Ice-Age Eastern Europe was an inhospitable place, isolated from the moderating influence of oceans. Unlike Western Europe, which was settled over half a million years ago, Eastern Europe remained largely unoccupied until the appearance of the cold-adapted Neanderthals. When modern humans arrived from southern latitudes, they were anatomically less suited to colder climates, but successfully colonized Eastern Europe with the aid of innovative technologies that their Neanderthal predecessors lacked. 

John F. Hoffecker provides an overview of Pleistocene or Ice-Age settlement in Eastern Europe with a heavy focus on the adaptations of Neanderthals and modern humans to this harsh environmental setting. Hoffecker argues that the Eastern European record reveals a stark contrast between Neanderthals and modern humans with respect to technology and social organization, both of which are tied to the development of language and the use of symbols. Desolate Landscapes will bring readers up to date with the rich archaeological record in this significant region and its contribution to our understanding of one of our most important events in human evolution - the rise of modern humans and the extinction of the Neanderthals. 

The book is divided into seven chapters. The first discusses general anthropological principles and theories pertaining to human adaptation and development in cold environments. The second outlines the environmental conditions of the specific area under study in the book.

The next two chapters focus on Neanderthal finds in the area. The following two chapters discuss the replacement of the local Neanderthal population by the Cro-magnons, and the development of their way of life in the cold Loess Steppe environment. The final chapter summarizes the discussion and is followed by an extremely valuable and extensive bibliography, more than half of which consists of non-English (primarily Russian) sources.

John F. Hoffecker is a research associate at the institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the author of many publications on the archaeology of people in cold environments.

John Hoffecker has written a very worthy addition to the small, but substantive collection of books by Americans that make the Paleolithic record of Eastern Europe accessible to the Anglophone community of paleanthropologists/prehistorians. . . . An excellent, well-written, scholarly work by a specialist with a long track record in Russian and Arctic archaeology.

Most English-reading archaeologists know that Eastern European prehistory can illuminate cultural evolution over tens of thousands of years. . . . Now, for the first time, they have a readily available, highly readable, authoritative, and comprehensive source to inform both themselves and their students.

Hoffecker presents a concise review of the Paleolitic archaeology of east Europe, wrapping together in one volume an extensive bibliography that includes many Russian-language sources not readily available to non-Russian speakersàWell illustrated with a selection colleges and universities with course offerings at the undergraduate and graduate level in anthropology, archaeology, and environmental studies.