Handbook of Paleoanthropology, 3 Vols. - Principles, Methods and Approaches; Primate Evolution and Human Origins; Phylogeny of Hominids

Paleoanthropology is perhaps the most multidisciplinary of all the sciences. Any complete account of the evolution and cultural and biological context of Homo sapiens must combine information from geology, paleoecology, primatology, evolutionary biology and a host of other fields. Above all, historical information needs to be combined with, and interpreted in the light of, what we know of the living world. Paleoanthropology is also an actively developing field in which much remains to be settled. The three volumes of this handbook bring together contributions by the world s leading specialists that reflect the broad spectrum of modern paleoanthropology, thus presenting an indispensable resource for both professionals and students alike.
Volume 1 deals with principles, methods, and approaches. In recent years, enormous advances have been made in such areas as phylogenetic analysis, paleoecology and evolutionary theory and philosophy. The contributions in this first volume present the state of the art in these fields, provide succinct introductions to them and reflect the many ways in which they interact.
As human beings are primates, Volume 2 is devoted to primate origins, evolution, behaviour, and adaptive variety. Its emphasis is on integration of fossil data with the vast amount that is now known of the behaviour and ecology of living primates in natural environments.
Volume 3 deals with the fossil and molecular evidence for the evolution of Homo sapiens and its fossil relatives (the family Hominidae or subfamily Homininae, according to taste, a matter that we have left to the individual contributors).

List of contents

Volume 1: Principles, Methods, and Approaches

Editorial: Paleoanthropology - A Multidisciplinary Approach (Henke & Tattersall)

Chap. 1: Historical Overview of Paleoanthropological Research (Henke)

Chap. 2: Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus (Huneman)

Chap. 3: The Ontogeny-Phylogeny Nexus in a Nutshell: Implications for Primatology and Paleoanthropology (Menke)

Chap. 4: Principles of Taxonomy and Classification: Current Procedures for Naming and Classifying Organisms (Ohl)

Chap. 5: Quantitative Approaches to Phylogenetics (Folinsbee, Evans, Fröbisch, Tsuji & Brooks)

Chap. 6: Homology: a Philosophical and Biological Perspective (Rieppel)

Chap. 7: Taphonomic and Diagenetic Processes (Grupe)

Chap. 8: Archaeology (Haidle)

Chap. 9: Contribution of Stable Light Isotopes to Paleoenviromental Reconstruction (Lee-Thorp & Sponheimer)

Chap. 10: Chronometric Methods in Paleoanthropology (Wagner)

Chap. 11: Geological Background of Hominid Sites in Africa (Kullmer)

Chap. 12: Paleoclimate (Alverson)

Chap. 13: Paleosol (Retallack)

Chap. 14: Quaternary Deposits and Paleosites (Jaeger)

Chap. 15: Zoogeography - Primate and Early Hominin Distribution and Migration Patterns (A. Turner & O'Regan)

Chap. 16: Patterns of Diversification and Extinction (Etter)

Chap. 17: Paleoecology - an Adequate Window on the Past? (Hardt, T., Hardt, B. & Menke)

Chap. 18: Hominin Paleodiets: The Contribution of Stable Isotopes (Sponheimer & Lee-Thorp)

Chap. 19: Estimation of Basic Life History Data of Fossil Hominoids (Hemmer)

Chap. 20: Population Genetics and Paleoanthropology (Relethford)

Chap. 21: AncientDNA (Hummel)

Chap. 22: The Paleodemography of Extinct Hominin Populations (Mann & Monge)

Chap. 23: Modelling the Past: The Primatological Approach (Sussmann & Hart)

Chap. 24: Modelling the Past: The Ethnological Approach (Biagi)

Chap. 25: Modelling the Past: The Linguistic Approach (Comrie)

Chap. 26: General Principles of Evolutionary Morphology (Macho)

Chap. 27: Computer-based Reconstruction: Technical Aspects and Applications (Ulhaas)

Chap. 28: Prospects and Pitfalls (Hublin)

Editorial: Critical Evaluation (Henke & Tattersall)

Volume 2: Primate Evolution and Human Origins

Editorial: Morphology and Paleoenvironment (Henke & Tattersall)

Chap. 1: Primate Origins and Supraordinal Relationships: Morphological Evidence (Silcox, Sargis, Bloch & Boyer)

Chap. 2: Molecular Evidence on Primate Origins and Evolution (Zischler)

Chap. 3: Fossil Record of the Primates from the Paleocene to the Oligocene (Rasmussen)

Chap. 4: Fossil Record of Miocene Hominoids (Begun)

Chap. 5: The Biotic Environments of the Late Miocene Hominoids (Agusti)

Chap. 6: Postcranial and Locomotor Adaptations of Hominoids (Ward)

Chap. 7: Hominoid Cranial Diversity and Adaptation (Bilsborough & Rae)

Chap. 8: Dental Adaptations of African Apes (Teaford & Ungar)

Chap. 9: Evolution of the Primate Brain (Falk)

Chap. 10: Primate Life Histories (Zimmermann & Radespiel)

Chap. 11: The Biology and Evolution of Ape and Monkey Feeding (Lambert)

Chap. 12: Great Ape Social Systems (Meder)

Chap. 13: Primate Intelligence (Byrne)

Chap. 14: Chimpanzee Hunting Behaviour (Newton-Fisher)

Chap. 15: Cooperation, Coalition, Alliances (Hemelrijk)

Editorial: Critical Evaluation (Henke & Tattersall)

Volume 3: Phylogeny of Hominids

Editorial: Who we are, where we go? (Henke & Tattersall)

Chap. 1: Potential Hominoid Ancestors for Hominidae (Koufos)

Chap. 2: Defining Hominidae (Schwartz)

Chap. 3: Origins of Homininae and Putative Selection Pressures Acting on the Early Hominins (Pawlowski)

Chap. 4: Role of Environmental Stimuli in Hominid Origins (Vrba)

Chap. 5: Origin of Bipedal Locomotion (Harcourth-Smith)

Chap. 6: The Earliest Putative Hominids (Senut)

Chap. 7: The Species and Diversity of Australopiths (Kimbel)

Chap. 8: Defining the Genus Homo Morphol

About the author

Winfried Henke ist Professor für Anthropologie an der Universität Mainz.

Ian Tattersall ist Kurator der Abteilung für Anthropologie am American Museum of Natural History. Er gilt als führender Experte für die Untersuchung menschlicher Fossilien und ihre evolutionäre Einordnung und war an Freilandarbeiten zur Primatenforschung und Paläoanthropologie in ganz unterschiedlichen Ländern beteiligt, so in Madagaskar, Vietnam, Surinam, Jemen und Mauritius. Als Autor, Herausgeber und Coautor zeichnet er für zahlreiche Bücher verantwortlich.

Report

From the testimonials ".... yesterday I received a copy of your Handbook of Paleoanthropology.. I just want to congratulate you for doing such a great job. I think there is nothing comparably detailed in our field covering so many aspects as this handbook does. When I started reading in many of the chapters yesterday I couldn`t stop because it was so exciting to read about all these latest views and conclusions of our colleagues regarding so many interesting points. ......" (Prof. Dr. Günter Bräuer, Universität Hamburg)

Product details

• Assisted by: Winfrie Henke (Editor), Winfried Henke (Editor), Tattersall (Editor), Ian Tattersall (Editor)
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 14.05.2007
• EAN: 9783540324744
• ISBN: 978-3-540-32474-4
• No. of pages: 2069
• Weight: 4360 g
• Illustrations: 264 SW-Abb., 67 Tabellen
• Subject: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Biology > General, dictionaries