The Dictionary of Human Biology and Evolution (DHBE) is an invaluable research and study tool for both professionals and students covering a broad range of subjects within human biology, physical anthropology, anatomy, auxology, primatology, physiology, genetics, paleontology and zoology. Packed with 13000 descriptions of terms, specimens, sites and names, DHBE also includes information on over 1000 word roots, taxonomies and reference tables for extinct, recent and extant primates, geological and oxygen isotope chronologies, illustrations of landmarks, bones and muscles and an illustration of current hominid phylogeny, making this a must-have volume for anyone with an interest in human biology or evolution. DHBE is especially complete in its inventory of archaeological sites and the best-known hominid specimens excavated from them, but also includes up-to-date information on terms such as in silico, and those relating to the rapidly developing fields of human genomics.

A complete account of evolutionary thought in the social, environmental and policy sciences, creating bridges with biology.

Primate and Human Evolution provides a synthesis of the evolution and adaptive significance of human anatomical, physiological and behavioral traits. Using paleontology and modern human variation and biology, it compares hominid traits to those of other catarrhine primates both living and extinct, presenting a new hominization model that does not depend solely on global climate change, but on predictable trends observed in catarrhines. Dealing with the origins of hominid tool use and tool manufacture, it compares tool behavior in other animals and incorporates information from the earliest archaeological record. Examining the use of non-human primates and other mammals in modeling the origins of early human social behavior, Susan Cachel argues that human intelligence does not arise from complex social interactions, but from attentiveness to the natural world. This book will be a rich source of inspiration for all those interested in the evolution of all primates, including ourselves.

In this book, Benoît Dubreuil explores the creation and destruction of hierarchies in human evolution. Combining the methods of archaeology, anthropology, cognitive neuroscience and primatology, he offers a natural history of hierarchies from the point of view of both cultural and biological evolution. This volume explains why dominance hierarchies typical of primate societies disappeared in the human lineage and why the emergence of large-scale societies during the Neolithic period implied increased social differentiation, the creation of status hierarchies, and, eventually, political centralisation.

We tend to see history and evolution springing from separate roots, one grounded in the human world and the other in the natural world. Human beings have, however, become probably the most powerful species shaping evolution today, and human-caused evolution in other species has probably been the most important force shaping human history. This book introduces readers to evolutionary history, a new field that unites history and biology to create a fuller understanding of the past than either can produce on its own. Evolutionary history can stimulate surprising new hypotheses for any field of history and evolutionary biology. How many art historians would have guessed that sculpture encouraged the evolution of tuskless elephants? How many biologists would have predicted that human poverty would accelerate animal evolution? How many military historians would have suspected that plant evolution would convert a counter-insurgency strategy into a rebel subsidy? With examples from around the globe, this book will help readers see the broadest patterns of history and the details of their own life in a new light.

A century ago Darwin and Wallace explained how evolution could have happened in terms of processes known to take place today. This book describes how their theory has been confirmed, but at the same time "transformed", by recent research.