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Over 4.5 billion years, Earth's climate has transformed tremendously. Before our more temperate recent past, the planet swung from one extreme to another—from a greenhouse world of sweltering temperatures and high sea levels to a “snowball earth” in which glaciers reached the equator. During this history, we now know, living things and the climate have always influenced and even shaped each other. But the climate has never changed as rapidly or as drastically as it has since the Industrial Revolution.In this lively and entertaining book, Donald R. Prothero explores the astonishing connections between climate and life through the ages, telling the remarkable stories of the scientists who made crucial discoveries. Journeying through the intertwined evolution of climate and life, he tackles questions such as: Why do we have phytoplankton to thank for the air we breathe? What kind of climate was necessary for the rise of the dinosaurs—or the mammals, their successors? When and how have climatic changes caused mass extinctions? Prothero concludes with the Ice Ages and the Holocene, the role of climate in human history, and the perils of anthropogenic climate change. Understanding why the climate has changed in the past, this timely book shows, is essential to grasping the gravity of how radically human activity is altering the climate today.

Encyclopedia of Archaeology, Second Edition, Three Volume Set covers the standing of archaeology as a scientific discipline, how archaeology is practiced, both in the field and in the lab, provides an archaeological geographical overview encompassing all continents and time periods, and covers the role of archaeology in the modern world. This clearly structured thematic manner ensures a well-balanced presentation of the discipline across the world by the people who perform and experience archaeology as native scholars. Led by a brand new international editorial team, this book contains approximately 250 articles. From using home kits to analyze our DNA and find our ancestors'origin, to walking among ancient monuments embedded in modern cityscapes, visiting museums and archaeological sites, watching adventure movies, or playing video games about mummies coming to life, archaeology touches on many aspects of our everyday life. - Provides approximately 300 outstanding articles coherently structured into four key sections - Includes many brand new chapters on topics which have recently shot to prominence, including digital archaeology, and Islamic archaeology - Puts a greater emphasis on ethnic and gender diversity in editorial boards and contributors with its truly global authorship - Contains multiple diverse case studies and real-life examples in order to aid the reader

Research in human evolution in Asia has long been thought to lag far behind similar research in Africa and Europe. However, the limited dissemination of findings is often to blame, rather than a lack of scholarship. The Paleoanthropology of Eastern Asia attempts to rectify this misconception by synthesizing research on human evolution in eastern Asia into a single authoritative and definitive text. Covering the span of time from more than two million years ago to the end of the last Ice Age 15,000 years ago, this book examines key events, such as the arrival of the earliest hominins in eastern Asia and the evolution and interaction of various hominin species, including Homo erectus, Homo sapiens, and and a few more in between.While fossils reveal what these hominins may have looked like, the rich Paleolithic archaeological record yields insights into their behavior: Hand axes have been found in eastern Asia where they were previously believed to have been absent. Watercraft was used by foragers as early as 40,000 years ago to voyage to the Japanese archipelago. In Indonesia, cave art paintings older than those from the Lascaux caves in France have been reported. Such new and important discoveries continue to emerge. Providing comprehensive coverage of paleoanthropological research in eastern Asia—from the groundbreaking finds in a cave near Beijing in the early twentieth century to the discovery and identification of new human species during the twenty-first century—this book will captivate anyone interested in the human evolutionary record.

This volume provides fresh insight into northern human–animal relations and illustrates the breadth and practical utility of archaeological human–animal studies. It surveys recent archaeological research in northern North America and Eurasia that frames human–animal relations as not merely economically exploitative but often socially complex and deeply meaningful, and attuned to the intelligence and agency of nonhuman prey and domesticates. The case studies sample a wide swath of the circumpolar region, from Alaska, Nunavut, and Greenland to northern Fennoscandia and western Siberia, and span sites, finds, and scenarios ranging in age from the Mesolithic to the twenty-first century. Many taxa on which northern lives hinged figure in these analyses, including large marine mammals, polar bear, reindeer, marine fish, and birds, and are variously approached from relational, multispecies, semiotic, osteobiographical, and political economic perspectives. Animals themselves are represented by osteological remains, harvesting gear, and depictions of animal bodies that include zoomorphic figurines, petroglyphs, ornamentation, and intricate portrayals of human–animal harvesting encounters. Far from settling the problem of how archaeologists should approach northern human–animal relations, these chapters reveal the irreducible complexity of northern worlds and highlight the diversity of human and nonhuman animal lives. This book will be of particular interest to northern archaeologists and zooarchaeologists, and all those interested in the possibilities of a multispecies approach to the archaeological record.

Winner, 2023 Choice Outstanding Academic TitleBronze Winner, 2024 Nonfiction Book AwardsWhere would we be without the knee? This down-to-earth joint connecting the thigh and the lower leg doesn't receive the attention it deserves. Yet, as The Curious Human Knee reveals, it is crucial to countless facets of science, medicine, culture, and history—and even what makes us human.The science writer Han Yu provides an informative, surprising, and entertaining exploration of the human knee across time and place. She begins with our earliest ancestors, emphasizing that walking upright separates us from the apes and bipedal knees appeared long before big brains and sophisticated tools. Yu considers the intricate anatomy of the knee, its evolutionary history, and the complexity of treating knee pain, including her own. She examines why women's knees might be more prone to damage than men's and addresses the roles of race and class in ailments such as osteoarthritis. This book gets knee-deep into an astonishing range of topics—fashion from flappers to miniskirts and ripped jeans, cultural practices spanning Japanese knee walking and Thai boxing, and more. Yu reflects on the symbolic power of kneeling from the imperial court in China to the football field in the United States and shows why the knee figures into so many social and political phenomena.Distilling a vast amount of research in a style that is engaging, conversational, and even personal and witty, this book opens readers'eyes to the complexity and significance of the humble knee.

