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The last human : a guide to twenty-two species of extinct humans / created by G.J. Sawyer and Viktor Deak ; text by Esteban Sarmiento, G.J. Sawyer and Richard Milner ; with contributions by Donald C. Johanson, Maeve Leakey and Ian Tattersall

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublication details: New Haven, Conn. ; London : Yale University Press, c2007.Description: 256 p. : ill. (chiefly col.), maps ; 28 cmISBN:
  • 0300100477 (hbk.)
  • 9780300100471 (hbk.)
Subject(s):
Contents:
Foreword / by Donald C. Johanson -- We were not alone. Introduction / by Ian Tattersall -- The earliest African hominids. Morning encounters. Sahelanthropus tchadensis. Orrorin tuganensis. Ardipithecus ramidus and kadabba -- Omo, Lake Turkana, and Awash basins and the appearance of the human lineage. A much welcomed visit : Australopithecus anamensis. We are family : Kenyanthropus platyops. The first nomad? Australopithecus afarensis. Dispatching a mortal enemy : Paranthropus aethiopicus. The first tool-using scavenger? Australopithecus garhi -- The South African fossil caves sites. The animal trap : Australopithecus africanus. To live and die on the high veldt : Paranthropus robustus/crassidens -- Back to the East African Great Rift Valley and the appearance of Homo. A two leg advantage : Homo rudolfensis. The luck of the Pygmy : Homo habilis. In the shadow of man : Paranthropus boisei. When opportunity knocks : Homo ergaster -- From Africa to Asia? A handful of know-how : Homo georgicus. Eve without Adam : Homo erectus. A winter night's desperation : Homo pekinensis. An island sunset for the little people : Homo floresiensis -- Africa, Europe, and then the world. The ultimate competitor : Homo antecessor. How to grow a sugarplum tree : Homo rhodesiensis. Greed and equality : Homo heidelbergensis. Hunters and hunted : Homo neanderthalensis -- Then there was one. Homo sapiens -- Afterword / by Maeve Leakey -- Appendix 1. The search for faces of the past / by G.J. Sawyer and Viktor Deak -- Appendix 2. Portraits of prehistory : imaging our ancestors / by Richard Milner.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 569.9 S246 Available 33111005165192
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The first opportunity to meet our extinct human ancestors face-to-face, through life-size reconstructions and detailed descriptions



"This unusual book draws on three-dimensional recreations to bring to life 22 of our long-vanished ancestors. . . . Convey(s) both scientific information and the sense that these were once thinking, feeling creatures."-- Scientific American



"Although the art is spectacular--reason enough to spend a lot of time with this book--its triumph is science."--Nan Crystal Arens, American Paleontologist



This book tells the story of human evolution, the epic of Homo sapiens and its colorful precursors and relatives. The story begins in Africa, six to seven million years ago, and encompasses twenty known human species, of which Homo sapiens is the sole survivor. Illustrated with spectacular, three-dimensional scientific reconstructions portrayed in their natural habitat developed by a team of physical anthropologists at the American Museum of Natural History and in concert with experts from around the world, the book is both a guide to extinct human species and an astonishing hominid family photo album. The Last Human presents a comprehensive account of each species with information on its emergence, chronology, geographic range, classification, physiology, lifestyle, habitat, environment, cultural achievements, co-existing species, and possible reasons for extinction. Also included are summaries of fossil discoveries, controversies, and publications. What emerges from the fossil story is a new understanding of Homo sapiens . No longer credible is the notion that our species is the end product of a single lineage, improved over generations by natural selection. Rather, the fossil record shows, we are a species with widely varied precursors, and our family tree is characterized by many branchings and repeated extinctions.

"A Peter N. Nevraumont book."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 251) and index.

Foreword / by Donald C. Johanson -- We were not alone. Introduction / by Ian Tattersall -- The earliest African hominids. Morning encounters. Sahelanthropus tchadensis. Orrorin tuganensis. Ardipithecus ramidus and kadabba -- Omo, Lake Turkana, and Awash basins and the appearance of the human lineage. A much welcomed visit : Australopithecus anamensis. We are family : Kenyanthropus platyops. The first nomad? Australopithecus afarensis. Dispatching a mortal enemy : Paranthropus aethiopicus. The first tool-using scavenger? Australopithecus garhi -- The South African fossil caves sites. The animal trap : Australopithecus africanus. To live and die on the high veldt : Paranthropus robustus/crassidens -- Back to the East African Great Rift Valley and the appearance of Homo. A two leg advantage : Homo rudolfensis. The luck of the Pygmy : Homo habilis. In the shadow of man : Paranthropus boisei. When opportunity knocks : Homo ergaster -- From Africa to Asia? A handful of know-how : Homo georgicus. Eve without Adam : Homo erectus. A winter night's desperation : Homo pekinensis. An island sunset for the little people : Homo floresiensis -- Africa, Europe, and then the world. The ultimate competitor : Homo antecessor. How to grow a sugarplum tree : Homo rhodesiensis. Greed and equality : Homo heidelbergensis. Hunters and hunted : Homo neanderthalensis -- Then there was one. Homo sapiens -- Afterword / by Maeve Leakey -- Appendix 1. The search for faces of the past / by G.J. Sawyer and Viktor Deak -- Appendix 2. Portraits of prehistory : imaging our ancestors / by Richard Milner.

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