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"Early hominins were not limited to particular sites or localities in a paleontological or archeological sense but lived and died in complex and dynamic landscapes and ecosystems of which we have partial, incomplete records. The fossil evidence of early hominin paleoenvironments is always limited, sometimes providing brief snapshots of small areas, other times affording very coarse chronological and spatial resolution over large distances. Taphonomic conditions typically vary within any one locality over time, and from one locality to another. And yet, it is these partial and biased records that we use to build an understanding of the forces that have shaped our evolution"--
List of contents
Part I. Modern Africa and Overview Of Late Cenozoic Paleoenvironments; Part II. Southern Africa; Part III. Eastern and Central Africa; Part IV. Northern Africa.
About the author
Sally C. Reynolds is Principal Academic in Hominin Palaeoecology and Head of the Institute for Studies of Landscape and Human Evolution at Bournemouth University, UK. She has over 20 years of research experience in the study of African mammalian fauna, past environments and landscapes. She previously co-edited African Genesis: Perspectives on hominin evolution (Cambridge University Press, 2012).René Bobe is Head Paleontologist with the Paleo-Primate Project at Gorongosa National Park, Sofala, Mozambique, and a Research Affiliate at the Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford, UK. He has been studying early hominin paleoecology in eastern Africa for the past 30 years, with fieldwork in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Mozambique. His research focuses on fossil mammals that provide long-term records of ecological change.
Summary
Humans evolved in the dynamic landscapes of Africa over the past 7 million years. This book highlights environmental and ecological data from individual fossil sites and provides regional syntheses that are key to understanding how we evolved. It will appeal to researchers and students in paleontology, archaeology, anthropology and geology.