Wie gestaltete sich das soziale Zusammenleben zwischen Menschen und nichtmenschlichen Arten als eine eng verwobene Gemeinschaft in prähistorischer Zeit? In verschiedensten Disziplinen der Geistes-, Sozial- und Lebenswissenschaften werden verstärkt gesellschaftliche Grundannahmen über nichtmenschliche Arten hinterfragt. Die aus dieser Wende entstandenen neuen Fragestellungen verbreiten sich auch in der Archäologie. Archäolog•innen haben begonnen, traditionelle Ansätze zu überdenken, um Beziehungen zwischen Menschen und (anderen) Tieren in all ihrer Diversität zu erforschen. Im Zuge dieses Perspektivwechsels in der Erforschung von Mensch-Tier-Verhältnissen intensiviert sich auch die Auseinandersetzung mit sozialen, politischen und ideologischen Dimensionen verschiedener Lebensweisen in frühen Gesellschaften. Wir erkennen zunehmend, welche zentrale Rolle Mensch-Tier-Beziehungen bei der Gestaltung und Konstruktion auch prähistorischer Gesellschaften eingenommen haben. In diesem Band wird das gängige archäologische Narrativ von Tieren als passiver, ausbeutbarer Nahrungsressource in Frage gestellt. Damit zeichnet das Buch ein komplexes Bild prähistorischer Mensch-Tier-Verhältnisse. Es legt eine multiperspektivische Studie zu soziokulturellen Praktiken und Vorstellungen damaliger Menschen anhand der spätneolithischen (ca. 6200-5600 v.u.Z) und frühäneolithischen (ca. 4800-4350 v.u.Z.) Siedlung Monjukli Depe im heutigen Turkmenistan vor, die sich von gegenwärtigen westlichen Kategorisierungsformen der Beziehungen zwischen Menschen und Tieren deutlich unterscheiden. Auf Basis einer umfangreichen Sammlung von rund 53.000 Tierknochen aus den Ausgrabungen in Monjukli Depe verfolge ich als analytischen Untersuchungsrahmen einen integrativen Ansatz, der 1.) die archäozoologische Untersuchung der faunalen Überreste, 2.) die Analyse der zoomorphen Repräsentationen als miniaturisierte Tonobjekte sowie 3.) Multi-Isotopenanalysen am ausgewählten Skelettmaterial kombiniert. Das Werk zeigt Wege auf, natur- und kulturwissenschaftliche Sichtweisen in einem analytischen Spektrum an Methoden so zu integrieren, dass Interspezies-Relationen in vergangenen Gemeinschaften holistischer und damit realistischer als bislang rekonstruiert werden können. Die Neubetrachtung der Gemeinschaft als Interspezies-Gebilde stellt den innovativen Ansatz schließlich in einen gesellschaftspolitischen Rahmen. Der Band bietet damit auch einen Referenzrahmen für multiperspektivisch ausgerichtete Untersuchungen von Interspezies-Relationen. How did the social coexistence of humans and non-human species contribute to the formation of interwoven communities in prehistoric times? In various disciplines in the humanities, social and life sciences, assumptions regarding non-human species in societal contexts are coming increasingly under scrutiny. The new questions arising therefrom are spreading into archaeology, where scholars have started to rethink traditional approaches and explore practices, interactions, and relationships between humans and (other) animals. As part of this shift in perspective, more attention is being paid to social, political, and ideological dimensions of lifeways in early societies. With it comes a growing recognition that human-animal relationships occupied a central place in shaping and constructing societies throughout human history. This book presents a multi-perspectival study of socio-cultural practices and conceptions of the people who lived in the prehistoric settlement of Monjukli Depe (Turkmenistan). These differ significantly from contemporary Western categorizations of human-animal relations. Based on a collection of over 50,000 animal remains from the excavations at Monjukli Depe, I pursue an integrative approach that includes 1) zooarchaeological studies of faunal remains, 2) analyses of zoomorphic representations in the form of miniaturized clay objects, and 3) multi-isotopic analyses of selected skeletal material. I sugges

New techniques for understanding animal and human interactions in the past Through case studies of faunal remains from Roman Britain, prehistoric Southeast Asia, ancient African pastoral cultures, and beyond, this volume illustrates some of the ways stable isotope analysis of ancient animals can address key questions in human prehistory. Contributors use a diverse set of isotopic techniques to investigate social and biological topics, including human paleodiets and foodways, hunting and procurement strategies, exchange patterns, animal husbandry and the genetic consequences of domestication, and short- and long-term environmental change. They demonstrate how different isotopes can be used alone or in conjunction to address questions of animal diet, movement, ecology, and management. Studies also examine how sampling strategies, statistical techniques, and regional and temporal considerations can influence isotopic results and interpretations. By applying these new methods in concert with traditional zooarchaeological analyses, archaeologists can explore questions about human ecology and environmental archaeology that were previously deemed inaccessible.

In this deep examination of functional morphology, a renowned paleoanthropologist offers a new way to investigate human evolution through the fossil record.It is common for two functional anatomists to examine the exact same fossil material, yet argue over its evolutionary significance. How can this be? Traditionally, paleoanthropology has interpreted hominin fossil morphology by first considering the ecological challenges hominins faced, then drawing adaptive inferences based on the idea that skeletal morphology is largely a reflection of paleoecology. In Functional Inference in Paleoanthropology, innovative paleoanthropologist David J. Daegling suggests that researchers can resolve dichotomous interpretations of the fossil record by instead focusing on the biology and development of the bones themselves—such as measurable responses to deformations, stresses, and damage. Critically exploring how scientists probe and interpret fossil morphology for behavioral and adaptive inferences, Daegling makes the case that an intelligible science of functional morphology in the fossil record is impossible without the inclusion of this mechanobiological perspective. Drawing on historical examples from long-standing debates on the emergence of bipedality and the dietary shifts that facilitated the emergence of the hominin clade, Daegling traces the disjunctions between theoretical principles of comparative morphology and methodological practice in the paleontological context of human evolution. Sharing rich findings from recent decades of research in skeletal biomechanics, Functional Inference in Paleoanthropology examines how bone adapts over the lifespan, what environmental factors influence its quality, and how developmental constraints limit the skeleton's adaptive potential over evolutionary time.

