Provides a basic reference work on the Native languages of North America, their characteristics and uses, their historical relationships, and the history of research on these languages. Fold-out, color, volume map.
The skeleton known as Kennewick Man was discovered in 1996 by two young men along the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington. When the skeleton was brought to Jim Chatters, a forensic anthropologist, Chatters first believed that the remains were those of a nineteenth-century pioneer. He was astonished when radiocarbon dating revealed the skeleton to be approximately 9,500 years old, making it one of the oldest skeletons ever found in North America. But what really intrigued Chatters was that despite his antiquity, Kennewick Man did not resemble modern Native Americans. So who was he, and where did he come from? Ancient Encounters is Chatters' compelling account of his quest to find the answers to these questions-a quest that ultimately was halted by political considerations. Chatters' investigation was cut short because local Indian groups claimed the skeleton under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and demanded the right to rebury the remains. The Army Corps of Engineers, which had jurisdiction over the land where Kennewick Man was found, seized the skeleton and put it into federal storage, where it remains to this day. The skeleton was not reburied, because a group of scientists whom Chatters contacted to help him in his investigation filed suit to prevent this. Their suit is scheduled to go to trial in 2001.But Ancient Encounters is much more than a story of political intrigue. This is an anthropological detective story, told by the first scientist to have studied Kennewick Man. In the short time that the skeleton was in Chatters' hands, he learned a great deal about the man's life. Numerous serious injuries-including a spearpoint embedded in his hip-indicate that Kennewick Man led a dangerous, perhaps even violent, life. His physical characteristics suggest a relationship to the people of Polynesia, perhaps a common ancestry. As Chatters consulted other experts and explored museum collections, he learned that many of Kennewick Man's physical features were shared by other ancient skeletons discovered in the Americas. The first Americans, or Paleo-Americans, as they are known to some in the scientific community, may have arrived in the Americas earlier and by a different route than has been generally agreed. Kennewick Man may hold significant clues to the ancestry of the people of the Americas, which is why, Chatters argues, his skeleton deserves further study.Fascinating and impassioned, Ancient Encounters is an important exploration of the origins of our earliest ancestors-and a critical examination of the controversy over who owns the past.
The next great revolution in science will undoubtedly be the emergence of a useful theory of consciousness--a theory based on our better understanding of molecules and brains and of the nature of science itself. Evolving the Mind broaches both of these themes, covering how ideas about the mind evolved in science and how the mind itself evolved in Nature. What Cairns-Smith does that is particularly compelling is to synthesize the contributions of a wide range of scientific disciplines (physics, molecular biology, brain science, and evolution) to bring science to the brink of a unified theory of consciousness. The author thoroughly explores this complex concept in a straightforward, conversational style. Few readers will be able to resist the exciting conclusion that we are closing in on a scientific theory of consciousness.
Olduvai Groge is a valley in the Serengeti Plains at the western margin of the Eastern Rift Valley in northern Tanzania. The formations discussed in this volume, Beds I and II, were deposited in the Lower and Middle Pleistocene and have yielded large quantities of the remains of early man, in the form of bones and stone tools and evidence of the environment in which they lived. Bed I, in which remains of Australopithecus boisei and Homo habilis have been found, is firmly dated between 1.9 million years for the lowest level and 1.65 million years for a level below the top. This third volume describes the excavations. In Part I, starting with the lowest levels and devoting a chapter to each main level, Dr Leakey describes the actual process of excavation and the finding of the principal remains. In Part II, Dr Leakey describes the circumstances of the discovery of the hominid skeletal remains. These range from purposive excavation to accidental discovery while collecting small stones for mixing in concrete. Finally, mammalian bones, as tools and as food remains are discussed.
A powerful new theory of human nature suggests that our secret to success as a species is our unique friendlinessBrilliant, eye-opening, and absolutely inspiring--and a riveting read. Hare and Woods have written the perfect book for our time.--Cass R. Sunstein, author of How Change Happens and co-author of NudgeFor most of the approximately 300,000 years that Homo sapiens have existed, we have shared the planet with at least four other types of humans. All of these were smart, strong, and inventive. But around 50,000 years ago, Homo sapiens made a cognitive leap that gave us an edge over other species. What happened?Since Charles Darwin wrote about evolutionary fitness, the idea of fitness has been confused with physical strength, tactical brilliance, and aggression. In fact, what made us evolutionarily fit was a remarkable kind of friendliness, a virtuosic ability to coordinate and communicate with others that allowed us to achieve all the cultural and technical marvels in human history. Advancing what they call the self-domestication theory, Brian Hare, professor in the department of evolutionary anthropology and the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University and his wife, Vanessa Woods, a research scientist and award-winning journalist, shed light on the mysterious leap in human cognition that allowed Homo sapiens to thrive.But this gift for friendliness came at a cost. Just as a mother bear is most dangerous around her cubs, we are at our most dangerous when someone we love is threatened by an outsider. The threatening outsider is demoted to sub-human, fair game for our worst instincts. Hare's groundbreaking research, developed in close coordination with Richard Wrangham and Michael Tomasello, giants in the field of cognitive evolution, reveals that the same traits that make us the most tolerant species on the planet also make us the cruelest. Survival of the Friendliest offers us a new way to look at our cultural as well as cognitive evolution and sends a clear message: In order to survive and even to flourish, we need to expand our definition of who belongs.
Essentials of Physical Anthropology, Second Edition, uses smart pedagogy and engaging visual tools to help students focus on the most important themes of physical anthropology.
Fundamentals of Forensic Science, Third Edition, provides current case studies that reflect the ways professional forensic scientists work, not how forensic academicians teach. The book includes the binding principles of forensic science, including the relationships between people, places, and things as demonstrated by transferred evidence, the context of those people, places, and things, and the meaningfulness of the physical evidence discovered, along with its value in the justice system.Written by two of the leading experts in forensic science today, the book approaches the field from a truly unique and exciting perspective, giving readers a new understanding and appreciation for crime scenes as recent pieces of history, each with evidence that tells a story.
