Extinct Humans

Tattersall, Ian and Jeffrey H. Schwartz

ISBN 10: 0813334829 / ISBN 13: 9780813334820

Published by Stated first edition, published by Westview Press, New York, 2000., 2000

About this Item

Very good with very good dust jacket in a plastic sleeve taped to covers. Back panel of plastic sleeve has several scratches. Bottom back corner of book is worn and there is a 1/2 inch tear in dust jacket and sleeve there. 256 pages.

Seller Inventory # 17710

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Extinct Humans
• Publisher: Stated first edition, published by Westview Press, New York, 2000.
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0813334829
• ISBN 13: 9780813334820
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Anthropology

About this title

Synopsis

From the earliest days of their science, paleoanthropologists have shown a propensity to envision the human “family tree” as a straight-line progression from the apelike australopithecines to the enigmatic Homo habilis to the perhaps misapprehended Homo erectus to the famous (or infamous) Neanderthals, culminating in us, Homo sapiens. The problem is that this model is unlike the evolutionary pattern of any other known vertebrate (or any organism, for that matter) which reveals multiple branching and extinctions.Since mid-century it has been evident that in South Africa two species of australopithecines existed at the same time, one of which – a specialized vegetarian – went extinct, leaving no successors. Then fossils were unearthed that demonstrated early members of our genus (Homo) existed side by side with australopithecines, complicating the picture still further. Now it is becoming increasingly clear that the Neanderthals were not a direct ancestor to modern humans but were in fact a side branch whose extirpation was at least partially at the hands of our modern human ancestors who invaded Europe 40,000 years ago. And very recent re-dating of several Javanese Homo erectus fossils has cast doubt on the notion that this widespread population was our direct ancestor.In Extinct Humans, Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz present convincing evidence that over fifteen different species of humans have existed over the six million-year sojourn of the hominid family, and that many of these species have existed simultaneously. Furthermore, a large number of these were members of our own genus. Who were these different human species? What did they look like? When and where did they evolve? Which are direct ancestors to us and which went extinct, leaving no successors? And, the most profound question of all, why is there only a single human species alive on Earth now? Tattersall and Schwartz explore these questions and many more in Extinct Humans.

About the Author

Ian Tattersall is Chairman and Curator of the Department of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History and adjunct professor of anthropology at Columbia University. His books include The Fossil Train, The Human Odyssey, Becoming Human, and The Myths of Human Evolution (with Niles Eldredge). Jeffrey Schwartz is professor of physical anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh and a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History. He is the author of The Red Ape, What Bones Tell Us, and Skeleton Keys.