Fred H. Smith, James C. Ahern

The Origins of Modern Humans

Biology Reconsidered

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

This work provides an update of an award-winning classic, which introduced the major competing theories in human evolution. The coverage now features new fossil and molecular evidence, such as the genetic evidence including evolutionary inferences drawn from assesments of modern humans and large segments of the genome of the Neanderthal. The inclusion of younger scholars also enhances the work, leading to a comprehensive and vibrant current edition.

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This update to the award-winning The Origins of Modern Humans: A World Survey of the Fossil Evidence covers the most accepted common theories concerning the emergence of modern Homo sapiens-adding fresh insight from top young scholars on the key new discoveries of the past 25 years.

The Origins of Modern Humans: Biology Reconsidered allows field leaders to discuss and assess the assemblage of hominid fossil material in each region of the world during the Pleistocene epoch. It features new fossil and molecular evidence, such as the evolutionary inferences drawn from assessments of modern humans and large segments of the Neandertal genome. It also addresses the impact of digital imagery and the more sophisticated morphometrics that have entered the analytical fray since 1984.

Beginning with a thoughtful introduction by the authors on modern human origins, the book offers such insightful chapter contributions as:
Africa: The Cradle of Modern People
Crossroads of the Old World: Late Hominin Evolution in Western Asia
A River Runs through It: Modern Human Origins in East Asia
Perspectives on the Origins of Modern Australians
Modern Human Origins in Central Europe
The Makers of the Early Upper Paleolithic in Western Eurasia
Neandertal Craniofacial Growth and Development and Its Relevance for Modern Human Origins
Energetics and the Origin of Modern Humans
Understanding Human Cranial Variation in Light of Modern Human Origins
The Relevance of Archaic Genomes to Modern Human Origins
The Process of Modern Human Origins: The Evolutionary and Demographic Changes Giving Rise to Modern Humans
The Paleobiology of Modern Human Emergence

Elegant and thought provoking, The Origins of Modern Humans: Biology Reconsidered is an ideal read for students, grad students, and professionals in human evolution and paleoanthropology.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Wiley & Sons
• 1. Auflage
• Seitenzahl: 480
• Erscheinungstermin: 23. September 2013
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 261mm x 182mm x 30mm
• Gewicht: 1417g
• ISBN-13: 9780470894095
• ISBN-10: 0470894091
• Artikelnr.: 34439650

Autorenporträt

Fred Smith is Chairman of the Department of Anthropology at Illinois State University and a past president of the American Association of Physical Anthropology. A noted authority on neanderthal and early modern human evolution, Dr. Smith has a 40 year record of thought-leading publications. Jim Ahern is Associate Professor of Biological Anthropology at the University of Wyoming. Dr. Ahern's research has covered many aspects of human biological and biocultural evolution, ranging from work on the origin of the hominin lineage to the peopling of the Americas.

Inhaltsangabe

Contributors ix Introduction: Thoughts on Modern Human Origins: From 1984
to 2012 xi Fred H. Smith and James C. M. Ahern 1 Africa: The Cradle of
Modern People 1 Osbjorn M. Pearson 2 Crossroads of the Old World: Late
Hominin Evolution in Western Asia 45 Robert G. Franciscus and Trenton W.
Holliday 3 A River Runs through It: Modern Human Origins in East Asia 89
Karen R. Rosenberg and Xinzhi Wu 4 Perspectives on the Origins of Modern
Australians 123 Arthur C. Durband and Michael C. Westaway 5 Modern Human
Origins in Central Europe 151 James C. M. Ahern, Ivor Jankoviæ, Jean-Luc
Voisin, and Fred H. Smith 6 The Makers of the Early Upper Paleolithic in
Western Eurasia 223 Jean-Jacques Hublin 7 Neandertal Craniofacial Growth
and Development and Its Relevance for Modern Human Origins 253 Frank
L'Engle Williams 8 Energetics and the Origin of Modern Humans 285 Andrew W.
Froehle, Todd R. Yokley, and Steven E. Churchill 9 Understanding Human
Cranial Variation in Light of Modern Human Origins 321 John H. Relethford
10 The Relevance of Archaic Genomes to Modern Human Origins 339 John Hawks
and Zach Throckmorton 11 The Process of Modern Human Origins: The
Evolutionary and Demographic Changes Giving Rise to Modern Humans 355
Rachel Caspari and Milford H. Wolpoff 12 The Paleobiology of Modern Human
Emergence 393 Erik Trinkaus Index 435 The color plate section can be found
between pages 242 and 243.

Rezensionen

"A valuable resource, likely to be a source of discussion for specialists through the decade. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above." (Choice, 1 July 2014)

"The editors are to be congratulated for having assembled this overall extraordinary group of researchers to update the three-decades-old Origins. I am confident that the present volume will take its place alongside its predecessor as a book to which many professionals and students alike will turn for current information and thinking on the biology of modern human origins. I am certain that Frank Spencer would have approved of the editors' efforts." (The Quarterly Review of Biology, 1 June 2014)