The Origins of Modern Humans Biology Reconsidered

by Smith, Fred H.; Ahern, James C.

• ISBN13: 9780470894095
• ISBN10: 0470894091
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-09-23
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This new volume allows us to add key new discoveries and new researchers of the past 25 years. Critical fossil evidence (such as the Herto early modern remains from Ethiopia, the Oase early modern human remains from Romania, the Lagar Velho "hybrid" child from Portugal) were not available in 1984, and they, along with a much better chronological framework, provide a much clearer pattern of modern human origins. Genetic evidence including evolutionary inferences drawn from assesments of modern humans and large segments of the genome of the Neanderthal will be added to original theories, testing the robusticity of models developed in 1984. New theories and interpretations, such as the impact of digital imagery and more sophisticated morphometrics, have entered the analytical fray since 1984. The inclusion of younger scholars, who have used these techniques (and others) will enhance the coverage of this last great transition in human evolution greatly.

Author Biography

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.

Table of Contents

Contributors

Introduction: Thoughts on Modern Human Origins: From 1984 to 2012
Fred H. Smith and James C. M. Ahern

1 Africa: The Cradle of Modern People
Osbjorn M. Pearson

2 Crossroads of the Old World: Late Hominin Evolution in Western Asia
Robert G. Franciscus and Trenton W. Holliday

3 A River Runs through It: Modern Human Origins in East Asia
Karen R. Rosenberg and Xinzhi Wu

4 Perspectives on the Origins of Modern Australians
Arthur C. Durband and Michael C. Westaway

5 Modern Human Origins in Central Europe
James C. M. Ahern, Ivor Jankoviæ, Jean-Luc Voisin, and Fred H. Smith

6 The Makers of the Early Upper Paleolithic in Western Eurasia
Jean-Jacques Hublin

7 Neandertal Craniofacial Growth and Development and Its Relevance for Modern Human Origins
Frank L’Engle Williams

8 Energetics and the Origin of Modern Humans
Andrew W. Froehle, Todd R. Yokley, and Steven E. Churchill

9 Understanding Human Cranial Variation in Light of Modern Human Origins
John H. Relethford

10 The Relevance of Archaic Genomes to Modern Human Origins
John Hawks and Zach Throckmorton

11 The Process of Modern Human Origins: The Evolutionary and Demographic Changes Giving Rise to Modern Humans
Rachel Caspari and Milford H. Wolpoff

12 The Paleobiology of Modern Human Emergence
Erik Trinkaus

Index