Handbook of Paleoanthropology (3-Volume Set)

About this book

Vol I: Principles, Methods and Approaches; Vol II: Primate Evolution and Human Origins; Vol III: Phylogeny of Hominids.

Guided by an editorial team of global stature, the contributions reflect the best of today's scholarship. Each volume covers core constituents of the subject: basic principles and methods, primate evolution and human origins, and the phylogeny of hominids. The editors have ensured that the entries uphold a key principle of paleoanthropology, requiring historical assessments to be updated with developing knowledge of the living world.

The handbook's first volume incorporates the enormous advances made in such areas as phylogenetic analysis, paleoecology and evolutionary theory and philosophy. Volume II integrates fossil data with the vast amount that is now known about the behaviour and ecology of living primates in natural environments. The third volume deals with the fossil and molecular evidence for the evolution of Homo sapiens and its fossil relatives. Paleoanthropology is characterized by its many live and unresolved academic debates, which are reflected in the heterogeneity of intellectual standpoints in Handbook of Paleoanthropology.

Contents

Volume 1: Principles, Methods, and Approaches
- Editorial: Palaeoanthropology: A Multidisciplinary Approach
- Historical Overview of Palaeoanthropological Research
- New: Charles Darwin, Paleoanthropology, and the Modern Synthesis
- Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus
- The Ontogeny-Phylogeny Nexus in a Nutshell: Implications for Primatology and Palaeoanthropology
- Principles of Taxonomy and Classification: Current procedures for naming and classifying organisms
- Quantitative Approaches to Phylogenetics
- Homology: a Philosophical and Biological Perspective
- Taphonomic and Diagenetic Processes
- Archaeology
- Contribution of Stable Light Isotopes to Palaeoenviromental Reconstruction
- Chronometric Methods in Palaeoanthropology
- Geological Background of Hominid Sites in Africa
- New: The Paleoclimatic Record and Plio-Pleistocene Paleoenvironments
- Palaeosol
- Quaternary Deposits and Palaeosites
- New: Quaternary Geology and Paleoenvironments
- Zoogeography: Primate and Early Hominin Distribution and Migration Patterns
- Patterns of  Diversification and Extinction
- Paleoecology: An Adequate Window on the Past?
- Hominin Palaeodiets: The Contribution of Stable Isotopes
- Estimation of Basic Life History Data of Fossil Hominoids
- New: Genetics and Paleoanthropology
- Ancient DNA
- The Palaeodemography of Extinct Hominin Populations
- Modelling the Past: The Primatological Approach
- Modelling the Past: The Ethnological Approach
- New: The Evolution of Speech and Language
- General Principles of Evolutionary Morphology
- New: On Virtual Anthropology and Biomechanics
- Prospects and Pitfalls
- New: Museological Apects of Paleoanthropology
- New: Facts and Perspectives of the Investigation on Extracellular Matrix Proteins in Fossil Bone
- New: Microscopic Research on Fossil Human Bone
- New: Images in Paleoanthropology: Facing Our Ancestors

Volume 2: Primate Evolution and Human Origins
- Editorial: Morphology and Palaeoenvironment
- Primate Origins and Supraordinal Relationships: Morphological Evidence
- New: Molecular Evidence on Primate Origins and Evolution
- New: Fossil Record of the Primates from the Paleocene to the Oligocene
- Fossil Record of Miocene Hominoids
- The Biotic Environments of the Late Miocene Hominoids
- Postcranial and Locomotor Adaptations of Hominoids
- Hominoid Cranial Diversity and Adaptation
- Dental Adaptations of African Apes
- Evolution of the Primate Brain
- Primate Life Histories
- The Biology and Evolution of Ape and Monkey Feeding
- Great Ape Social Systems
- Primate Intelligence
- Chimpanzee Hunting Behaviour
- Cooperation, Coalition, Alliances
- New: Theory of Mind: A Primatological Perspective

Volume 3: Phylogeny of Hominines
- Editorial: Who We Are, Where We Go?
- Potential Hominoid Ancestors for Hominidae
- Defining Hominidae
- Origins of Homininae and Putative Selection Pressures Acting on the Early Hominins
- Role of Environmental Stimuli in Hominid Origins
- Origin of bipedal locomotion
- The Earliest Putative Hominids
- The Species and Diversity of Australopiths
- Defining the Genus Homo Morphologically
- The Earliest Putative Homo Fossils
- Homo ergaster and Its Contemporaries
- New version: Defining Homo erectus
- New: Homo floresiensis
- Later Middle Pleistocene Homo
- Neanderthals and Their Contemporaries
- Origin of Modern Humans
- Analysing Hominid Phylogeny
- Biomolecules
- Population Biology and Population Genetics of Pleistocene Hominins
- Species Concepts and Speciation - Facts and Fantasies
- New: Dispersals of Early Humans: Adaptations, Frontiers, and New Territories
- The Dentition of American Indians: Evolutionary Results and Demographic Implications Following Colonization from Siberia
- Overview of Palaeolithic Archaeology
- The Importance of Paleopathology for Paleoanthropology
- The Emergence of Symbolic Behaviour
- The Evolution of the Hominid Brain
- An Overview of the Patterns of Behavioural Change in Africa and Eurasia During the Middle and Late Pleistocene
- Evolution of Religion
- Palaeoanthropology and the Foundation of Ethics: Methodological Remarks on the Problem of Criteriology
- New: UPL Twins from KREMS (Austria) and Their Indication for Symbolic Behavior OR Upper-Paleolithics
- (Synopsis) Homo: primus inter pares
- Editorial: Critical Evaluation

Customer Reviews