Cover -- Half-title -- Series-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Paleobiology: present perspectives on the past -- 2 Constancy and change: taxonomic uncertainty in a probabilistic world -- Introduction -- The impact of molecular biology -- Fossils provide tangible links with the past -- Ferment in physics -- Taxonomy as a conceptual framework -- Taxonomy encounters fossils -- Fossils imply time -- Time and change undermine taxonomic categorization -- Beyond binomials: plural and pragmatic species concepts -- 3 A century of fossils -- Introduction -- Anatomically modern humans -- Neanderthals -- Pithecanthropines -- Australopithecines -- Paleoanthropology: the end of the beginning -- 4 About a century of theory -- Introduction -- Darwin and natural selection -- Mendel and particulate inheritance -- Large gene effects or small? Mendelians vs. biometricians -- Genes and chromosomes -- Predicting and measuring evolutionary change -- The evolutionary synthesis: a midterm report between the Origin and the present -- Genetic theory and the interpretation of human evolution -- Microevolutionary transformation and discontinuous human types -- Beyond the synthesis -- Discontinuous genetic traits: empirical results and paradigm shifts -- From present human populations to those of the past -- 5 Human adaptability present and past -- Introduction -- Early adaptability studies in human biology -- Migration places genotypes against new environmental backgrounds -- Lasker's classification of adaptive levels -- Complexities: norm of reaction and genetic assimilation -- Extension of an adaptability focus in human paleobiology -- Skeletal biology: a bridge from the present to the past -- Skeletal evidence of adaptation -- Skeletal and dental evidence of short-term adaptation -- Dental microwear -- Enamel defects.

Harris lines -- Developmental effects visible from hard tissues -- Bone remodeling with age -- Bone remodeling in response to activity patterns -- Bone remodeling in response to other systemic stresses -- Genetic adaptations in skeletal features -- Temporal dimensions shaping the dynamics of skeletal change -- 6 Primate pattern of diversity and adaptation -- Introduction -- Papionine primates -- Systematics -- The comparative context provided by papionine primates -- Spatial distribution of papionine populations -- Temporal distribution of papionine primates -- Phenotypic features of the papionines -- The adaptive capacities of papionine primates -- Short-term acclimations -- Developmental plasticity -- Genetic adaptations -- Papionine population dynamics, adaptation, and evolution -- Hominoid primates -- Hominoid systematics -- Spatial distribution of chimpanzee populations -- Temporal distribution of chimpanzee populations -- Phenotypic features of chimpanzees -- The adaptive capacities of chimpanzees -- Evidence for short-term adaptation among chimpanzees -- Developmental plasticity in chimpanzees -- Genetic adaptations -- The implications of primate patterns of adaptation -- 7 Hominid phylogeny: morphological and molecular measures of diversity -- Introduction -- How many hominid taxa existed? -- Genetic similarity of humans and chimpanzees -- Are molecules and morphologies in conflict? -- Some molecular perspectives on hominid diversity -- A papionine perspective on hominid paleobiology -- 8 Plio-Pleistocene hominids: the paleobiology of fragmented populations -- Introduction -- Hominid antecedents: the Eurafrican hominoid fossil record -- Plio-Pleistocene hominids -- Systematics -- Distribution in time and space -- Lothagam and Tabarin, Kenya (5.0 to 4.0 Ma) -- Kanapoi, Kenya (4.2 to 3.9 Ma) -- Middle Awash, Ethiopia (4.5 to 2.5 Ma).

Koobi Fora and Nachukui Formations, Kenya (4.0 to 1.4 Ma) -- Laetoli, Tanzania (3.7 to 3.2 Ma) -- Hadar, Ethiopia (3.6 to 3.2 Ma) -- Shungura and Usno Formations, Omo Group, Ethiopia (3.3 to 1.4 Ma) -- Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania (1.9 to 1.0 Ma) -- Transvaal sites, South Africa (3.0 to 1.0 Ma) -- Phenotypic features of Plio-Pleistocene hominids -- Limitations of the evidence -- Body size -- Posture and locomotion -- Limb proportions -- Craniofacial features -- The adaptive capacities of Plio-Pleistocene hominids -- Short-term adaptations -- Developmental plasticity -- Genetic adaptations -- External body covering: skin and hair -- Chromosomes -- Blood group polymorphisms -- Evolutionary patterns and adaptive capacities of Plio-Pleistocene hominids -- 9 Character state velocity in the emergence of more advanced hominids -- Introduction -- Distribution in time and space -- Systematics -- Phenotypic features -- Adaptive levels in relation to evolutionary interpretations -- Developmental perspectives on postcranial evolution -- Brain expansion: compounding the hominid heritage -- Compounding functions in hominid evolution -- Rates of change: an alternative approach -- Brains and behavior: acclimative potentials enhanced by evolution -- 10 The paleobiology of widely dispersed hominids -- Introduction -- Systematics -- Temporal and spatial distribution -- Out of Africa: a population expansion -- Phenotypic patterns -- Adaptive capacities of Middle Pleistocene hominids -- Short-term behavioral and cultural acclimations -- Developmental plasticity -- Environmental influences on bone remodeling -- Adolescent growth spurt -- Genetic adaptations -- Climate and body form -- Skin color -- Prospects for further paleobiological study -- 11 Paleobiological perspectives on modern human origins -- Introduction -- Systematics -- Distribution in time and space.

Phenotypic features -- Adaptive capacities -- Acclimation -- Developmental -- The role of genetic adaptations in modern human origins -- Genetic drift -- Hybridization vs. mutation -- Molecular and morphological perspectives on modern human origins -- Implications of molecular evidence for human paleobiology -- 12 A future for the past -- Limitations of the evidence -- Alternatives to phylogeny -- Perspectives from molecular genetics -- Genetic distance data -- Gene differences -- Changing definitions of taxonomic categories -- Species concepts and human paleobiology -- Lineages and character states -- The temporal contexts of hominid fossils -- Paleobiology's 'two cultures' problem -- Bibliography -- Index.