Primate and Human Evolution

Susan Cachel is Associate Professor of Physical Anthropology at Rutgers University, New Jersey. She is a member of the Rutgers Center for Human Evolutionary Studies, and is an instructor and researcher at the Koobi Fora Field School in Kenya.

• Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. A brief history of primatology and human evolution; 3. The catarrhine fossil record; 4. Primate speciation and exstinction; 5. Anatomical primatology; 6. Captive studies of non-human primates; 7. What can non-human primate anatomy, physiology, and development reveal about human evolution?; 8. Natural history intelligence and human evolution; 9. Why be social? - the advantages and disadvantages of social life; 10. Evolution and behaviour; 11. The implications of body size for evolutionary ecology; 12. The nature of the fossil record; 13. The bipedal breakthrough; 14. The hominid radiation; 15. Modelling human evolution; 16. Archaeological evidence and models of human evolution; 17. What does evolutionary anthropology reveal about human evolution?; 18. Final thoughts on primate and human evolution.

'The range and breadth of topics covered in this lengthy book are undeniably impressive, and Cachel certainly dares to be different. There are forays into artificial intelligence, speciation, primates as models (and non-models), neuroanatomy, the origins of sociality, the evolutionary implications of body size, the possible impact of diet on sexual dimorphism, taphonomy, bipedalism, Hox genes, tool use, technology, … the list goes on. And all interspersed with condensed histories of primatology and palaeoanthropology. … wide-ranging and thought-provoking …' PaleoAnthropology