《学校图书馆杂志》(School Library Journal)书评

Gr 6-9-Discovery Magazine's presentation portrays the Neanderthal through a scientifically accurate reenactment. Living together as a clan and residing in caves, they endured life with tenacity and courage that helped them to survive in unfriendly environmental conditions and extremely cold climates. Childhood was a very challenging time, and nearly half of them died before the age of 11. Old age came much more quickly to this species due to enormous exertion and injury. With the arrival of Cro-Magnon 350,000 years ago, Neanderthal faced the ultimate challenge to their existence. The Neanderthal world was small, restricted mainly to Europe and Western Asia. Cro-Magnon was seen as the competitor. The Neanderthal eventually died out and Cro-Magnon predominated. A somewhat slow narrative accompanies this presentation. The appearance of the Neanderthal is sometimes comical and doesn't appear as authentic as the portrayal of the Cro-Magnon. While scientists believe that the Neanderthal did have their own language, the video doesn't tell us much about it. The Discovery Channel Web site (www.schoo.discovery.com) offers a substantial standards-based lesson plan, vocabulary, and Web sites and books for further exploration. The video would be best suited for middle school viewers since the content might be a bit slow and tedious for high school students.-Barbara L. McMullin, Casita Center for Technology, Science, and Math, Vista, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.