This fully updated and revised 3rd edition of the Handbook of Palaeoanthropology provides a truly comprehensive overview of the field. Often cited as the most multidisciplinary of all sciences, palaeoanthropology incorporates a wide range of techniques such as geology, evolutionary biology (change to anthropology) and archaeology. The book presents the full range of current knowledge (add methods and techniques used in the field) and also looks to future developments in this fascinating discipline. It is an excellent resource for students, researchers and practitioners of palaeoanthropology. Guided by a world-class editorial team, the entries reflect the best of contemporary science, also including newer topics such as palaeoproteomics, palaeogenetics and ancient DNA. Each of the three volumes covers the core components of the field:

• Volume I, Principles, Methods, and Approaches; incorporates the enormous advances that have been made in areas such as phylogenetic analysis, palaeoecology, and evolutionary theory and philosophy.
• Volume II, Primate Evolution and Human Origins; integrates primate fossil data with the vast amount that is now known about the behavior and ecology of living primates in natural environments.

• Volume III, Phylogeny of Hominins; deals with the fossil and molecular evidence for the evolution of Homo sapiens and its fossil relatives. The editors have ensured that the entries uphold a key principle of palaeoanthropology, namely that historical assessments must be updated with evolving knowledge of the living world. Palaeoanthropology is characterised by many lively and unresolved scientific debates, which are reflected in the heterogeneity of intellectual viewpoints in this handbook. This deliberate diversity ensures that this book is a multifaceted, comprehensive companion of inestimable value to students, academics and professionals alike.

  Comprehensive overview on paleoanthropology with a multidisciplinary approach Fully updated 3rd edition of the standard reference work in paleoanthropology Excellent resource for students, researchers and practitioners of palaeoanthropology

  Autorentext

  Charles M. Musiba ** is a Professor of Biological Anthropology at Duke University in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology. He is also a research professor at the Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and the Human Evolution Research Institute (HERI) at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Charles Musiba is a Montgomery and Carnegie African Diaspora fellow with research focus on human origins in eastern Africa.

  His work covers the following areas: taphonomy and paleoecology of Laetoli, evolution of upright posture and bipedalism, hominin behavior ecology at Olduvai Gorge, conservation of hominin footprints and animal trackways at Laetoli, and the evolution of the genus Homo in Eastern and Southern Africa (Laetoli, Isimila and Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, and the Rising Star Cave in South Africa). Charles Musiba is interested in reconstructing past environments (4 million years ago to 250,000 years ago) using multiple proxy data and he is actively involved in conservation efforts and sustainable use of paleoanthropological resources in Tanzania through education and cultural exchange programs. Charles Musiba has extensively worked on the evolution of upright posture and bipedal gait in humans with emphasis on the interpretation of the 3.6 million years old fossil hominin footprints from Laetoli in northern Tanzania.

Andrew S. Deane is an Associate Professor (with tenure) at the Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA. He holds an M.A. in Biological Anthropology from the University of Toronto, Canada, and a Ph.D. in Paleoanthropology, also from the University of Toronto. His research focuses on questions of ape and human evolution. In particular, he is interested in the functional relationships between the mechanical stresses associated with dietary and locomotor adaptations and hard and soft tissue anatomy, and what these relationships might reveal about the paleoecology and evolution of fossil apes and early humans.

Klappentext

This fully updated and revised 3rd edition of the Handbook of Palaeoanthropology provides a truly comprehensive overview of the field. Often cited as the most multidisciplinary of all sciences, palaeoanthropology incorporates a wide range of techniques such as geology, evolutionary biology (change to anthropology) and archaeology. The book presents the full range of current knowledge (add methods and techniques used in the field) and also looks to future developments in this fascinating discipline. It is an excellent resource for students, researchers and practitioners of palaeoanthropology. Guided by a world-class editorial team, the entries reflect the best of contemporary science, also including newer topics such as palaeoproteomics, palaeogenetics and ancient DNA. Each of the three volumes covers the core components of the field:

• Volume I, Principles, Methods, and Approaches; incorporates the enormous advances that have been made in areas such as phylogenetic analysis, palaeoecology, and evolutionary theory and philosophy.
• Volume II, Primate Evolution and Human Origins; integrates primate fossil data with the vast amount that is now known about the behavior and ecology of living primates in natural environments.

• Volume III, Phylogeny of Hominins; deals with the fossil and molecular evidence for the evolution of Homo sapiens and its fossil relatives. The editors have ensured that the entries uphold a key principle of palaeoanthropology, namely that historical assessments must be updated with evolving knowledge of the living world. Palaeoanthropology is characterised by many lively and unresolved scientific debates, which are reflected in the heterogeneity of intellectual viewpoints in this handbook. This deliberate diversity ensures that this book is a multifaceted, comprehensive companion of inestimable value to students, academics and professionals alike.

  Inhalt

See list of confirmed authors attached

TOC of 2nd Ed.

Volume 1: Principles, Methods, and Approaches: Historical Overview of Paleoanthropological Research.- Charles Darwin, Paleoanthropology, and the Modern Synthesis (NEW).- Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus.- The Ontogeny-Phylogeny Nexus in a Nutshell: Implications for Primatology and Paleoanthropology.- Principles of Taxonomy and Classification: Current Procedures for Naming and Classifying Organisms.- Species Concepts and Speciation: Facts and Fantasies.- Quantitative Approaches to Phylogenetics.- Homology: A Philosophical and Biological Perspective.- Chronometric Methods in Paleoanthropology.- Patterns of Diversification and Extinction.- Taphonomic and Diagenetic Processes.- Contribution of Stable Light Isotopes to Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction.- The Paleoclimatic Record and Plio-Pleistocene Paleoenvironments (NEW).- Geological Background of Hominid Sites in Africa.- Paleosols.- Quaternary Geology and Paleoenvironments (NEW).- Quaternary Deposits and Paleosites.-Paleoecology: An Adequate Window on the Past?.- Zoogeography: Primate and Early Hominin Distribution and Migration Patterns.- The Paleodemography of Extinct Hominin Populations.- Hominin Paleodiets: The Contribution of Stable Isotopes.- Estimation of Basic Life History Data of Fossil Hominoids.- Genetics and Paleoanthropology (NEW).- Ancient DNA .-Modeling the Past: The Primatological Approach.- Modeling the Past: The Paleoethnological Approach .-Modeling the Past: Archaeology.- The Evolution of Speech and Language (NEW).- General Principles of Evolutionary Morphology.- ** Virtual Anthropology and Biomechanics (NEW).- Paleopathology: Vestiges of Pathological Conditions in Fossil Human Bo…