The Dawn of Human Culture

About this book

A bold new theory on what sparked the "big bang" of human culture. The abrupt emergence of human culture over a stunningly short period continues to be one of the great enigmas of human evolution. This compelling book introduces a bold new theory on this unsolved mystery. Author Richard Klein reexamines the archaeological evidence and brings in new discoveries in the study of the human brain. These studies detail the changes that enabled humans to think and behave in far more sophisticated ways than before, resulting in the incredibly rapid evolution of new skills. Richard Klein has been described as "the premier anthropologist in the country today" by Evolutionary Anthropology. Here, he and coauthor Blake Edgar shed new light on the full story of a truly fascinating period of evolution.

Contents

Preface. Chapter 1: Dawn at Twilight Cave. Chapter 2: Bipedal Apes. Chapter 3: The World s Oldest Whodunit. Chapter 4: The First True Humans. Chapter 5: Humanity Branches Out. Chapter 6: Neanderthals Out on a Limb. Chapter 7: Body before Behavior. Chapter 8: Nurture of Nature Before the Dawn? Appendix: Placing Ancient Sites in Time. Selected Further Reading. Index.

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Biography

Richard G. Klein, Ph.D., is Professor of Anthropology at Stanford University. He is the author of the definitive scholarly book on human evolution, The Human Career. Blake Edgar is a science editor at the University of California Press and the coauthor with Donald Johanson of From Lucy to Language. He has written for Discover, Scientific American, GEO, and numerous other magazines.