I’ve begun narrowing my reading down from works about the Paleolithic as a whole to the Middle Paleolithic in particular.

While it’s been fascinating to see perspectives on Neanderthals evolve in popular non-fiction over the last 30 years, immersing myself in stratigraphy, typology, palynology, faunal assemblages, taphonomy, and (most exciting!) spatial organization has proved deeply rewarding. To that end, my reading has incorporated more and more site reports by the likes of Bordes (Combe Grenal and Peche de l’Aze); Lévêque, et al (Saint-Cesaire); Bar-Yosef, et al (Kebara); and Akazawa & Muhesan (Dederiya).

• A Tale of Two Caves by François Bordes (1972)
• Handbook of Paleolithic Typology: Lower and Middle Paleolithic of Europe by André Debénath & Harold L. Dibble (1994)
• The Neanderthal Legacy: An Archaeological Perspective from Western Europe by Paul Mellars (1995)
• Neanderthal Burials: Excavations of the Dederiya Cave: Afrin, Syria edited by Takeru Akazawa & Sultan Muhesan (2003)
• The Middle Paleolithic: Adaptation, Behavior, and Variability edited by Harold Dibble & Paul Mellars (2003)

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• General Paleolithic reading list
• Upper Paleolithic reading list
• Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition reading list
• Lithic technology reading list