Christopher Dean

Leslie Aiello

An anthropologist and an anatomist have combined their skills in this book to provide students and research workers with the essentials of anatomy and the means to apply these to investigations into hominid form and function. Using basic principles and relevant bones, conclusions can be reached regarding the probable musculature, stance, brain size, age, weight, and sex of a particular fossil specimen. The sort of deductions which are possible are illustrated by reference back to contemporary apes and humans, and a coherent picture of the history of hominid evolution appears. Written in a clear and concise style and beautifully illustrated, An Introduction to Human Evolutionary Anatomy is a basic reference for all concerned with human evolution as well as a valuable companion to both laboratory practical sessions and new research using fossil skeletons.

An Introduction to Human Evolutionary Anatomy

Research Associate in Entomology Annette Aiello

What role did Ice Age climate play in the demise of the Neanderthals, and why was it that modern humans alone survived? For the past seven years a team of international experts from a wide range of disciplines have worked together to provide a detailed study of the world occupied by the European Neanderthals between 60,000 and 25,000 years ago: the period known as Oxygen Isotope Stage 3. This collection of papers documents the extensive environmental research conducted by the Stage 3 Project. The new chronological and archaeological database constructed by the Project sets the Neanderthal and modern human sites in a continent-wide framework of space and time. A mammalian data base maps the ecology and fauna of the period, providing fresh insights into the availability of plant and animal foods in different parts of the European landscape as Ice Age climate changed and fluctuated. New high-resolution computer simulations give detailed estimates of temperature and rainfall, and above all of the wind-chill and snow cover that would have such an impact on both humans and on the resources they needed for survival. The results provide revolutionary insights into the glacial climate of Stage 3 and the landscapes and resources that influenced late Palaeolithic life-styles.

Archaeological Results of the Stage 3 Project

Neanderthals and Modern Humans in the European Landscape During the Last Glaciation

Section Immunology Christopher Dean

For students of Human Evolution the fossil evidence of skeletal remains is a prime source of information from which to reconstruct the form and lifestyle of the early hominids. But how is this evidence to be fully and properly used by students with little or no anatomical training? In this book an anthropologist and an anatomist have combined their skills to provide students and research workers with the essentials of anatomy and the means to apply these to investigations into hominid form and function. Armed with the basic principles and relevant bones conclusions can be reached regarding the probable musculature, stance, brain size, age, weight and sex of a particular fossil specimen. The sort of deductions which are possible are illustrated by reference back to contemporary apes and humans and a coherent picture of the history of hominid evolution emerges. Written in a clear and concise style and profusely illustrated, this book is a basic reference for all concerned with human evolution and a valuable companion both to laboratory practical sessions and to new research using fossil skeletons.

Leslie Aiello

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