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Science 26 March 1999:
Vol. 283. no. 5410, pp. 2029 - 2032
DOI: 10.1126/science.283.5410.2029
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Perspectives

MODERN HUMAN ORIGINS:
Highly Visible, Curiously Intangible

G. A. Clark

Is it just lack of data that limits our understanding of modern human origins, or are we not looking at the existing data with an open mind? Clark uses the transition from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic in Europe, between 35,000 and 45,000 years before present, to illustrate his view that blinkered vision rather than lack of data are holding us back. He maintains that research traditions are reinforcing perceived differences between modern humans and neandertals, rather than allowing for a range of paleolithic adaptations held in common by all circum-Mediterranean hominids.

The author is in the Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, USA. E-mail: gaclark{at}asu.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)