Defining Modernity, Establishing Rubicons, Imagining the Other—and the Neanderthal Enigma

Abstract

This chapter begins with the assumption that the analytical categories we impose on the world—including the deep past—are arbitrary con- structs invented for heuristic purposes rather than discovered innate properties. I argue that such parti- tioning is and always was affected by political reali- ties—extant or envisioned—which clearly demon- strate the ‘‘virtual’’ rather than intrinsic reality of such ‘‘Rubicons.’’ I further argue that when we fail to acknowledge this, we assign unwarranted signifi- cance to our constructs and waste precious research resources analyzing them. I illustrate these points by discussing the ‘‘Modernity’’ conundrum—the Mid- dle to Upper Paleolithic Transition—that has been the subject of innumerable muddled and ultimately largely sterile debates over the last 25 years or so.