What can we learn about the ancient landscapes of our world, and how can those lessons improve our future in the landscapes that we all inhabit? Those questions are addressed in this book, through a practical framework of concepts and methods, combined with detailed case studies around the world.The chapters explore the range of physical and social attributes that have shaped and re-shaped our landscapes through time. International authors contributed the latest results of investigating ancient landscapes (or'palaeolandscapes') in diverse settings of tropical forests, deserts, river deltas, remote islands, coastal zones, and continental interiors. The case studies embrace a broadly accommodating approach of combining archaeological evidence with other avenues of research in earth sciences, biology, and social relations. Individually and in concert, the chapters offer new perspectives on what the world's palaeolandscapes looked like, how people lived in these places, and how communities have engaged with long-term change in their natural and cultural environments through successive centuries and millennia. The lessons are paramount for building responsible strategies and policies today and into the future, noting that many of these issues from the past have gained more urgency today.This book reaches across archaeology, ecology, geography, and other studies of human-environment relations that will appeal to general readers. Specialists and students in these fields will find extra value in the primary datasets and in the new ideas and perspectives. Furthermore, this book provides unique examples from the past, toward understanding the workings of sustainable landscape systems.

Das Forschungsfeld zur Evolution menschlicher Sprachbefähigung zeigt sich als in höchstem Maße multidisziplinär sowie methodisch und theoretisch heterogen. Diese Monografie verfolgt drei für die einschlägige Forschung relevante Ziele. Erstens werden für die Sprachursprungsforschung notwendige fachliche und methodische Grundlagen einführend aufbereitet. Zweitens wird ein Methodenkatalog erarbeitet, welcher sich aus allgemeinen Prinzipien der Wissenschaftstheorie, Qualitätskriterien etablierter (meta)wissenschaftlicher Vorgehensweisen sowie Leitlinien guter Literaturrezeption ableitet, um ein methodisches Instrument zum leistungsfähigen Umgang mit der einschlägigen Literatur vorzulegen. Drittens wird ebenjener Methodenkatalog exemplarisch auf mehrere Bereiche der multidisziplinären Forschung angewandt. Dabei zeigt sich, dass zu innerhalb der Literatur scheinbar unsicheren, da widersprüchlich diskutierten, Positionen und Argumentationslinien durchaus vergleichsweise klare und valide Aussagen gemacht werden können. Dies betrifft sowohl theoretische Konzeptualisierungen als auch empirisch orientierte Interpretationen. Umfasst werden innerhalb der Analyse Disziplinen von der Linguistik über die Paläoanthropologie und die Neurologie bis zur Genetik.

The Routledge Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous-Colonial Interaction in the Americas brings together scholars from across the hemisphere to examine how archaeology can highlight the myriad ways that Indigenous people have negotiated colonial systems from the fifteenth century through to today.The contributions offer a comprehensive look at where the archaeology of colonialism has been and where it is heading. Geographically diverse case studies highlight longstanding theoretical and methodological issues as well as emerging topics in the field. The organization of chapters by key issues and topics, rather than by geography, fosters exploration of the commonalities and contrasts between historical contingencies and scholarly interpretations. Throughout the volume, Indigenous and non-Indigenous contributors grapple with the continued colonial nature of archaeology and highlight Native perspectives on the potential of using archaeology to remember and tell colonial histories. This volume is the ideal starting point for students interested in how archaeology can illuminate Indigenous agency in colonial settings. Professionals, including academic and cultural resource management archaeologists, will find it a convenient reference for a range of topics related to the archaeology of colonialism in the Americas.

This volume offers a rich archaeological portrait of the human-canine connection. Contributors investigate the ways people have viewed and valued dogs in different cultures around the world and across the ages. Case studies from North and South America, the Arctic, Australia, and Eurasia present evidence for dogs in roles including pets, guards, hunters, and herders. In these chapters, faunal analysis from the Ancient Near East suggests that dogs contributed to public health by scavenging garbage, and remains from a Roman temple indicate that dogs were offered as sacrifices in purification rites. Essays also chronicle the complex partnership between Aboriginal peoples and the dingo and describe how the hunting abilities of dogs made them valuable assets for Indigenous groups in the Amazon rainforest. The volume draws on multidisciplinary methods that include zooarchaeological analysis; scientific techniques such as dental microwear, isotopic, and DNA analyses; and the integration of history, ethnography, multispecies scholarship, and traditional cultural knowledge to provide an in-depth account of dogs'lives. Showing that dogs have been a critical ally for humankind through cooperation and companionship over thousands of years, this volume broadens discussions about how relationships between people and animals have shaped our world. Contributors: Brandi Bethke | Kate Britton | Amanda Burtt | Larisa R.G. DeSantis | Melanie Fillios | Emily Lena Jones | Loukas Koungoulos | Robert Losey | Edouard Masson-Maclean | Ellen McManus-Fry | Victoria Monagle | Victoria Moses | Angela R. Perri | Nerissa Russell | Peter W. Stahl

