Modern Humans

Modern Humans
Author: John F. Hoffecker
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2017-10-31
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0231543743

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.

The Origins of Modern Humans

The Origins of Modern Humans
Author: Fred H. Smith
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 585
Release: 2013-07-09
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1118659902

This update to the award-winning The Origins of Modern Humans: A World Survey of the Fossil Evidence covers the most accepted common theories concerning the emergence of modern Homo sapiens adding fresh insight from top young scholars on the key new discoveries of the past 25 years. The Origins of Modern Humans: Biology Reconsidered allows field leaders to discuss and assess the assemblage of hominid fossil material in each region of the world during the Pleistocene epoch. It features new fossil and molecular evidence, such as the evolutionary inferences drawn from assessments of modern humans and large segments of the Neandertal genome. It also addresses the impact of digital imagery and the more sophisticated morphometrics that have entered the analytical fray since 1984. Beginning with a thoughtful introduction by the authors on modern human origins, the book offers such insightful chapter contributions as: Africa: The Cradle of Modern People Crossroads of the Old World: Late Hominin Evolution in Western Asia A River Runs through It: Modern Human Origins in East Asia Perspectives on the Origins of Modern Australians Modern Human Origins in Central Europe The Makers of the Early Upper Paleolithic in Western Eurasia Neandertal Craniofacial Growth and Development and Its Relevance for Modern Human Origins Energetics and the Origin of Modern Humans Understanding Human Cranial Variation in Light of Modern Human Origins The Relevance of Archaic Genomes to Modern Human Origins The Process of Modern Human Origins: The Evolutionary and Demographic Changes Giving Rise to Modern Humans The Paleobiology of Modern Human Emergence Elegant and thought provoking, The Origins of Modern Humans: Biology Reconsidered is an ideal read for students, grad students, and professionals in human evolution and paleoanthropology.

Neanderthals and Modern Humans

Neanderthals and Modern Humans
Author: Clive Finlayson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2004-03-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1139449710

Neanderthals and Modern Humans develops the theme of the close relationship between climate change, ecological change and biogeographical patterns in humans during the Pleistocene. In particular, it challenges the view that Modern Human 'superiority' caused the extinction of the Neanderthals between 40 and 30 thousand years ago. Clive Finlayson shows that to understand human evolution, the spread of humankind across the world and the extinction of archaic populations, we must move away from a purely theoretical evolutionary ecology base and realise the importance of wider biogeographic patterns including the role of tropical and temperate refugia. His proposal is that Neanderthals became extinct because their world changed faster than they could cope with, and that their relationship with the arriving Modern Humans, where they met, was subtle.

The Evolution of Modern Humans in Africa

The Evolution of Modern Humans in Africa
Author: Pamela R. Willoughby
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
Total Pages: 470
Release: 2007
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780759101197

A fascinating, detailed study of the origins of modern humans. Includes material from Willoughby's own research in Tanzania.

Cro-Magnon

Cro-Magnon
Author: Brian Fagan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2011-05-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1608194051

Cro-Magnons were the first fully modern Europeans--not only the creators of the stunning cave paintings at Lascaux and elsewhere, but the most adaptable and technologically inventive people that had yet lived on earth. The prolonged encounter between theCro-Magnons and the archaic Neanderthals, between 45,000 and 30,000 years ago, was one of the defining moments of history. The Neanderthals survived for some 15,000 years in the face of the newcomers, but were finally pushed aside by the Cro-Magnons' vastly superior intellectual abilities and cutting-edge technologies. What do we know about this remarkable takeover? Who were these first modern Europeans and what were they like? How did they manage to thrive in such an extreme environment? And what legacydid they leave behind them after the cold millennia? This is the story of a little known, yet seminal, chapter of human experience.--From publisher description.

The Origin of Modern Humans

The Origin of Modern Humans
Author: Roger Lewin
Publisher: Times Books
Total Pages: 204
Release: 1998-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780716760238

The tools used to unearth the facts of our prehistoric past have not always been tangible. Each fossil discovery and new methods of analysis is met with an avalanche of debate, alternate interpretations, and the refutation of competing theories. This text is a concise and provocative look at some answers to the question " Where did we come from? " .

Early Modern Humans at the Moravian Gate

Early Modern Humans at the Moravian Gate
Author: Maria Teschler-Nicola
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 535
Release: 2007-07-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3211492941

The Upper Paleolithic fossils of the Mladec caves, South Moravia, excavated at the end of the 19th century, hold a key position in the current discussion on modern human emergence within Europe and the fate of the Neanderthals. Although undoubtedly early modern humans - recently radio carbon dated to 31.000 years BP - their morphological variability and the presence of archaic features are indicative to some degree of regional Neanderthal ancestry. The beautifully illustrated monograph addresses - for the first time - the complete assemblage of the finds, including the human cranial, post cranial, teeth and jaw fragments of several individuals (most of them stored at the Natural History Museum Vienna) as well as the faunal remains and the archaeological objects. Leading scientists present their results, obtained with innovative techniques such as DNA analysis, 3D-morphometry and isotope analysis, which are of great importance for further discussions on both human evolution and archaeological issues.

The Impact of Information on Modern Humans

The Impact of Information on Modern Humans
Author: Elena G. Popkova
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 763
Release: 2018-03-06
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319753835

This book features contributions from various spheres of socio-humanitarian sciences presented at the scientific and practical conference on “Humans as an Object of Study by Modern Science,” which took place in Nizhny Novgorod (Russian Federation) on November 23–24, 2017. The conference was organized by Kozma Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University and the non-profit organization “Institute of Scientific Communications.” Presenting the results of multidisciplinary studies as well as new approaches, the target audience of the book includes postgraduates, lecturers at higher educational establishments, and researchers studying socio-humanitarian sciences. The complex study of humans by representatives of various socio-humanitarian sciences (philosophy, pedagogics, jurisprudence, social sciences, and economics) allows a comprehensive concept of the field to be developed. Selecting humans as an object of research opens wide possibilities for studying various issues related to their activities, while considering humans within multiple sciences means that the methods of induction and deduction can be combined to achieve precise results. This book includes the results of leading scientific studies on the following key issues: establishment of an information economy under the influence of scientific and technical progress: new challenges and opportunities; information and communication technologies as a new vector of development of the modern world economy; specifics and experience of using new information and communication technologies in developed and developing countries; problems of implementing new information and communication technologies in the modern economy; and priorities of using new information and communication technologies in the modern economy.

Human Evolution

Human Evolution
Author: Bernard A. Wood
Publisher:
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2019
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0198831749

The study of human evolution is advancing rapidly. New fossil evidence is adding ever more pieces to the puzzle of our past; the new science of ancient DNA is completely reshaping theories of early human populations and migrations. Bernard Wood traces the field of palaeoanthropology from its beginnings in the eighteenth century to the present.