Evolutionary History of the " Robust" Australopithecines (Foundations of Human Behavior)

-Ask your library consortium... to purchase this tightly edited, well-produced book. It does indeed represent a watershed in our knowledge and understanding of a fascinating and generally poorly studied group of hominids... Perhaps the best single generalization is that a very detailed look at the robust australopithecines makes it clear that the picture is more rather than less complex than it seemed, and that many earlier -consensus- assumptions about the group need to be viewed with healthy skepticism... This is an excellent, comprehensive, thorough compendium.- --David Pilbeam, American Scientist -This volume takes up the -robust- side branch of human evolution, cousins of ours that became extinct about a million years ago... The best thing about this volume is its completeness. Thirty articles by well-known authors include up-to-date summaries of evidence that is otherwise scattered or unavailable. Topics range from the nuts and bolts of specimen lists, dates, and stratigraphy, to more interpretive exercises in faunal correlation, taphonomy, climate and ecology, paleogeography, growth, biomechanics, adaptation, phylogeny, extinction, and competition (if any) between the two hominid lineages. Grine provides some perspective and coherence with a preface and a summary... This is an important book on human paleontology and Grine made a real contribution in organizing the original workshop and resulting volume.- --B. Holly Smith, The Quarterly Review of Biology -Australopithecus came to light in 1924, with the discovery of the famous child skull at Taung in South Africa. More bones of this extinct hominid were found later at Sterkfontein, and in 1938 the first fragments of a new ape-man, different from the Sterkfontein creature, appeared in eroded cave breccias at Kromdraai... Exploration of these topics does lead to controversy, but there is a measure of agreement on many points. Herein lies the strength of the volume, and a number of the papers will stand for some time as useful reviews... As this book makes clear, our close evolutionary cousins are well worth studying.- --G. Phlip Rightmire, Science "Ask your library consortium... to purchase this tightly edited, well-produced book. It does indeed represent a watershed in our knowledge and understanding of a fascinating and generally poorly studied group of hominids... Perhaps the best single generalization is that a very detailed look at the robust australopithecines makes it clear that the picture is more rather than less complex than it seemed, and that many earlier "consensus" assumptions about the group need to be viewed with healthy skepticism... This is an excellent, comprehensive, thorough compendium." --David Pilbeam, American Scientist "This volume takes up the "robust" side branch of human evolution, cousins of ours that became extinct about a million years ago... The best thing about this volume is its completeness. Thirty articles by well-known authors include up-to-date summaries of evidence that is otherwise scattered or unavailable. Topics range from the nuts and bolts of specimen lists, dates, and stratigraphy, to more interpretive exercises in faunal correlation, taphonomy, climate and ecology, paleogeography, growth, biomechanics, adaptation, phylogeny, extinction, and competition (if any) between the two hominid lineages. Grine provides some perspective and coherence with a preface and a summary... This is an important book on human paleontology and Grine made a real contribution in organizing the original workshop and resulting volume." --B. Holly Smith, The Quarterly Review of Biology "Australopithecus came to light in 1924, with the discovery of the famous child skull at Taung in South Africa. More bones of this extinct hominid were found later at Sterkfontein, and in 1938 the first fragments of a new ape-man, different from the Sterkfontein creature, appeared in eroded cave breccias at Kromdraai... Exploration of these topics does lead to controversy, but there is a measure of agreement on many points. Herein lies the strength of the volume, and a number of the papers will stand for some time as useful reviews... As this book makes clear, our close evolutionary cousins are well worth studying." --G. Phlip Rightmire, Science "Ask your library consortium... to purchase this tightly edited, well-produced book. It does indeed represent a watershed in our knowledge and understanding of a fascinating and generally poorly studied group of hominids... Perhaps the best single generalization is that a very detailed look at the robust australopithecines makes it clear that the picture is more rather than less complex than it seemed, and that many earlier "consensus" assumptions about the group need to be viewed with healthy skepticism... This is an excellent, comprehensive, thorough compendium." --David Pilbeam, American Scientist "This volume takes up the "robust" side branch of human evolution, cousins of ours that became extinct about a million years ago... The best thing about this volume is its completeness. Thirty articles by well-known authors include up-to-date summaries of evidence that is otherwise scattered or unavailable. Topics range from the nuts and bolts of specimen lists, dates, and stratigraphy, to more interpretive exercises in faunal correlation, taphonomy, climate and ecology, paleogeography, growth, biomechanics, adaptation, phylogeny, extinction, and competition (if any) between the two hominid lineages. Grine provides some perspective and coherence with a preface and a summary... This is an important book on human paleontology and Grine made a real contribution in organizing the original workshop and resulting volume." --B. Holly Smith, The Quarterly Review of Biology "Australopithecus came to light in 1924, with the discovery of the famous child skull at Taung in South Africa. More bones of this extinct hominid were found later at Sterkfontein, and in 1938 the first fragments of a new ape-man, different from the Sterkfontein creature, appeared in eroded cave breccias at Kromdraai... Exploration of these topics does lead to controversy, but there is a measure of agreement on many points. Herein lies the strength of the volume, and a number of the papers will stand for some time as useful reviews... As this book makes clear, our close evolutionary cousins are well worth studying." --G. Phlip Rightmire, Science