'Riveting.... Pattison's uncanny ability [is] to write evocatively about science.... In this, he is every bit as good as the best scientist writers.'—New York Times Book Review (Editors'Choice)'Brilliant.... A work of staggering depth.'—Minneapolis Star TribuneA decade in the making, Fossil Men is a scientific detective story played out in anatomy and the natural history of the human body: the first full-length account of the discovery of a startlingly unpredicted human ancestor more than a million years older than LucyIt is the ultimate mystery: where do we come from? In 1994, a team led by fossil-hunting legend Tim White uncovered a set of ancient bones in Ethiopia's Afar region. Radiometric dating of nearby rocks indicated the resulting skeleton, classified as Ardipithecus ramidus—nicknamed “Ardi”—was an astounding 4.4 million years old, more than a million years older than the world-famous “Lucy.” The team spent the next 15 years studying the bones in strict secrecy, all while continuing to rack up landmark fossil discoveries in the field and becoming increasingly ensnared in bitter disputes with scientific peers and Ethiopian bureaucrats. When finally revealed to the public, Ardi stunned scientists around the world and challenged a half-century of orthodoxy about human evolution—how we started walking upright, how we evolved our nimble hands, and, most significantly, whether we were descended from an ancestor that resembled today's chimpanzee. But the discovery of Ardi wasn't just a leap forward in understanding the roots of humanity--it was an attack on scientific convention and the leading authorities of human origins, triggering an epic feud about the oldest family skeleton.In Fossil Men, acclaimed journalist Kermit Pattison brings us a cast of eccentric, obsessive scientists, including White, an uncompromising perfectionist whose virtuoso skills in the field were matched only by his propensity for making enemies; Gen Suwa, a Japanese savant whose deep expertise about teeth rivaled anyone on Earth; Owen Lovejoy, a onetime creationist-turned-paleoanthropologist with radical insights into human locomotion; Berhane Asfaw, who survived imprisonment and torture to become Ethiopia's most senior paleoanthropologist; Don Johanson, the discoverer of Lucy, who had a rancorous falling out with the Ardi team; and the Leakeys, for decades the most famous family in paleoanthropology. Based on a half-decade of research in Africa, Europe and North America, Fossil Men is not only a brilliant investigation into the origins of the human lineage, but the oldest of human emotions: curiosity, jealousy, perseverance and wonder.

This volume brings together expert s in archaeology and bioarchaeology to examine continuity and change in ancient Arabian mortuary practices. While most previous investigations have been limited geographically to Egypt and the Levant, this volume focuses on the lesser-studied southeastern Arabian Peninsula, showing what death and burial can reveal about the lifestyles of the region's prehistoric communities. In case studies from Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain, contributors explore the transition from the earliest to the most complex mortuary monuments in the Bronze Age and beyond. They consider sociopolitical and environmental factors that may have influenced mortuary practices and what skeletal biogeochemistry can reveal about changing mobility and access to food resources. They also discuss sites that illustrate more nuanced shifts in burial traditions that took place during the evolution of the Hafit to the Umm an-Nar cultures, a period of transformation often neglected because the semi-nomadic lifestyle of this intermediary culture left behind a limited archaeological record. Burial patterns reveal a shift from cairns to communal tombs that offers new insight into the relationship between the mortuary landscape and the living, while the presence of animal bones interred with human remains embodies the significance of herd management as symbols of both territoriality and reproduction. By using skeletal remains as a rich source of scientific data that complements studies of burial context, this volume represents an important turning point for mortuary research in the region. Its novel interdisciplinary and international perspective provides a synthesis of new ideas and interpretations that will guide future archaeological research in Arabia and beyond. A volume in the series Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the Human Past: Local, Regional, and Global Perspectives, edited by Clark Spencer Larsen Contributors: Eugenio Bortolini | Charlotte Marie Cable | Guillaume Gernez | Jessica Giraud | Richard Thorburn Howard Cuttler | Aurea Izquierdo Zamora | Olivia Munoz | Jill A. Weber | Benjamin W. Porter | Alexis Boutin | Debra L. Martin | Kathryn M. Baustian | Anna J. Osterholz | Peter Magee

Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States, and the Global System, Seventh Edition, provides balanced coverage of three dramatically different cultural worlds by focusing on problems of social inequality, human well-being, social justice, and sustainability. Author John Bodley challenges students to consider “big questions” about the nature of cultural systems: How are cultures structured to satisfy basic human needs? What is it like to be human under different cultural conditions? Are DNA, language, and environment determinants of culture? Are materialist explanations more useful than ideological ones? What are the major turning points in human history? Scale and power remains the primary theoretical framework, but cultural evolutionary perspectives have been expanded. NEW TO THIS EDITIONChapter Two now includes a new section discussing evolutionary cultural anthropology, a new box that updates the archaeological, biological anthropology, and genetic material on anatomically modern humans, and a discussion of the connection between evolutionary anthropology and the moral domains and values that support social cooperation. Chapter Six has new sections on soul beliefs and shamanism, wealth and well-being, and findings from the long-running Tsimane health project in the Bolivian Amazon. The section on the “mental abilities of tribal peoples” is revised to read “cognitive abilities” and a new discussion of working memory as a defining feature of fully modern humans is included.Chapter Seven includes a new box presenting some of the latest genetic, linguistic, and paleoclimate findings related to the colonization of the Pacific. Chapter Ten adds a new section on demographic-structural and cultural evolutionary theory on the rise and fall of politically centralized societies using the Seshat Global History Databank. Chapter Thirteen adds a new section “A Cascade of Unsustainability Warnings” on the very alarming back to back IPCC special report on the dangers of global warming exceeding 1.5oC, published in fall 2018, and the spring 2019 IPBES Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.Chapter Fourteen adds two new sections, the first questioning whether capitalism itself can be sustainable, the second considering the alternatives for adapting to climate change.Ancillary materials for both instructors and students are written by the author and include an instructor's manual, test bank, presentation slides, and an open-access companion website.

