This Very Short Introduction traces the history of paleoanthropology from its beginnings in the eighteenth century to the very latest fossil finds. Bernard Wood shows how evidence from both fossils and the Human Genome Project can explain where modern-day humans fit into the Tree of Life. - ;This Very Short Introduction traces the history of paleoanthropology from its beginnings in the eighteenth century to the latest fossil finds. Although concentrating on the fossil evidence for human evolution, it also covers the latest genetic evidence about regional variations in the modern human genome that relate to our evolutionary history. Bernard Wood draws on over thirty years of experience to provide an insider's view of the field and some of the personalities in it, and. demonstrates that our understanding of human evolution is critically dependent on advances in related sciences such as paleoclimatology, geochronology, systematics, genetics, and developmental biology. -.