predators”, proverbial “wolves with knives” who were effective rivals with our ancestors... It has been a long time since I read a book about human evolution that I enjoyed so much.”

Professor John Shea, Stony Brook University, New York