| Description |
xvii, 538 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), portraits ; 26 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Summary |
PREHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY. This is the story of the search for human origins: from the Middle Ages, when questions of the earth's antiquity first began to arise, through to the latest genetic discoveries that show the interrelatedness of all living creatures. Central to the story is the part played by fossils, first, in establishing the age of the Earth; then, following Darwin, in the pursuit of possible 'Missing Links' that would establish whether or not humans and chimpanzees share a common ancestor. John Reader's passion for this quest - palaeoanthropology - began in the 1960s when he reported for Life Magazine on Richard Leakey's first fossil-hunting expedition to the badlands of East Turkana, in Kenya. Drawing on both historic and recent research, he tells the fascinating story of the science as it has developed from the activities of a few dedicated individuals, into the rigorous multidisciplinary work of today. |
| Contents |
1. Time and Place -- 2. The Meaning of Fossils -- 3. Nothing so Rare -- 4. Neanderthal Man (1857) -- 5. Neanderthals and Modern Humans -- 6. Java Man (1891) -- 7. Piltdown Man (1912) -- 8. Australopithecus africanus (1925) -- 9. Peking Man (1926) -- 10. Australopithecus substantiated (1936) -- 11. Zinjanthropus boisei (1959) -- 12. Tools -- 13. Homo habilis (1964) -- 14. 1470 (1972) and the Oldest Man -- 15. Australopithecus afarensis (1978) -- 16. Footprints -- 17. Ardipithecus ramidus (1994 & 2009). |
| Subject |
Fossil hominids.
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Paleoanthropology.
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Missing link.
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Fossil hominids. (OCoLC)fst00933159
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Missing link. (OCoLC)fst01023697
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Paleoanthropology. (OCoLC)fst01051317
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| ISBN |
9780199276851 (hardback) |
|
0199276854 (hardback) |
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