Hi there. Previously Uncontacted Amazonian Tribe, May 2008. All photos: REUTERS/Gleison Miranda-FUNAI.
How much of Prehistory survives in the present day? Some anthropologists are devoted to finding niches of it in our Post-Postmodern times, be it through finding isolated indigenous tribes that still retain Prehistoric modes of existence - or by finding some Prehistoric patterns in current styles and popular behaviour. Geneticists are commissioned to trace bits of Prehistoric life still extant via DNA studies; National Geographic recently participated in one such endeavour, The Genographic Project.
Lately, Prehistory has been enjoying something of a renaissance with movies like Apocalypto (2006), the Land Before Time series (1988-2007), 10,000 BC (2008), and the Ice Age series of animated films (2002-2009). There is a list of Prehistoric films here.
Neanderthals are back in vogue as well, enjoying a much more sympathetic treatment by Paleo-Artists and Palaeontologists. In pop culture, they are the subjects of the novel trilogy The Neanderthal Parallax by Robert J. Sawyer. Recently, Neanderthal testing kits have appeared on the market, so you can theoretically test the Neanderthal traces in your genetic profile.
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