Includes bibliographical references (p. 487-510) and index.

1. Introduction to physical anthropology -- Introduction -- What is anthropology? -- Cultural anthropology -- Archaeology -- Linguistic anthropology -- Physical anthropology-- Physical anthropology and the scientific method -- The anthropological perspective -- At a glance : the scientific method -- Issue : evaluation in science : lessons in critical thinking -- [pt. 1.] Heredity and evolution -- 2. The development of evolutionary theory -- Introduction -- A brief history of evolutionary though -- The scientific revolution -- Precursors to the theory of evolution -- The discovery of natural selection -- In Darwin's shadow -- Natural selection -- Natural selection in action -- At a glance : the mechanism of natural selection -- Constraints on nineteenth-century evolutionary theory -- Opposition to evolution today -- A brief history of religion-based opposition to evolution in the United States -- 3. The biological basis of life -- Introduction -- The cell -- DNA structure -- A closer look : Rosalind Franklin : the fourth (but invisible) member of the Double Helix team -- DNA replication -- Protein synthesis -- A closer look : characteristics of the DNA code -- What is a gene? -- A closer look : genetic junk and jumping genes regulatory genes -- At a glance : Help! Coding and noncoding DNA -- Mutation : when genes change -- Chromosomes -- Karyotyping chromosomes -- Cell division -- Mitosis -- Meiosis -- The evolutionary significance of meiosis -- Problems with meiosis -- New frontiers -- Issue : stem cell research : promise and controversy -- 4. Heredity and evolution -- Introduction -- The genetic principles discovered by Mendel -- Segregation -- Dominance and recessiveness -- Independent assortment -- Mendelian inheritance in humans -- Misconceptions about dominance and recessiveness -- Patterns of inheritance -- Sex-linked traits -- Non-Mendelian inheritance -- Polygenic inheritance -- Pleiotropy -- At a glance : Mendelian traits compared with polygenic traits -- Mitochondrial inheritance -- Genetic and environmental factors -- Modern evolutionary theory -- The modern synthesis -- A closer look : development of modern evolutionary theory -- A current definition of evolution -- Factors that produce and redistribute variation -- Mutation -- Gene flow -- Genetic drift -- Recombination -- Natural selection acts on variation -- Review of genetics and evolutionary factors -- New frontiers in research : molecular applications in forensic anthropology -- 5. Macroevolution : processes of vertebrate and mammalian evolution -- Introduction -- The human place in the organic world -- Principles of classification -- Constructing classifications and interpreting evolutionary relationships -- At a glance : Comparing two approaches to interpretations of evolutionary relationships -- Definition of species -- Processes of speciation -- Interpreting species and other groups in the fossil record -- Vertebrate evolutionary history : a brief summary -- Mammalian evolution -- The emergence of major mammalian groups -- Processes of macroevolution -- Adaptive radiation -- Generalized and specialized characteristics -- Modes of evolutionary change -- Issue : just when we thought things couldn't get any worse : bushmeat and ebola --

[pt. 2.] Primates -- 6. Survey of the living primates -- Introduction -- Primate characteristics -- At a glance : primate cranial anatomy -- Primate adaptations -- Evolutionary factors -- Geographical distribution and habitats -- Diet and teeth -- Locomotion -- Primate classification -- At a Glance : alternative classifications of great apes and humans -- A survey of the living primates -- Prosimians (lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers) -- Anthropoids : monkeys, apes, and humans -- Hominoids : apes and humans -- Endangered primates -- 7. Primate behavior -- Introduction -- Primate field studies -- The evolution of behavior -- Some factors that influence social structure -- Sympatric species -- Five monkey species in the Kibale Forest, Uganda -- Why be social? -- Primate social behavior -- Dominance -- Communication -- Aggressive and affiliative interactions -- Reproduction and reproductive strategies -- Female and male reproductive strategies -- Sexual selection -- Infanticide as