The Emergence of Humans An Exploration of the Evolutionary Timeline

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Edition: 1st
Format: Hardcover
Pub. Date: 2010-05-10
Publisher(s): Wiley
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Summary

The Emergence of Humans is an accessible, informative introduction to the scientific study of human evolution. It takes the reader through time following the emergence of the modern human species Homo sapiens from primate roots. Acknowledging the controversy surrounding the interpretation of the fossil record, the authors present a balanced approach in an effort to do justice to different views.Each chapter covers a significant time period of evolutionary history and includes relevant techniques from other disciplines that have applications to the field of human evolution. Self-assessment questions linked to learning outcomes are provided for each chapter, together with further reading and reference to key sources in the primary literature. The book will thus be effective both as a conventional textbook and for independent study.Written by two authors with a wealth of teaching experience The Emergence of Humans will prove invaluable to students in the biological and natural sciences needing a clear, balanced introduction to the study of human evolution.

Author Biography

Dr. Patricia J. Ash, The Open University in the South, UK and Dr. David J. Robinson, Department of Life Sciences, The Open University, UK.

Table of Contents

Prefacep. ix
Introductionp. 01
The first human fossilsp. 05
Summaryp. 10
The geological contextp. 13
The geological time scalep. 13
Movement of the continentsp. 14
Fossilizationp. 19
Datingp. 19
Dating techniquesp. 21
Habitats and environmentp. 23
Climate changes and long-term cyclesp. 25
Summaryp. 26
Evolution and natural selectionp. 27
Darwin and the origin of species by natural selectionp. 27
The modern synthesis of evolutionp. 30
Inheritance of charactersp. 35
Population geneticsp. 30
Geographic isolation and speciationp. 43
65 - 40mya: Primate and anthropoid originsp. 47
The Scandentia and the Plesiadapiformesp. 50
The emergence of primatesp. 54
Ancient primatesp. 58
Dentition of ancient primatesp. 64
The most ancient anthropoid?p. 67
Evolutionary relationships of adapiformes, omomyiformes and anthropoidsp. 68
Classification of primatesp. 71
Summaryp. 71
40 - 8 mya: Anthropoids and hominoidsp. 75
Introductionp. 75
Radiation of the anthropoids and other primatesp. 76
Use of cladistics for identifying evolutionary relationships in primate groupsp. 81
Social structures in primate groupsp. 85
The hominoideap. 87
Conclusionp. 102
8 - 4.4 mya: Who were the ancestors of the hominins?p. 107
The first hominin: Toumai?p. 108
The first hominin: Orrorin?p. 112
Another first hominin: Ardipithecus kadabbap. 114
Ardipithecus ramidusp. 115
An un-named hominin from Lothagamp. 116
Evolutionary relationships of the early homininsp. 116
Conclusionp. 117
4.2 - 3.0 mya: Adaptive radiation of homininsp. 119
The australopithsp. 120
The First australopith-Australopithecus anamensisp. 122
Australopithecus afarensis; a possible ancestor of Homop. 122
The Flat-faced skull from Kenyap. 126
Australopithecus africanusp. 127
Sterkfontein and the 'Little Foot' Discoveryp. 131
Which species belong in the genus Australopithecus?p. 132
Conclusionp. 134
3.0 - 1.0 mya: Emergence and diversification of the genus Homop. 137
The Robust australopithsp. 138
Paranthropus boiseip. 138
Paranthropus aethiopicusp. 141
Australopithecus garhip. 142
Tools and tool technologiesp. 142
Australopiths in the human lineagep. 143
Early Homop. 145
Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensisp. 150
Homo rudolfensis and Kenyanthropus platyopsp. 150
Radiation of Homo speciesp. 153
Homo ergaster and Homo erectusp. 153
Did Homo erectus Return to Africa?p. 160
Conclusionp. 161
1.0 mya - 700 000 years agop. 165
Introductionp. 165
Persistence of Homo erectus in Africa and East Asiap. 168
Homo antecessor in Spainp. 181
The Ceprano hominin calvariap. 187
Conclusionp. 188
700 000ya - 130 000ya: Emergence of new species of Homop. 191
Introductionp. 191
The emergence and migration of Homo heidelbergensisp. 192
The discovery of Neandertalsp. 205
The emergence of modern Homo sapiensp. 219
Conclusionp. 225
130 000 - 10 000 Years Ago Homo sapiens Out of Africap. 229
Introductionp. 229
The role of genetic studiesp. 231
Studying Artefactsp. 239
Modern Homo sapiens in Africap. 239
Neandertals and modern Homo sapiens in Western Asia and Middle Eastp. 246
Neandertals and modern Homo sapiens in Europep. 254
Modern Humans and Neandertals in Central Asiap. 263
South East Asia and Australasiap. 264
A New Species of Homo?p. 268
East Asiap. 272
Modern Humans Arrive in the Americasp. 275
Conclusionp. 279
Codap. 285
Answers to End of Chapter Questionsp. 293
Glossaryp. 307
Indexp. 317
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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