The Human Species: An Introduction to Biological Anthropology, 7/e
John Relethford,
SUNY Oneonta
ISBN: 0073405264 Copyright year: 2008
New to This Edition
The text has been revised in light of new findings in the field and comments from users of the sixth edition and reviewers. Specific changes include the following:
Several changes have been made in structure and chapter content. The chapters on human variation have all been placed together and now appear after the chapters on human evolution, thus forming a more logical sequence of topics in human evolutionary history from past through the present. The discussion of species and classification methods has been moved to the chapter on macroevolution (4).
The chapter on mammalian and primate biology and behavior (5) has been revised extensively to include material on life history theory, primate reproductive strategies, alloparenting, and dispersal and behavior.
A new chapter (8) has been added on methods of paleoanthropological research, including dating methods, methods of ecological and behavioral analysis from fossils, and a brief history of evolution before the appearance of the first primates. This chapter also includes new material on how sex and age are determined from fossils, stable isotope analysis, experimental archaeology, and the use of nonhuman primate models for reconstructing behavior.
The term hominin is now used throughout the text to refer to humans and their relatives since the time of divergence from the chimpanzee–bonobo line.
The chapters on the fossil record of human evolution have been rewritten extensively to increase clarity and provide data on new discoveries and interpretations, including the virtual reconstruction of Sahelanthropus , foraging and the origin of bipedalism, debates over hunting versus scavenging in Homo erectus , the expensive tissue hypothesis, discovery of "The Hobbit" (Homo floresiensis), and the increasing recognition of Homo heidelbergensis as a valid fossil species.
Additional new topics have been added throughout the remainder of the text, including discussion of uniformitarianism and geologic time, recent developments in the "intelligent design" movement, new research on natural selection in the Duffy blood group and the CCR5Δ32 allele, and new interpretations on nutrition in hunting-gathering societies, among others.
There are four new "Special Topic" boxes, dealing with the issues of "Humans and Apes—What Genes are Different?" (Chapter 7), "A Perspective on Geologic Time" (Chapter 8), "Our Common Ancestry" (Chapter 14), and "Are Humans Still Experiencing Natural Selection?" (Chapter 15).
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2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education