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This book covers three interrelated topics in the field of palaeontology/zoology. First, it presents the story of the paleontological excavations on Samos, the birth place of Pythagoras, which is famous for its rich Miocene mammalian fossils and faunas. It covers in detail the history and the ancient myths that explain the fossils. These myths clearly show how the Greeks interpreted the fossils. It also shows documents and images of the Barnum Brown Samos expeditions which took place in 1924. The second section covers in detail and compares the osteology of three species: the giraffe, the okapi and the extinct giraffid Samotherium. The third section of the book explains the depositional history of the eastern basin of Samos, including maps which document the location of the famous bone quarries and the radiometric ages of various horizons.
The integration of modern paleomagnetic, radiometric, and biostratigraphic studies has provided an accurate geochronological framework for the past 10 million years--the Late Neogene. Marine zones based on calcareous and siliceous planktonic organisms are recognized from the sub-Arctic region to the sub-Antarctic and their correlation to the paleomagnetic time scale is now feasible in some detail for the past 5 my. Likewise, the relationship of geochemically calibrated mammalian biochronology to the marine succession has been greatly improved. Within this framework of time it is possible to delineate the history of major features in Late Neogene paleontology, climatology, and oceanography. (Author).
Praise for the first edition: "The most up-to-date and wide-ranging encyclopedia work on human evolution available."--American Reference Books Annual "For student, researcher, and teacher...the most complete source of basic information on the subject."--Nature "A comprehensive and authoritative source, filling a unique niche...essential to academic libraries...important for large public libraries." --Booklist/RBB
One of the first interdisciplinary discussions of taphonomy (the study of how fossil assemblages are formed) and paleoecology (the reconstruction of ancient ecosystems), this volume helped establish these relatively new disciplines. It was originally published as part of the influential Prehistoric Archeology and Ecology series. "Taphonomy is plainly here to stay, and this book makes a first class introduction to its range and appeal."—Anthony Smith, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews
What does it mean to be "social"? Is there any intrinsic "mark" of the social shared by behaviour, language, development, identity and science? This book sheds light on these questions and contains the thoughts of 12 philosophers and social scientists from a variety of disciplines.
“[A] tour de force examination of the history of ivory . . . and the demise of the elephant and human decency in the process of this unholy quest.” —The Huffington Post Praised for the nuance and sensitivity with which it approaches one of the most fraught conservation issues we face today, John Frederick Walker’s Ivory’s Ghosts tells the astonishing story of the power of ivory through the ages, and its impact on elephants. Long before gold and gemstones held allure, ivory came to be prized in every culture of the world—from ancient Egypt to nineteenth-century America to modern Japan—for its beauty, rarity, and ability to be finely carved. But the beauty came at an unfathomable...
The authors assert that traditional sociological theories of human nature and society do not pay sufficient attention to the evolution of "big-brained hominoids," resulting in assumptions about humans' propensity for "groupness" that go against the record of primate evolution. When this record is analyzed in detail, and is supplemented by a review of the social structures of contemporary apes and the basic types of human societies (hunter-gathering, horticultural, agrarian, and industrial), commonplace criticisms about the de-humanizing effects of industrial society appear overdrawn, if not downright incorrect. The book concludes that the mistakes in contemporary social theory - as well as much of general social commentary - stem from a failure to analyze humans as "big-brained" apes with certain phylogenetic tendencies. This failure is usually coupled with a willingness to romanticize societies of the past, notably horticultural and agrarian systems
A compelling evolutionary narrative that reveals how human civilization follows the same ecological rules that shape all life on Earth Offering a bold new understanding of who we are, where we came from, and where we are going, noted ecologist Mark Bertness argues that human beings and their civilization are the products of the same self-organization, evolutionary adaptation, and natural selection processes that have created all other life on Earth. Bertness follows the evolutionary process from the primordial soup of two billion years ago through today, exploring the ways opposing forces of competition and cooperation have led to current assemblages of people, animals, and plants. Bertness’s thoughtful examination of human history from the perspective of natural history provides new insights about why and how civilization developed as it has and explores how humans, as a species, might have to consciously overrule our evolutionary drivers to survive future challenges.