This essay reassesses Alejo Carpentier’s concept of lo real maravilloso americano [the American marvelous real] by comparing it to analogous notions developed earlier in the works of his Cuban fellow José Lezama Lima, showing how both authors respond to the widespread circulation of French surrealism in the Caribbean between the 1930s and 1940s. In doing so, I deconstruct Carpentier’s claims that his concept of the marvelous real was developed in response to the sense of awe he experienced during his visit to Haiti in 1943, instead viewing it as part of a broader endeavor simultaneously undertaken by several Caribbean writers and intellectuals, particularly in the Francophone islands, who reappropriated surrealist ideas in the context of their own critique of Western thought and an effort to reclaim the islands’ African heritage as part of their struggle for political and cultural autonomy.

This chapter provides a detailed review of the Neandertal facial skeleton with an emphasis on evolutionary interpretations drawn from comparisons to both extant modern humans and earlier fossil Homo. The spatial dynamics involved in the evolution of “midfacial prognathism” within the Neandertal lineage are discussed followed by comparative anatomical descriptions of the Neandertal supraorbital region, ocular orbits, nasal skeleton, infraorbital region, maxillary dental arcade/palate, and mandible. The chapter concludes with a review of unresolved debates regarding potential adaptive (e.g., biomechanical, climatic) and neutral (e.g., genetic drift) evolutionary forces that may have contributed to the appearance of Neandertal facial features.

The chapter is concerned with non-archaeological evidence pertaining to the Early Iron Age in Greece and the eastern Mediterranean. Since this was the only period in Greek history that completely lacked literacy, we are left with oral tradition as the only means of transmitting information between ca. 1200 and ca. 750 BCE. However, numerous anachronisms found in the Homeric poems show that not everything Homer says about the past should be taken at face value. Much more reliable is the evidence of the dialects, another kind of nonarchaeological evidence that throws light on this period. The regional distribution of the historical Greek dialects fits in well with the destruction levels and depopulation attested at many Mycenaean sites, in that both suggest a sharp break in cultural continuity at the end of the Bronze Age. Nothing of this can be found in Homer. Instead, the epics convey an impressive demonstration of cultural continuity and of religious, social, and military uniformity in polities sharing a common identity. It was this picture of an imagined past that became canonical, and the memory of the collapse of Mycenaean Greece and of the period that immediately followed it was effectively wiped out.

This chapter provides an overview of the entangled history between the discipline of Classics and the biological concept of race. Section I.1 outlines the emergence of problematic claims about the alleged White nature of Graeco-Roman antiquity from the modern era to the present day that have helped substantiate biological conceptions of race. Section I.2 examines scholarly work in critical race theory and early modern studies that offer more nuanced definitions of race beyond the biological. Section I.3 summarises work on the study of race in Classics, and Section I.4 discusses the contents of this Companion.

The bones of the Neandertal shoulder are distinguished from those of most living humans by (among other things) their long and gracile clavicles and their broad scapulae with narrow glenoid fossae and dorsal sulci on their axillary borders. The adaptive and evolutionary significance of interspecific variation in shoulder morphology, however, is unclear. Some of the features that differentiate the shoulders of Neandertals and modern humans, such as the long clavicles of Neandertals, may reflect overall differences in somatic bauplan between species, in the context of morphological integration of the thorax, shoulder, and upper limb. Other features, such as the shape of the scapular glenoid fossa, may contain information about interspecific differences in habitual upper limb use. Resolving among different possible explanations of observed patterns of variation is central to efforts to understand the behavior and biology of the Neandertals.

This chapter explores how considerations of private international law affected marriage and gender relations during the Mongol occupation of China, in the Yuan dynasty (1260–1368). I first address matters of jurisdiction and choice of law that arose in Yuan China and border areas when lawsuits involved non-Chinese. It demonstrates the willingness of Mongol Yuan officials to consider non-Chinese law in adjudication and how this process could be complicated by facts on the ground. The section reveals under Mongol rule a form of ‘transnational everyday life’, as other scholars have termed it, and the disadvantages that often accrued to women in these circumstances. Then I demonstrate how the Chinese encounter with Mongol rule and the resulting ‘foreign’ elements introduced into legal practice brought about changes in traditional, codified, Chinese marriage law. Finally, I address the Mongol use of strategic marriages in their interpolity relations both during the united world empire and in the Yuan dynasty. These interpolity marriage relations were crucial to Mongol successes during their conquests and in their efforts to maintain sovereignty over conquered peoples.

From the late seventeenth century to the early nineteenth, the Qing dynasty was the dominant power in East Asia. It waged numerous wars with its neighbours, both within the orbit of its tributary system and without. Coming from Manchuria and with their past tribal war tradition, the Manchus did not have an inherent expansion agenda when they conquered China. Use of force by the Qing dynasty in dealing with frontier crises was often case-specific. The Qing state constantly adjusted and revised its underpinning in justifying its decision to wage war or keep peace on or beyond its borders. In chronological order, this chapter delineates the evolution of Qing China’s normative system. It starts with the Manchus’ formative era in Manchuria, then focuses on the Qing dynasty’s empire-building endeavours and subsequent retreat from frontier activism in the early nineteenth century, and ends with a brief discussion of its last decades, during which the Qing dynasty’s doctrine and practice in managing its international affairs changed radically owing to intensified interactions with Western countries and the introduction of the Western international law.

This chapter reviews the fossil evidence for Neandertal pelvic morphology. Although the sample available is fairly small, it suggests that Neandertals share a set of features that differentiate them somewhat on average from modern humans. As noted by the first describers of the pelvis in Neandertals, this includes a long and thin superior pubic ramus, a broad overall breadth of the pelvis, and a general robusticity of the pelvis. The overall breadth of the pelvis and probably the length of the superior pubic ramus appear to reflect the primitive condition for hominins rather than derived features of Neandertals. It is likely that Neandertals gave birth with a similar degree of difficulty and a birth mechanism as is generally the case for modern humans. Obstetrics, locomotor constraints, and climatic adaptation are all important factors that need to be considered in an understanding of the pelvis in Neandertals.

The discovery and analysis of immature Neandertal remains have yielded significant insights into Neandertal growth and development, despite numerous historical challenges in the curation and study of these fossils. The relatively large number of immature Neandertal remains, attributed in part to their practice of intentional burial, has allowed for extensive ontogenetic studies. Early research focused on the timing of Neandertal trait emergence, and recent studies have expanded to include aspects such as birth, gestation, and growth rates. Notable differences between Neandertals and modern humans have been observed, particularly in craniofacial growth, brain development, and dental formation. Despite some evidence suggesting accelerated dental development in Neandertals, there is still considerable debate. Postcranial studies have highlighted distinctive features that emerge early in Neandertal growth, although discrepancies between dental and skeletal maturity remain. Future research is poised to benefit from integrated approaches that combine cranial, dental, and postcranial data and consider a wide range of comparative samples. Understanding Neandertal growth within a developmental context not only enhances our knowledge of Neandertals but also provides broader insights into human evolutionary biology.