African Paleoecology and Human Evolution

Description

Humans evolved in the dynamic landscapes of Africa under conditions of pronounced climatic, geological and environmental change during the past 7 million years. This book brings together detailed records of the paleontological and archaeological sites in Africa that provide the basic evidence for understanding the environments in which we evolved. Chapters cover specific sites, with comprehensive accounts of their geology, paleontology, paleobotany, and their ecological significance for our evolution. Other chapters provide important regional syntheses of past ecological conditions. This book is unique in merging a broad geographic scope (all of Africa) and deep time framework (the past 7 million years) in discussing the geological context and paleontological records of our evolution and that of organisms that evolved alongside our ancestors. It will offer important insights to anyone interested in human evolution, including researchers and graduate students in paleontology, archaeology, anthropology and geology.

Sally C. Reynolds is Principal Academic in Hominin Palaeoecology and Head of the Institute for Studies of Landscape and Human Evolution at Bournemouth University, UK. She has over 20 years of research experience in the study of African mammalian fauna, past environments and landscapes. She previously co-edited African Genesis: Perspectives on hominin evolution (Cambridge University Press, 2012). Rene Bobe is Head Paleontologist with the Paleo-Primate Project at Gorongosa National Park, Sofala, Mozambique, and a Research Affiliate at the Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford, UK. He has been studying early hominin paleoecology in eastern Africa for the past 30 years, with fieldwork in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Mozambique. His research focuses on fossil mammals that provide long-term records of ecological change.