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The story of the famous anthropologist and his many adventures seeking hominid remains.
A meticulously clear account of how early ape-men of the African savanna developed into fully human beings. Leakey has always been interested in far more than the mere physical features presented by fossils, and here he is particularly concerned with non-tangible human attributes, such as art, language and consciousness itself. Leakey's personal involvement in many of the key discoveries of hominid fossils, and his friendships and rivalries with his fellow fossil hunters, add more than a dash of spice to his narrative. "An outstanding account of our current understanding of human evolution" Sunday Times "An elegant summary of what is currently known about human evolution" Observer
Richard Leakey's personal account of his fossil hunting and landmark discoveries at Lake Turkana, his reassessment of human prehistory based on new evidence and analytic techniques, and his profound pondering of how we became "human" and what being "human" really means.
Over the last 530 million years there have been five mass extinctions of species-the last,65 million years ago,when the dinosaurs disappeared.The biodiversity of our planet may now be on the verge,Leakey and Lewin believe,of a sixth extinction,caused this time by the relentless expansion and limitless appetites of human beings. The new science of 'biodiversity',presented clearly and cogently by Leakey and Lewin,combines insights from palaeontology,biology,ecology and even economics.It integrates the role of Darwenian evolution with the increasingly recognised importance of external and unpredictable forces.
The discovery of the Nariokotome Homo erectus skeleton, a milestone in the history of paleoanthropology, is fully documented in this book. Beautifully illustrated, it takes us into the field and the laboratory, and into the far reaches of prehistory, to show us what the fossilized remains of a young boy can tell us about our beginnings.
Where did we come from? Where are we going? Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin continue the pioneering field work of Louis and Mary Leakey by fitting together the pieces of our past to discover new answers to these age-old questions. The authors explore our long-buried past—from the feral roots of humanity, through the eons of time, to society today, replete with its wonders and anomalies—searcing for valuable insights into the future of modern society. In this vast survey of human origins and evolution, Leakey and Lewin present intriguing scientific information in such a way that the general reader will be fascinated and drawn into the search. "One of the most readable and informative boks of its kind." — Ashley Montagu, Saturday Review "It is a pleasure to see in print an authentic representation of what are, with only minor exceptions, the views held by most of the professionals in the field. Graced with humor, intriguing ideas, and unfamiliar insights.' — Carl Sagan, The New York Times Book Review
There are some issues in human paleontology that seem to be timeless. Most deal with the origin and early evolution of our own genus – something about which we should care. Some of these issues pertain to taxonomy and systematics. How many species of Homo were there in the Pliocene and Pleistocene? How do we identify the earliest members the genus Homo? If there is more than one Plio-Pleistocene species, how do they relate to one another, and where and when did they evolve? Other issues relate to questions about body size, proportions and the functional adaptations of the locomotor skeleton. When did the human postcranial “Bauplan” evolve, and for what reasons? What behaviors (and what...
Australopithecus species have been the topic of much debate in palaeoanthropology since Raymond Dart described the first species, Australopithecus africanus, in 1925. This volume synthesizes the geological and paleontological context of the species in East and South Africa; covers individual sites, such as Dikika, Hadar, Sterkfontein, and Malapa; debates the alpha taxonomy of some of the species; and addresses questions regarding the movements of the species across the continent. Additional chapters discuss the genus in terms of sexual dimorphism, diet reconstruction using microwear and isotopic methodologies, postural and locomotor behavior, and ontogeny.