The Human Career
Subtitle: Human Biological and Cultural Origins
By: Richard G. Klein.
Edition: 2nd ed.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Chicago
Language: eng
Number of pages: 810
ISBN-13: 9780226439631
Subjects: Human beings -- Origin; Fossil hominids; Human evolution
Description: Described as "by far the best book of its kind" (Henry McHenry, Evolution) and "the best introduction to the problems and data of modern palaeoanthropology yet published" (R. A. Foley, Antiquity), The Human Career has proved to be an indispensable tool in teaching human origins since its publication in 1989. This substantially revised edition retains Richard Klein's innovative approach and incorporates new findings from the past decade.

The Human Career chronicles the evolution of people from the earliest primates through the emergence of fully modern humans within the past 200,000 years. Its comprehensive treatment stresses recent advances in knowledge, including, for example, ever more abundant evidence that fully modern humans originated in Africa and spread from there, replacing the Neanderthals in Europe and equally archaic people in Asia. With its coverage of both the fossil record and the archeological record over the 2.5 million years for which both are available, Klein emphasizes that human morphology and behavior evolved together. Throughout the text, Klein presents evidence for alternative points of view, but also does not hesitate to take a position.

In addition to outlining the broad pattern of human evolution, The Human Career details the kinds of data that support this pattern, including information on archeological sites, artifacts, fossils, and methods for establishing dates in geological time. With abundant references and hundreds of illustrations, charts, and diagrams, this new edition is unparalleled in its usefulness for teaching human evolution.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 597-744) and index.
Table of contents: title: List of Illustrations
pagenum: ix; title: List of Tables
pagenum: xiii; title: Preface to the Second Edition
pagenum: xv; title: Preface to the First Edition
pagenum: xvii; label: 1
title: Evolution, Classification, and Nomenclature
pagenum: 1; label: 2
title: The Geologic Time Frame
pagenum: 19; label: 3
title: Primate Evolution: Late Cretaceous to Late Miocene
pagenum: 62; label: 4
title: The Australopithecines and Homo habilis
pagenum: 144; label: 5
title: Evolution of the Genus Homo
pagenum: 255; label: 6
title: The Neanderthals and Their Contemporaries
pagenum: 367; label: 7
title: Anatomically Modern Humans
pagenum: 494; label: 8
title: Conclusion: Anatomy, Behavior, and Modern Human Origins
pagenum: 580; title: References
pagenum: 597; title: Reference Index
pagenum: 745; title: Site Index
pagenum: 767; title: Subject Index
pagenum: 779