Since its inception, paleoanthropology has been closely wedded to the idea that big-game hunting by our hominin ancestors arose, first and foremost, as a means for acquiring energy and vital nutrients. This assumption has rarely been questioned, and seems intuitively obvious—meat is a nutrient-rich food with the ideal array of amino acids, and big animals provide meat in large, convenient packages. Through new research, the author of this volume provides a strong argument that the primary goals of big-game hunting were actually social and political—increasing hunter’s prestige and standing—and that the nutritional component was just an added bonus. Through a comprehensive, interdisciplinary research approach, the author examines the historical and current perceptions of protein as an important nutrient source, the biological impact of a high-protein diet and the evidence of this in the archaeological record, and provides a compelling reexamination of this long-held conclusion. This volume will be of interest to researchers in Archaeology, Evolutionary Biology, and Paleoanthropology, particularly those studying diet and nutrition.

Working memory – the conscious processing of information – is increasingly recognized as one of the most important aspects of intelligence. This fundamental cognitive skill is deeply connected to a great variety of human experience – from our childhood, to our old age, from our evolutionary past, to our digital future. In this volume, leading psychologists review the latest research on working memory and consider what role it plays in development and over the lifespan. It is revealed how a strong working memory is connected with success (academically and acquiring expertise) and a poor working memory is connected with failure (addictive behavior and poor decision-making). The contributions also show how working memory played a role in our cognitive evolution and how the everyday things we do, such as what we eat and how much we sleep, can have an impact on how well it functions. Finally, the evidence on whether or not working memory training is beneficial is explored. This volume is essential reading for students, researchers, and professionals with an interest in human memory and its improvement, including those working in cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, gerontology, education, health, and clinical psychology.

Praise for the first edition: "The most up-to-date and wide-ranging encyclopedia work on human evolution available."--American Reference Books Annual "For student, researcher, and teacher...the most complete source of basic information on the subject."--Nature "A comprehensive and authoritative source, filling a unique niche...essential to academic libraries...important for large public libraries." --Booklist/RBB

On his death, Arthur Boucot (1924–2017) left an unfinished manuscript in which he surveyed the skeletal, behavioral, and cultural changes that have characterized Homo from its first recognition in the Late Pliocene to the present. The results, edited after his death, provide a heavily referenced sourcebook for future workers in diverse fields.

A collection of essays focusing upon the role wild and domestic pigs have played in human societies around the world over the last 10,000 years. The 22 contributors cover a broad and diverse range of themes, grounded within the disciplines of archaeology, zoology, anthropology, and biology, as well as art history and history.

While those who study human origins now agree that the evolution of modern human form extends back much further in time than the evolution of modern human behavior, they disagree sharply as to how to interpret the substantive data. Two fundamentally incommensurate interpretations of our origins, the "Replacement" camp and the "Continuity" camp, have now emerged out of pre-existing models and theories that go back to the last quarter of the 19th century. This book contends that these positions are based on radically different biases and assumptions about what the remote human past was like. The purpose of this volume is to examine those conceptual differences, not to arrive at a consensus, but rather to explore the reasons why a consensus might never be possible.