The Human Fossil Record, Volume 4 Craniodental Morphology of Early Hominids (Genera Australopithecus, Paranthropus, Orrorin), and Overview

About this book

This work provides a compendium of uniform descriptions and illustrations of fossils from all the major sites that document the human evolutionary past. It focuses on the documentation of morphology, the essential basis for all further analysis of human biological history. The fossils are presented site-by-site in alphabetical order, with each site entry containing the morphological description, fossil illustrations, information on location, history of discovery, previous systematic assessments of the fossils, geological, archaeological, and faunal contexts, dating, and references to the primary literature.

Contents

- Preface

PART 1: INTRODUCTION
- Descriptive Protocol
- Descriptive Format
- Anatomical Terminology Figures
- Abbreviations
- Maps
- Layout of Entries

PART 2: SITE ENTRIES
- Allia Bay
- Belohdelie
- Chesowanja
- Drimolen
- Fejej
- Hadar
- Kanapoi
- Koobi Fora (East Turkana, East Rudolf)
- Kromdraai
- Laetoli (Laetolil, Garusi)
- Lothagam
- Lukeino
- Maka
- Makapansgat
- Malema
- Olduvai Gorge
- Omo Valley, Lower (Shungura, Usno)
- Peninj (Lake Natron)
- Sterkfontein
- Swartkrans
- Tabarin (Tugen Hills)
- Taung (Taungs)
- Turkana, West (Lomekwi, Lokalalei, Nachukui)

PART 3: HOMINID CRANIODENTAL MORPHOLOGIES: AN OVERVIEW
- Introduction
- Systematic Approach to the Hominid Fossil Record
- The Family Hominidae and the Earliest Hominids
- Operational Problems in the Alpha Taxonomy of the "Early Hominids"
- The "Australopiths" Southern Africa
- Eastern Africa: The "Robusts"
- Other "Australopiths"
- Australopithecus anamensis
- Australopithecus afarensis
- "Early Homo"
- The Ubiquitous Homo erectus: Species or Grab-Bag?
- Homo erectus and Its Putative Relatives in Java
- Putative Homo erectus in China
- Putative Homo erectus from Africa
- Putative Homo erectus from Europe
- Middle and Late Pleistocene Hominids of Europe
- Early Middle Pleistocene Hominids
- Homo heidelbergensis and Its Putative Relatives
- The Neanderthals and Related Forms
- Homo sapiens and "Archaic Homo sapiens"
- Homo sapiens and Suggested Close Relatives
- Other Members of the "Archaic Homo sapiens" Group from the Levant and Africa
- Coda
- Appendix

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Biography

Between them, Jeffrey H. Schwartz and Ian Tattersall have published nearly 400 articles and 20 books on various aspects of primates, including human evolution. In addition, they have published extensively on topics in evolutionary theory: Dr Schwartz on development and the origin of evolutionary novelty, and Dr Tattersall on species recognition. Dr Schwartz has also been involved in the recovery and analysis of human and animal skeletal remains on archaeological sites, and Dr Tattersall in the study of lemur behaviour and ecology. They have collaborated since 1972 on projects dealing with the evolutionary relationships of living and fossil lemurs, and have been pursuing their current study of the human fossil record since 1994, travelling the world to gain photographs and details of every specimen possible. Dr Schwartz's latest book is Sudden Origins: Fossils, Genes, and the Emergence of Species (Wiley), while Dr Tattersall recently published The Monkey in the Mirror: Essays on the Science of Becoming Human (Harcourt). They also recently co-authored Extinct Humans (Westview).