Synopses & Reviews
This book provides a complete, unbiased, relatively non-technical overview and "state-of-the-art" discussion of the rapidly changing field of paleoanthropology. It features an abundance of illustrations and photographs from the authors' visits to fossil sites, and views skeletal remains in light of what they can reveal about the populations they represent -- not only their anatomy but also their behavior and social organization. Features rather extensive discussions on the use of genetic data -- particularly that of mtDNA. Covers: Fossils, Fossilization, and Dating Methods; Determining Evolutionary Relationships; Our Place in the Animal Kingdom; Reconstructing Human Behavioral Patterns and Social Organizations: Use of the Comparative Approach; Early Primate Evolution; The Transition to Apes; Trends in Human Evolution; The Earliest Hominids; The Hominid Divergence; "Homo Erectus; " Early "Homo Sapiens; " Neandertals and Their Immediate Predecessors; and The Appearance of "Homo sapiens sapiens." For anyone interested in a state-of-the-art discussion of paleoanthropology.
Table of Contents
1. Trends in Human Evolution. 2. Fossils, Fossilization, and Dating Methods.
3. Determining Evolutionary Relationships.
4. Our Place in the Animal Kingdom.
5. Reconstructing Ancient Human Behavior and Social Organizations: Use of the Comparative Approach.
6. Early Primate Evolution.
7. Basal Anthropoids, The Evolution of Monkeys, and the Transition to Apes.
8. The Early Hominins.
9. The Hominin Divergence.
10. The Spread of Homo Beyond Africa.
11. Transitions to Archaic Homo sapiens.
12. Neandertals and Their Immediate Predecessors.
13. The Appearance of Homo sapiens sapiens.
14. Conclusion?
Glossary.