Human Antiquity : An Introduction to Physical Anthropology and Archaeology

by Feder, Kenneth L.

• ISBN13: 9780767416955
• ISBN10: 0767416953
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-01-26
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages

Summary

Where did we come from? To answer this question, anthropologists reconstruct the human past and study the human present from both biological and cultural perspectives. "Human Antiquity" offers an absorbing, straightforward explanation of human origins and evolution by thoroughly integrating physical anthropology and archaeology. Co-authors Kenneth Feder and Michael Park combine the ideas, methods, and knowledge from both biological anthropology and archaeology into a unified effort: Feder is an archeologist who conducts surveys, excavations, and analyses to understand the native inhabitants of New England; Park is a biological anthropologist interested in the application of evolutionary theory to the biological history of our species. .

Table of Contents

PART I. THINKING ABOUT THE PAST

1. Frameworks

2. Eden Questioned: Historical Perspectives

Contemporary Issue: Scientific Creationism: An Old Idea in a New Form

3. Evolution: An Overview

PART II. THE STUDY OF THE PAST

4. Understanding Change: Modern Evolutionary Theory

Contemporary Issue: The Human Genome

5. Learning About the Past: The Primates

Contemporary Issue: Why Save the Primates?

6. Learning About the Past: Behavioral Models for Human Evolution

7. Learning About the Past: The Material Record

Contemporary Issue: Preserving the Past

PART III. THE STORY OF THE HUMAN PAST

8. The Emergence of the Human Lineage

Contemporary Issue: Are Chimpanzees Hominids?

9. The Human Lineage Established

Contemporary Issue: The Hunting Hypothesis

10. The Human Lineage Evolves

11. On the Origin of Our Species

Contemporary Issue: Suppose Neandertal Survived

12. The Evolution of Modern Humanity

Contemporary Issue: Race and the Fossil Record

13. New Ideas, New Worlds: Life in the Upper Paleolithic

14. The Origins of Agriculture

Contemporary Issue: Our Worst Mistake?

15. The Evolution of Civilization

Contemporary Issue: The Collapse of Civilization

An Evolutionary Afterword

Glossary of Human and Nonhuman Primates

Glossary of Terms

Bibliography

Index