Epistemology and research history significantly shape scientific understandings, debates, and publication strategies, albeit often implicitly. In Palaeolithic archaeology in particular, these factors are rarely examined in depth. Here, we present a historiographic analysis of how research history has influenced the debate concerning the possible Neanderthal occupation in Scandinavia. We provide a qualitative discussion of this contentious research field as well as a citation network analysis that visualizes, quantifies, and hence clarifies some of the underlying conceptual, geographic, and temporal patterns in the development of the debate. Our results show significant regionalism as a structuring principle driving this debate as well as a basic rift between professional and avocational archaeologists in how they interpret and publish the available data. We also identify a troubling lack of cross-referencing, even when taking language barriers into account. We argue that the debate about Neanderthal occupation in Scandinavia has been shaped (negatively) by the following phenomena: regionalism, nationalism, lack of research and researchers, non-cumulative work, publication in Nordic languages, science by press release/sensationalism, and a lamentable trend towards arguments ad hominem. In order to take this research field forward, we propose an epistemological turn towards a cumulative, international, and hypothesis-driven agenda based on renewed research efforts and novel citizen science tools.

中文翻译：

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关于研究历史和尼安德特人在其北部边缘的占领

认识论和研究历史显着地塑造了科学理解、辩论和出版策略，尽管通常是隐含的。特别是在旧石器时代考古学中，这些因素很少被深入研究。在这里，我们对研究历史如何影响关于斯堪的纳维亚半岛可能的尼安德特人占领的辩论进行了历史学分析。我们对这个有争议的研究领域进行了定性讨论，并进行了引文网络分析，该分析可视化、量化并因此阐明了辩论发展中的一些基本概念、地理和时间模式。我们的研究结果表明，重要的区域主义是推动这场辩论的结构原则，以及专业考古学家和业余考古学家在如何解释和发布可用数据方面的基本分歧。即使考虑到语言障碍，我们也发现了令人不安的缺乏交叉引用。我们认为，关于斯堪的纳维亚半岛的尼安德特人占领的辩论（消极地）受到以下现象的影响：区域主义、民族主义、缺乏研究和研究人员、非累积性工作、以北欧语言出版、新闻发布/耸人听闻的科学，以及可悲的论点趋势。为了推动这一研究领域向前发展，我们建议将认识论转向累积的、国际的、