The label “hunter-gatherer” covers an extremely diverse range of societies and behaviors, yet most of what is known is provided by ethnographic and historical data that cannot be used to interpret prehistory. Foraging in the Past takes an explicitly archaeological approach to the potential of the archaeological record to document the variability and time depth of hunter-gatherers. Well-established and young scholars present new prehistoric data and describe new methods and theories to investigate ancient forager lifeways and document hunter-gatherer variability across the globe. The authors use relationships established by cross-cultural data as a background for examining the empirical patterns of prehistory. Covering underwater sites in North America, the peaks of the Andes, Asian rainforests, and beyond, chapters are data rich, methodologically sound, and theoretically nuanced, effectively exploring the latest evidence for behavioral diversity in the fundamental process of hunting and gathering. Foraging in the Past establishes how hunter-gatherers can be considered archaeologically, extending beyond the reach of ethnographers and historians to argue that only through archaeological research can the full range of hunter-gatherer variability be documented. Presenting a comprehensive and integrated approach to forager diversity in the past, the volume will be of significance to both students and scholars working with or teaching about hunter-gatherers. Contributors: Nicholas J. Conard, Raven Garvey, Keiko Kitagawa, John Krigbaum, Petra Krönneck, Steven Kuhn, Julia Lee-Thorp, Peter Mitchell, Katherine Moore, Susanne C. Münzel, Kurt Rademaker, Patrick Roberts, Britt Starkovich, Brian A. Stewart, Mary Stiner

This respected resource is a biographical dictionary of the significant players in the physical, biological and related sciences. Each edition includes biographical entries on nearly 135,000 living scientists, providing birthdate; birthplace; field of spe

Fire is a daunting human ecological challenge and a major subject in science and policy debates about global trends in land conversion, climate change, and human health. Persistent environmental orthodoxies reduce complex burning traditions to overly simplistic representations of environmental destruction, degradation, and loss while reinforcing existing social inequities involving smallholders. Fire Otherwise: Ethnobiology of Burning for a Changing World advocates for a more inclusive and pluralistic fire ecology, a shift from the paradigmatic globalized version of fire science and management towards research and management that embraces anthropogenic fire regimes and broader understandings of the ways humans interact with fire. The authors present new evaluations of human interactions with fires in contexts of changing environmental conditions. Through deep description and analysis of knowledge and practices enacted by local communities who ignite, manage, and extinguish fires, this collection of case studies supports proactive local and regional efforts to adapt amidst continually changing social and ecological circumstances.

This concisely written and easy-to-read resource provides information on emerging issues and valuable historical context that enables students to better understand a broad range of environmental health topics, from pollution to infectious diseases, natural disasters, and waste management.As technology enables better insight into the world we live in, we are increasingly aware of environmental health concerns and risks, from contaminated air and water to infectious diseases and light and noise pollution. Because the quality of our lives depends on the quality of our environment, everyone should be informed about issues in environmental health. Environmental Health in the 21st Century: From Air Pollution to Zoonotic Diseases presents hundreds of encyclopedic entries written by expert researchers and practitioners, a history of environmental health, and interviews with subject experts that broadly survey the field of environmental health. The set covers myriad subjects in environmental health, including all types of environmental pollution; the spread of communicable diseases and other issues in the health sciences; waste management practices; the effects of climate change on human health; children's environmental health concerns; environmental health problems unique to the urban environment; and emerging threats such as the Zika virus and hospital-acquired infections. Readers will learn about steps they can take to reduce their environmental risk, understand the effects of key international treaties and conventions and the contributions of key figures in environmental health, and also reflect on potential solutions for global challenges in environmental pollution, health sciences, energy and climate, waste management, and the built environment. No other book on the market today addresses the environmental health field in such a comprehensive manner, with the latest information provided by expert practitioners, all packed into two concise volumes.

Modern Humans is a vivid account of the most recent—and perhaps the most important—phase of human evolution: the appearance of anatomically modern people (Homo sapiens) in Africa less than half a million years ago and their later spread throughout the world. Leaving no stone unturned, John F. Hoffecker demonstrates that Homo sapiens represents a “major transition” in the evolution of living systems in terms of fundamental changes in the role of non-genetic information. Modern Humans synthesizes recent findings from genetics (including the rapidly growing body of ancient DNA), the human fossil record, and archaeology relating to the African origin and global dispersal of anatomically modern people. Hoffecker places humans in the broad context of the evolution of life, emphasizing the critical role of genetic and non-genetic forms of information in living systems as well as how changes in the storage, transmission, and translation of information underlie major transitions in evolution. He also draws on information and complexity theory to explain the emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa several hundred thousand years ago and the rapid and unprecedented spread of our species into a variety of environments in Australia and Eurasia, including the Arctic and Beringia, beginning between 75,000 and 60,000 years ago. This magisterial work will appeal to all with an interest in the ever-fascinating field of human evolution.

From God to Noam Chomsky, many have suggested that language arose suddenly in a way that cannot be explained through ordinary evolutionary processes. Corballis argues otherwise. He uncovers the precursors of language in the ability of mice and other animals to engage in ‘mental time travel', the use of gesture by apes, the capacity of chimpanzees to step into the shoes (or paws) of others, and the increasing need for social co-operation as hominins left the forest. By adding voice and grammar, language enabled humans to take all those capacities up an evolutionary notch. Now we could share stories, we could work collaboratively in groups, and - as different languages became standardised - we could even learn to dislike different groups and different cultures. We were human.

The Biography and Genealogy Master Index is designed to help you easily determine which publication to consult for biographical information. Indexed sources cover both living and deceased persons from every field of activity and from every country in the world. Typically current, readily available, standard reference works are indexed. Look for supplement volume updates to this valuable biographical research tool twice a year. These volumes are cumulated every five years. More than 15 million citations compiled from more than 5,000 editions and volumes of approximately 1,700 current and retrospective biographical sources are included in the Biography and Genealogy Master Index base set and its supplements. In total, Biography and Genealogy Master Index provides coverage of nearly 5 million contemporary and historical figures from authors to scientists, from boxers to fashion designers, from Adam and Eve to Frank Zappa.

The National Faculty Directory contains the names, departmental affiliations, institutional addresses, and phone numbers of nearly 1 million members of teaching faculties at nearly 4,500 American colleges and universities and 278 Canadian institutions that use instructional materials primarily in English. Updated and verified continuously, it is used by academic, public, and media libraries, and scholarly and research organizations.

The collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates around fifty million years ago profoundly altered earth's geography and regional climates. The rise of the Himalaya led to intensification of the monsoon, the birth of massive glaciers and turbulent rivers, and an efflorescence of ecosystems along the most extreme elevational gradient on Earth. When the Ice Age ended, humans became part of this mix, and today nearly one quarter of the world's population inhabits its river basins, from Afghanistan to Myanmar. Life in the Himalaya examines the region's geophysical and biological systems and explores the past and future of human sustainability in the mountain's shadow.Maharaj Pandit divides the Himalaya's history into four phases. During the first, the mountain and its ecosystems formed. In the second, humans altered the landscape, beginning with nomadic pastoralism, continuing to commercial deforestation, and culminating in pockets of resistance to forest exploitation. The third phase saw a human population explosion, accompanied by road and dam building and other large-scale infrastructure that degraded ecosystems and caused species extinctions. Pandit outlines a future networking phase which holds the promise of sustainable living within the mountain's carrying capacity.Today, the Himalaya is threatened by recurrent natural disasters and is at risk of catastrophic loss of life. If humans are to have a sustainable future there, Pandit argues, they will need to better understand the region's geological vulnerability, ecological fragility, and sociocultural sensitivity. Life in the Himalaya outlines the mountain's past in order to map a way forward.

Evolutionary science has long viewed language as, basically, a fortunate accident—a crossing of wires that happened to be extraordinarily useful, setting humans apart from other animals and onto a trajectory that would see their brains (and the products of those brains) become increasingly complex. But as Michael C. Corballis shows in The Truth about Language, it's time to reconsider those assumptions. Language, he argues, is not the product of some “big bang” 60,000 years ago, but rather the result of a typically slow process of evolution with roots in elements of grammatical language found much farther back in our evolutionary history. Language, Corballis explains, evolved as a way to share thoughts—and, crucially for human development, to connect our own “mental time travel,” our imagining of events and people that are not right in front of us, to that of other people. We share that ability with other animals, but it was the development of language that made it powerful: it led to our ability to imagine other perspectives, to imagine ourselves in the minds of others, a development that, by easing social interaction, proved to be an extraordinary evolutionary advantage. Even as his thesis challenges such giants as Chomsky and Stephen Jay Gould, Corballis writes accessibly and wittily, filling his account with unforgettable anecdotes and fascinating historical examples. The result is a book that's perfect both for deep engagement and as brilliant fodder for that lightest of all forms of language, cocktail party chatter.

The earliest sites at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania are among the best documented and most important for studies of human evolution. This book investigates the behavior of hominids at Olduvai using data of stone tools and animal bones, as well as the results of work in taphonomy (how animals become fossils), the behavior of mammals, and a wide range of ecological theory and data. By illustrating the ways in which modern and prehistoric evidence is used in making interpretations, the author guides the reader through the geological, ecological, and archeological areas involved in the study of humans.Based on his study of the Olduvai excavations, animal life, and stone tools, the author carefully examines conventional views and proposals about the early Olduvai sites. First, the evidence of site geology, tool cut marks, and other clues to the formation of the Olduvai sites are explored. On this basis, the large mammal communities in which early hominids lived are investigated, using methods which compare sites produced mainly by hominids with others made by carnivores. Questions about hominid hunting, scavenging, and the importance of eating meat are then scrutinized. The leading alternative positions on each issue are discussed, providing a basis for understanding some of the most contentious debates in paleo-anthropology today.The dominant interpretive model for the artifact and bone accumulations at Olduvai and other Plio-Pleistocene sites has been that they represent home bases, social foci similar to the campsites of hunter-gatherers. Based on paleo-ecological evidence and ecological models, the author critically analyzes the home base interpretation and proposes alternative views. A new view of the Olduvai sites - that they represent stone caches where hominids processed carcasses for food - is shown to have important implications for our understanding of hominid social behavior and evolution.

'Changes the conversation about Cuban archaeology as a whole, presenting groundbreaking data and interpretations that will be useful for prehistoric and historical archaeologists working the region.'--Samuel M. Wilson, author of The Archaeology of the Caribbean'Presents a collection of essays that will tremendously facilitate the linkage of issues in Cuban archaeology with the rest of the Caribbean and surrounding areas.'--Peter E. Siegel, coeditor of Protecting Heritage in the Caribbean As the largest--and most centrally located--island of the Caribbean, Cuba has seen successive waves of migration to its shores. Its early colonization, and that of the Greater Antilles, is complicated by population movements within the Circum-Caribbean. In this volume, Ivan Roksandic and an international team of researchers present a new theory of mainland migration into the Caribbean. Through analysis of early agriculture, burial customs, dental modification, pottery production, and dietary patterns, the contributors enable a very close look at the lifeways and challenges of the native populations. They decipher patterns of movement between the islands and present-day Mexico and Central America and explore the interactions between the islands'inhabitants, including the fate of indigenous groups after European contact. Together the essays produce a view of the early Caribbean that is rich with dynamic networks of exchange and matrixes of cultural influences, more intricate and multilinear than previously believed. With contributions from archaeology, physical anthropology, environmental archaeology, paleobotany, linguistics, and ethnohistory, this volume adds to ongoing debates concerning migration and colonization. It examines the importance of landscape and seascape in shaping human experience; the role that contact and interaction between different groups play in building identity; and the contribution of native groups to the biological and cultural identity of postcontact and modern societies. Ivan Roksandic, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Linguistics Program at the University of Winnipeg, is the author of The Ouroboros Seizes Its Tale: Strategies of Mythopoeia in Narrative Fiction. A volume in the Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series

In this comprehensive reconstruction of causal case study methods, Derek Beach, Rasmus Brun Pedersen, and their coauthors delineate the ontological and epistemological differences among these methods, offer suggestions for determining the appropriate methods for a given research project, and explain the step-by-step application of selected methods. Causal Case Study Methods begins with the cohesive, logical foundations for small-n comparative methods, congruence methods, and process tracing, then delineate the distinctive types of causal relationships for which each method is appropriate. Next, the authors provide practical instruction for deploying each of the methods individually and in combination. They walk the researcher through each stage of the research process, starting with issues of concept formation and the formulation of causal claims in ways that are compatible with case-based research. They then develop guidelines for using Bayesian logic as a set of practical questions for translating empirical data into evidence that may or may not confirm causal inferences. Widely acclaimed instructors, the authors draw upon their extensive experience at the graduate level in university classrooms, summer and winter school courses, and professional workshops, around the globe.

