Synopses & Reviews
This mainstream, full-color physical anthropology text is the best-selling text in the market! While it continues to present a comprehensive, well-balanced introduction to the field of physical anthropology, this is a major revision and the book has shifted emphases in critical areas of biology, including molecular biology and genetics, to reflect the field as it stands today. Now, as a Media Edition, INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY automatically comes with the new BASIC GENETICS CD which responds to growing interest in genetic variation driven by advances in molecular biology enhance.
Review
"The text is well-written. I will use it for a class with a mix of students, some having no background. The visuals in the text are excellent."
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"A great strength of this text is the "Issue" section--a fabulous reminder of the value of a college education."
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"Overall, this is a great text. The chapters build upon one another and students get a good dose of both historical approaches as well as current multidisciplinary approaches. The text and accompanying CD-ROM use wonderful photos and diagrams. The layout is very appealing, and some chapters are just chock full of great photos."
Review
"Since using Richard Robbins Introduction to Cultural Anthropology: A Problem Based Approach, my intro course has been transformed and reinvigorated. My students' enthusiasm for anthropology has increased dramatically with my integration of the experiential exercises in the book and the Handbook for Active Learning. The entire approach taken in the book has energized my students; they can now really appreciate the relevance anthropology has for living in an increasingly global world. And their interest in the anthropology minor has increased as well. I've found my book'no need to look further."
Synopsis
Jurmain's best-selling text provides you with the course content you need to help you pass your biological/physical anthropology course. Through clear discussions that move from 'description' to interpretation, compelling visual content, cutting-edge research, and interactive multimedia, you'll discover life's history and the place of human beings in the biological world.
About the Author
Robert Jurmain received an A.B. in Anthropology from UCLA and a Ph.D. in Biological Anthropology from Harvard. He taught at San Jose State University from 1975 to 2004 and is now Professor Emeritus. During his teaching career, he taught courses in all major branches of physical anthropology, including osteology and human evolution, with the greatest concentration in general education teaching for introductory students. His research interests are skeletal biology of humans and non-human primates, paleopathology, and paleoanthropology. In addition to his three textbooks, which together have appeared in 30 editions, he is the author of STORIES FROM THE SKELETON: BEHAVIORAL RECONSTRUCTION IN HUMAN OSTEOLOGY (1999, Gordon Breach Publishers), as well as numerous articles in research journals.Lynn Kilgore earned her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she now holds an affiliate faculty position. Her primary research interests are osteology and paleopathology. She has taught numerous undergraduate and graduate courses in human osteology, primate behavior, human heredity and evolution, and general physical anthropology. Her research focuses on developmental defects, and disease and trauma in human and great ape skeletons.Wenda Trevathan is Regents Professor (Emerita) of Anthropology at New Mexico State University, where she has been a faculty member since 1983. She is a biological anthropologist whose research focuses on the evolutionary and biocultural factors underlying human reproduction, including childbirth, maternal behavior, sexuality, and menopause. Her primary publications include works on the evolution of childbirth and evolutionary medicine. Her most recent book is Ancient Bodies, Modern Lives: How Evolution Has Shaped Women?s Health (2010, Oxford University Press). She teaches courses in physical anthropology, nutritional anthropology, medical anthropology, evolutionary medicine, and anthropology of reproduction.Russell L. Ciochon is a leading paleoanthropologist specializing in primate and human evolution in Asia, as well as the geochronology of Asian Plio-Pleistocene sites. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and teaches at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, where he is Chair of the Department of Anthropology. He teaches courses in hominin and non-human primate evolution, as well as primate behavior, ecology, and functional anatomy. Besides co-authoring more than one hundred technical articles, he has also co-written two popular books: DRAGON BONE HILL: AN ICE AGE SAGA OF HOMO ERECTUS (2004, Oxford University Press) and OTHER ORIGINS: THE SEARCH FOR THE GIANT APE IN PREHISTORY (1990, Bantam Books).
Table of Contents
Introduction. Part 1. HEREDITY AND EVOLUTION. 1. Introduction to Physical Anthropology. 2. The Development of Evolutionary Theory. 3. The Biological Basis of Life. 4. Heredity and Evolution. 5. Macroevolution: Processes of Vertebrate and Mammalian Evolution. Part 2. PRIMATES. 6. Survey of the Living Primates. 7. Primate Behavior. 8. Primate Models for Human Behavioral Evolution. 9. Overview of the Fossil Primates. Part 3. HOMINID EVOLUTION. 10. Paleoanthropology: Reconstructing Early Hominid Behavior and Ecology. 11. Hominid Origins in Africa. 12. The First Dispersal of the Genus Homo: Homo erectus and Contemporaries. 13. Pre-Modern Humans. 14. The Origin and Dispersal of Modern Humans. Part 4. CONTEMPORARY HUMAN EVOLUTION. 15. Modern Human Biology: Patterns of Variation. 16. Modern Human Biology: Patterns of Adaptation. 17. Legacies of Human Evolutionary History.