a reproductive strategy? -- Mothers, fathers, and infants -- Issue : primates in biomedical research : ethics and concerns -- 8. Primate models for human behavioral evolution -- Introduction -- Human origins and behavior -- Brain and body size -- Language -- The evolution of language -- At a glance : evolution of human language -- Primate cultural behavior -- Aggressive interactions between groups -- Affiliation, altruism, and cooperation -- Altruism -- The primate continuum -- New frontiers in research : molecular applications in primatology -- 9. Overview of the fossil primates -- Introduction -- Background to primate evolution : late Mesozoic -- Primate origins -- Paleocene primate-like mammals -- Out of order -- Eocene primates -- Lemur-like adapoids -- Evolution of true lemurs and lorises -- Tarsier-like omomyoids -- A closer look : Texas and the last North American prosimians -- Evolution of true tarsiers -- Eocene and Oligocene early anthropoids -- At a glance : prosimian vs. anthropoid characteristics -- Oligocene primates -- A closer look : primate diversity in the Fayum -- True anthropoids -- Early platyrrhines : New World anthropoids -- At a glance : New World monkey vs. Old World monkey characteristics -- Miocene primates -- Monkeying around -- A closer look : rafting and primate evolution -- Aping monkeys -- Hominoids, the true apes -- At a glance : Old World monkey vs. ape characteristics -- A closer look : discovery of the other Gigantopithecus -- Evolution of extant hominoids -- At a glance : biomolecular family tree --

[pt. 3.] Hominid evolution -- 10. Paleoanthropology : reconstructing early hominid behavior and ecology -- Introduction -- Definition of hominid -- Biocultural evolution : the human capacity for culture -- A closer look : what is a hominid? -- The strategy of paleoanthropology -- Paleoanthropology in action, Olduvai Gorge -- Dating methods -- At a glance : relative and chronometric dating -- A closer look : chronometric dating estimates -- Applications of dating methods : examples from Olduvai -- Excavations at Olduvai -- A closer look : who was doing what at Olduvai and the other Plio-Pleistocene sites? -- Experimental archaeology -- Stone tool (lithic) technology -- Analysis of bone -- Reconstruction of early hominid environments and behavior -- Environmental explanations for hominid origins -- A closer look : in search of ancient human ancestors, and a little shade -- Why did hominids become bipedal? -- Issue : the Piltdown caper : whodunit? -- 11. Hominid origins in Africa -- Introduction -- The bipedal adaptation -- A closer book : major features of bipedal locomotion -- Early hominids from Africa (pre-Australopithecus finds) -- Earliest traces -- Ardipithecus from Aramis (Ethiopia) -- Australopithecus/Paranthropus from East Africa -- At a glance : key very early fossil hominid discoveries (pre-Australopithecus : prior to 4 mya) -- Australopithecus afarensis from Laetoli and Hadar -- A closer look : cranial capacity -- At a glance : abbreviations used for fossil hominid specimens -- Another East African hominid -- Later East African finds -- Australopithecus and Paranthropus from Olduvai and Lake Turkana -- Early Homo -- At a glance : key East African Australopithecine and early Homo discoveries -- Redefining the genus Homo? -- South African sites -- Earliest discoveries -- Further discoveries of South African hominids -- Review of hominids from South Africa -- Geology and dating problems in South Africa -- At a glance : key South African Pliocene and early Pleistocene hominid discoveries -- Interpretations : what does it all mean? -- Continuing uncertainties, taxonomic issues -- Seeing the bigger picture -- Seeing the very big picture : adaptive patterns of early African hominids -- 12. The earliest dispersal of the genus Homo: Homo erectus and contemporaries -- Introduction -- The life and times of Homo erectus -- The morphology of Homo erectus -- Body size -- Brain size -- Cranial shape -- Who were the earliest African emigrants? -- Historical overview of Homo erectus discoveries -- Java -- Homo erectus from Java -- Peking (Beijing) -- Zhoukoudian Homo erectus -- A closer look : Dragon Bone Hill : cave home or hyena den? -- Other Chinese sites -- At a glance : key Homo erectus discoveries from Asia -- East Africa -- A closer