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August 13, 2014

Quests for Fire: Neanderthals and Science Fiction

In addition to exciting anthropology and public imagination,

these new Neanderthal finds provided fodder for science fiction—a young literary genre on the rise. The worlds of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and other early sci-fi authors teemed with unexplored geographies, Darwinism, mechanical inventions and the material cultures of science. The caves and archaeological sites of Europe provided a perfect backdrop for speculative fiction. The almost-human Neanderthals became the perfect alien character—so much like us, but also safely different.

—Vol. 2, No. 3—The Appendix

Posted by gerardvanderleun at August 13, 2014 8:57 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

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Posted by: chasmatic at August 13, 2014 10:31 PM

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