Profiles living persons in the physical and biological fields, as well as public health scientists, engineers, mathematicians, statisticians, and computer scientists.

The evolution of high-crowned teeth, hypsodonty, is a defining characteristic of many terrestrial herbivores. To date, the most prominent focus in the study of the teeth of grazing herbivores has been co-evolution with grasses and grasslands. This book develops the idea further and looks at the myriad ways that soil can enter the diet. Madden then expands this analysis to examine the earth surface processes that mobilize sediment in the environment. The text delivers a global perspective on tooth wear and soil erosion, with examples from the islands of New Zealand to the South American Andes, highlighting how similar geological processes worldwide result in convergent evolution. The final chapter includes a review of elodonty in the fossil record and its environmental consequences. Offering new insights into geomorphology and adaptive and evolutionary morphology, this text will be of value to any researcher interested in the evolution of tooth size and shape.

Předmětem odborné monografie Skalní umění: portugalská naleziště Foz Côa a Mazouco je deskripce, analýza a interpretace skalního umění. Kniha je rozdělena do dvou relativně samostatných částí. První, teoretická část je věnována výzkumné strategii, dokumentaci, datování, konzervaci a prezentaci skalního umění. Zabývá se také analýzou vztahu skalního umění a krajiny, neboť odlišnost vnímání krajiny v různých kulturách vedla tvůrce k rozdílnému vnímání životního prostředí a k odlišným formám výtvarného projevu. V této souvislosti je představeno skalní umění v kontextu způsobu života loveckých a sběračských skupin. V první části knihy jsou také prezentovány přístupy a metody interpretace skalního umění z krajinného, ergonomického, historického, sociologického, rituálního, uměleckého i estetického hlediska. Druhá část knihy je věnována jedné z předních oblastí s výskytem skalního umění – portugalským archeologickým lokalitám Foz Côa a Mazouco. Popsány a analyzovány jsou zde výtvarné techniky, charakteristiky a specifika skalního umění ve Foz Côa. Konkrétní mladopaleolitické archeologické lokality jsou prezentovány s přihlédnutím k místním geografickým a klimatickým podmínkám. Pozornost je věnována také metodám datování skalního umění a pravěkého osídlení ve Foz Côa. V závěru publikace je představena archeologická lokalita Mazouco, kde byly nalezeny pravěké zoomorfní rytiny vykazující stylové podobnosti s rytinami objevenými ve Foz Côa. Cílem knihy je komplexně představit skalní umění a seznámit odbornou i laickou veřejnost s archeologickými lokalitami Foz Côa a Mazouco.

Sin duda alguna, uno de los mayores aportes que hace esta obra, producto de un juicioso ejercicio de investigación que se inició en la década de 1980 y que fue publicado originalmente por The University of Alabama Press (2005), se relaciona con la identificación de los orígenes de la alfarería americana en el norte de Colombia hace unos 6 mil años. Este hecho, aunado a un grupo sólido de datos, permite a los autores presentar un nuevo punto de vista acerca del significado de la tecnología cerámica, la reducción de la movilidad de los grupos nómadas y el incremento de la territorialidad en San Jacinto, localidad arqueológica que, hasta la fecha, ostenta la cerámica más antigua de América.

Paleoethnobotany, the study of archaeological plant remains, is poised at the intersection of the study of the past and concerns of the present, including agricultural decision making, biodiversity, and global environmental change, and has much to offer to archaeology, anthropology, and the interdisciplinary study of human relationships with the natural world. Method and Theory in Paleoethnobotany demonstrates those connections and highlights the increasing relevance of the study of past human-plant interactions for understanding the present and future. A diverse and highly regarded group of scholars reference a broad array of literature from around the world as they cover their areas of expertise in the practice and theory of paleoethnobotany—starch grain analysis, stable isotope analysis, ancient DNA, digital data management, and ecological and postprocessual theory. The only comprehensive edited volume focusing on method and theory to appear in the last twenty-five years, Method and Theory in Paleoethnobotany addresses the new areas of inquiry that have become central to contemporary archaeological debates, as well as the current state of theoretical, methodological, and empirical work in paleoethnobotany.

Based on the acclaimed print series, GRZIMEK'S ANIMAL LIFE ENCYCLOPEDIA, 2nd ed., this new supplement covers extinct life. Written for students and general researchers, this supplement explores all aspects of extinctions and extinct life. Approximately 83 articles outline major extinctions and related scientific areas. Entries are written by nationally renowned subject specialists and peer-reviewed by the editor-in-chief and an editorial board of academic experts specializing in zoology, paleontology, and environmental science.

The institutionalization of History and Philosophy of Science as a distinct field of scholarly endeavour began comparatively earl- though not always under that name - in the Australasian region. An initial lecturing appointment was made at the University of Melbourne immediately after the Second World War, in 1946, and other appoint­ ments followed as the subject underwent an expansion during the 1950s and 1960s similar to that which took place in other parts of the world. Today there are major Departments at the University of Melbourne, the University of New South Wales and the University of Wollongong, and smaller groups active in many other parts of Australia and in New Zealand.'Australasian Studies in History and Philosophy of Science'aims to provide a distinctive publication outlet for Australian and New Zealand scholars working in the general area of history, philosophy and social studies of science. Each volume comprises a group of essays on a connected theme, edited by an Australian or a New Zealander with special expertise in that particular area. Papers address general issues, however, rather than local ones; parochial topics are avoided. Further­ more, though in each volume a majority of the contributors is from Australia or New Zealand, contributions from elsewhere are by no means ruled out. Quite the reverse, in fact - they are actively encour­ aged wherever appropriate to the balance of the volume in question.