look : the Nariokotome skeleton -- At a glance : key Homo erectus discoveries from Africa -- Summary of East African Homo erectus -- Europe -- At a glance : key Homo erectus (or contemporaries) discoveries from Europe -- Technological trends in Homo erectus -- A closer look : the sky is falling -- Seeing the big picture : interpretations of Homo erectus -- New frontiers in research : ancient DNA -- 13. Premodern humans -- Introduction -- When, where, and what -- The Pleistocene -- Dispersal of middle Pleistocene hominids -- Middle Pleistocene hominids : terminology -- Premodern humans of the middle Pleistocene -- Africa -- Europe -- At a glance : key middle Pleistocene premodern human (H. heidelbergensis) fossils from Africa -- At a glance : key middle Pleistocene premodern human (H. heidelbergensis) fossils from Europe -- Asia -- At a glance : key middle Pleistocene premodern human (H. heidelbergensis) fossils from Asia -- A review of middle Pleistocene evolution -- Middle Pleistocene culture -- Neandertals : premodern humans of the late Pleistocene -- Western Europe -- Central Europe -- Western Asia -- Central Asia -- Culture of Neandertals -- Technology -- At a glance : key Neandertal fossil discoveries -- Subsistence -- Speech and symbolic behavior -- Burials -- Genetic evidence -- Trends in human evolution : understanding premodern humans -- A closer look : are they human? -- Issue : the evolution of language -- 14. The origin and dispersal of modern humans -- Introduction -- Approaches to understanding modern human origins -- The complete replacement model : recent African evolution -- Partial replacement models -- The regional continuity model : multiregional evolution -- Seeing the big picture -- The earliest discoveries of modern humans -- Africa -- At a glance : key early modern Homo sapiens -- Discoveries from Africa and the Near East -- The Near East -- Asia -- Australia -- Central Europe -- Western Europe -- At a glance : key early modern Homo sapiens -- Discoveries from Europe, Asia, and Australia -- A closer look : hybridization in the fossil record : what exactly were those hominids doing at Lagar Velho? -- Something new and different -- Technology and art in the upper Paleolithic -- Europe -- A closer look : maybe, you can take it with you -- Africa -- Summary of upper Paleolithic culture --

[pt. 4.] Contemporary human evolution -- 15. Modern human biology : patterns of variation -- Introduction -- Historical views of human variation -- The concept of race -- Racism -- Intelligence -- Contemporary interpretations of human variation -- Human polymorphisms -- Patterns of polymorphic variation -- Polymorphisms at the DNA level -- At a glance : genetic polymorphisms used to study human variation -- Population genetics -- At a glance : population genetics research -- Calculating allele frequencies -- A closer look : calculating allele frequencies : PTC tasting in a hypothetical population -- Evolution in action : modern human populations -- Nonrandom mating -- Human biocultural evolution -- Issue : racial purity : a false and dangerous ideology -- 16. Modern human biology : patterns of adaptation -- Introduction -- The adaptive significance of human variation -- Solar radiation and skin color -- A closer look : skin cancer and UV radiation -- The thermal environment -- High altitude -- Infectious disease -- At a glance : zoonoses and human infectious disease -- The continuing impact of infectious disease -- New frontiers in research : molecular applications in modern human biology -- 17. Legacies of human evolutionary history -- Introduction -- Evolution of human behavior and the life course -- Biocultural evolution and the life cycle -- Growth in gestation, infancy, and childhood -- Nutritional effects on growth and development -- A closer look : diabetes -- At a glance : diet, lifestyle, and consequences -- Onset of reproductive functioning in humans -- Human longevity -- Evolutionary medicine -- Human impact on the planet and other life-forms -- Impact on biodiversity -- Acceleration of evolutionary processes -- Is there any good news? -- Are we still evolving? -- Appendix A. Atlas of primate skeletal anatomy -- Appendix B. Summary of early hominid fossil finds from Africa -- Appendix C. Population genetics : the math of microevolution -- Glossary.