''Dance of the Tiger'' (Swedish: ''Den Svarta Tigern'') is a novel by Finnish
palaeontologist
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
Björn Kurtén Björn Olof Lennartson Kurtén (19 November 1924 – 28 December 1988) was a Finnish vertebrate paleontologist, belonging to the Swedish-speaking minority of his country.
Early life and education
Kurtén was born in Vaasa.
Career
He was a profe ...
, published in 1978 and English translation in 1980. It is a
prehistoric novel dealing with the interaction between
Neanderthals
Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an Extinction, extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ag ...
and
Cro-Magnons
Early European modern humans (EEMH), or Cro-Magnons, were the first early modern humans (''Homo sapiens'') to settle in Europe, migrating from Western Asia, continuously occupying the continent possibly from as early as 56,800 years ago. They ...
. A sequel, ''
Singletusk'', published in 1982, continues the story of the family.
Plot
Set 35,000 years ago in Scandinavia, during a thaw in the great
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
, the novel follows a Cro-Magnon named Tiger as he tries to defeat Shelk, a tyrant and a hybrid (Neanderthal/Cro-Magnon), the man who killed his father. With his family and much of his tribe dead, Tiger meets, interacts, and allies himself with groups of Neanderthals. He eventually marries a Neanderthal woman.
Depictions
Neanderthals are depicted as white-skinned, while Cro-Magnons are dark. Kurtén's skin color identification for both populations appears to agree with recent DNA studies, including those proposing the African origin of modern humans. His racial presentation of the Cro-Magnon is in contrast to
Jean M. Auel
Jean Marie Auel (; ; born February 18, 1936) is an American writer who wrote the '' Earth's Children'' books, a series of novels set in prehistoric Europe that explores human activities during this time, and touches on the interactions of Cro-Mag ...
's view in her ''
Earth's Children
''Earth's Children'' is a series of epic historical fiction (or more precisely, prehistorical fiction) novels written by Jean M. Auel set circa 30,000 years before the present day. There are six novels in the series. Although Auel had previous ...
'' series. Auel's initial book, published a few years later than ''Dance of the Tiger'', portrayed Neanderthals as light-skinned and Cro-Magnons as more racially varied, either light or dark-skinned. The author himself says "The book is not intended to be a 'theory about interaction between Neanderthals and Modern Humans', it is just a fictive description of one possible scenario among several that
might have taken place".
Cro-Magnon children and adults are portrayed as having smooth brows and small faces; the characteristic features of childhood act as "innate releasing mechanisms" for feelings of affection.
To the Whites, the Blacks were godlike, tall and eloquent, with a speech as varied and flexible as that of the birds. And there was something else. No White could look at the clear brow of a Black without feeling a mysterious tenderness, such as a child might evoke in the heart of his parents.
:— Kurtén, p. 33, 5th printing, paperback
Kurtén postulates that this attraction led to intermarriage between the two people, which produced sterile offspring. He emphasizes the possibility of Neanderthal extinction through inter-breeding rather than through violence. He also presents social differences between the two groups, presenting the Cro-Magnon people as more aggressive, practicing slavery and choosing violence to solve social problems. The Neanderthal society, based on a matriarchal system, is drawn as peace-loving with elaborate social rituals designed to resolve problems.
Reception
The novel is known for its plausibility and accuracy. Kurtén's supposition that Neanderthals and ancestors of modern ''Homo sapiens'' occupied same areas in the same time in Europe has been confirmed by fossil evidence.
Twilight of the Neanderthals
Article in ''Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...
'' August 2009 by Kate Wong
Kurtén has managed to insinuate into his story—in a way so subtle and natural that we can scarcely recognize he is teaching as well as novelizing—every fact and theory that I know (and several, undoubtedly, that I don't) about Neanderthals, Cro-Magnons, human evolution during the Ice Age, glacial geology, and ecology and behavior of the great Ice Age mammals, including mammoths and saber-toothed tigers.
:— Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould (; September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely read authors of popular science of his generation. Gould sp ...
, introduction to ''Dance of the Tiger'', 1980.
Kurtén was not the first novelist to examine the subject; for instance author William Golding
Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel ''Lord of the Flies'' (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980 ...
also examined the issue of Neanderthal extinction in '' The Inheritors''.
Release details
* Originally published as ''Den Svarta Tigern'', ALBA Publishing, Stockholm, Sweden, 1978.
* English translation copyright, 1980, Björn Kurtén.
* English translation, Random House, New York, 1980.
* Pantheon Books paperback editions, initially published September 1980, Fifth printing October 1983. .
References
{{Homo neanderthalensis, state=expanded
1978 Swedish novels
Fiction about neanderthals
Novels set in prehistory
Swedish historical novels