The Anthropology of Learning in Childhood offers a large, mural-like portrait of childhood across time, culture, species, and environment. Even a casual reading of the literature on childhood will persuade one that learning is a very important topic that commands the attention of tens of thousands of scholars and practitioners. Yet, anthropological research on children has exerted relatively little influence on this community. This book will change that. The book demonstrates that anthropologists studying childhood can offer a description and theoretically sophisticated account of children's learning and its role in their development, socialization, and enculturation. Further, it demonstrates the particular contribution that children's learning makes to the construction of society and culture as well as the role that culture-acquiring children play in human evolution. Chapters have been contributed in archaeology, primatology, biological and cultural anthropology, and cross-cultural psychology.

In recent years, scholars have emphasized the need for more holistic subsistence analyses, and collaborative publications towards this endeavor have become more numerous in the literature. However, there are relatively few attempts to qualitatively integrate zooarchaeological (animal) and paleoethnobotanical (plant) data, and even fewer attempts to quantitatively integrate these two types of subsistence evidence. Given the vastly different methods used in recovering and quantifying these data, not to mention their different preservational histories, it is no wonder that so few have undertaken this problem. Integrating Zooarchaeology and Paleoethnobotany takes the lead in tackling this important issue by addressing the methodological limitations of data integration, proposing new methods and innovative ways of using established methods, and highlighting case studies that successfully employ these methods to shed new light on ancient foodways. The volume challenges the perception that plant and animal foodways are distinct and contends that the separation of the analysis of archaeological plant and animal remains sets up a false dichotomy between these portions of the diet. In advocating qualitative and quantitative data integration, the volume establishes a clear set of methods for (1) determining the suitability of data integration in any particular case, and (2) carrying out an integrated qualitative or quantitative approach.

The association between our ancestors and fire, somewhere around six to four million years ago, had a tremendous impact on human evolution, transforming our earliest human ancestor, a being communicating without speech but with insight, reason, manual dexterity, highly developed social organization, and the capability of experimenting with this new technology. As it first associated with and then began to tame fire, this extraordinary being began to distance itself from its primate relatives, taking a path that would alter its environment, physiology, and self-image. Based on her extensive research with nonhuman primates, anthropologist Frances Burton details the stages of the conquest of fire and the systems it affected. Her study examines the natural occurrence of fire and describes the effects light has on human physiology. She constructs possible variations of our earliest human ancestor and its way of life, utilizing archaeological and anthropological evidence of the earliest human-controlled fires to explore the profound physical and biological impacts fire had on human evolution.

This book explains why the earliest cities had grid-form street systems, what conditions led to their being overwhelmingly preferred for 5000 years throughout the world, why the Founding Fathers wanted gridform cities and how they affect economic transactions. Real property has been instrumental in forming urban settlements for 5000 years, but virtually all urban form commentary, theory and research has ignored this reality. The result is an incomplete and flawed understanding of cities. Real property became a means of arranging spatial patterns caused by millennia of human evolutionary and historical developments with respect to access and movement. As a result, access to resources of all types became a regulatory mechanism controlled, at least in part, by real property ownership.The effects of real property on urban spatial patterns are currently best seen by examining American urban space, which has changed significantly over the past 200 years. This change, which began in the 1840s and established path dependence through a combination of design thought, sentimental pastoralism and financial prowess resulted in an urban regime shift that diminished economic resilience. This book offers a rethinking of how real property relates to real space, examines the thought of form promoters, links space, property, neurological evolution and settlement form, shows access is measurable and describes the plusses and minuses of functionalism, rent seeking, general purpose technology, grid-form street systems and what the American Founding Fathers thought about urban form.

Extensive research in geology, atmospheric science, and paleontology provides a detailed history of CO2 in the atmosphere and an understanding of factors that have influenced changes in the past. This knowledge is used to illuminate the role of atmospheric CO2 in the modern carbon cycle and in the evolution of plants and animals. With an understanding of the history and dynamics of the biosphere, the authors address the future role of atmospheric CO2 and its likely effects on ecosystems. This book incorporates the advances of various earth science, environmental, and ecological fields into an overall account of global change and the changing dynamics of life on Earth.

A significant work of neotropical archaeology presenting evidence of early hunter-gatherers who produced fiber-tempered ceramics. Few topics in the development of humans have prompted as much interest and debate as those of the origins of pottery and agriculture. The first appearance of pottery in any area of the world is heralded as a new stage in the progress of humans toward a more complex arrangement of thought and society. Cultures are defined and separated by the occurrence of pottery types, and the association of pottery with mobility and agriculture continues to drive research in anthropology. For these reasons, the discovery of the earliest fiber-tempered pottery in the New World and carbonized remains identified as maize kernels is exciting. San Jacinto 1 is the archaeological site located in the savanna region of the north coast of Colombia, South America, where excavations by led by the authors have revealed evidence of mobile hunter-gatherers who made pottery and who collected and processed plants from 6000 to 5000 B.P. The site is believed to show an early human adaptation to the tropics in the context of significant environmental changes that were taking place at the time. This volume presents the data gathered and the interpretations made during excavation and analysis of the San Jacinto 1 site. By examining the social activities of a human population in a highly seasonal environment, it adds greatly to our contemporary understanding of the historical ecology of the tropics. Study of the artifacts excavated at the site allows a window into the early processes of food production in the New World. Finally, the data reveals that the origins of ceramic technology in the tropics were tied to a reduction in mobility and an increase in territoriality and are widely applicable to similar studies of sedentism and agriculture worldwide.