David R. Begun 
A Companion to Paleoanthropology 

A Companion to Paleoanthropology presents a compendium of readings from leading scholars in the field that define our current knowledge of the major discoveries and developments in human origins and human evolution, tracing the fossil record from primate and hominid origins to the dispersal of modern humans across the globe.

* Represents an accessible state-of-the-art summary of the entire field of paleoanthropology, with an overview of hominid taxonomy

* Features articles on the key discoveries in ape and human evolution, in cranial, postcranial and brain evolution, growth and development

* Surveys the breadth of the paleontological record from primate origins to modern humans

* Highlights the unique methods and techniques of paleoanthropology, including dating and ecological methods, and use of living primate date to reconstruct behavior in fossil apes and humans

Table of Content

List of Illustrations viii

List of Tables xvi

Notes on Contributors xviii

Acknowledgments xxviii

1 The Past, Present and Future of Paleoanthropology 1

David R. Begun

2 History 17

Matthew R. Goodrum

Part I Background to Paleoanthropology 35

Section 1 Method and Theory 35

3 Human Systematics 37

David S. Strait

4 Experimental Approaches to Musculoskeletal Function in
Primates 55

Matthew J. Ravosa, Kimberly A. Congdon, and Rachel A.
Menegaz

5 Multivariate Quantitative Methods in Paleoanthropology
75

Michael A. Schillaci and Philipp Gunz

6 Growth, Development, and Life History in Hominin Evolution
97

Jay Kelley and Debra Bolter

Section 2 Anatomical Regions 118

7 Cranial Evolution in the Apes 119

Brian T. Shea

8 Hominid Brain Evolution 136

P. Thomas Schoenemann

9 Hominin Diets 165

Peter S. Ungar and Matt Sponheimer

10 Origin and Evolution of Human Postcranial Anatomy 183

Brian G. Richmond and Kevin G. Hatala

Section 3 Environment and Behavior 203

11 Multiproxy Paleoecology: Reconstructing Evolutionary Context
in Paleoanthropology 204

Kaye E. Reed

12 Reconstructing Social Behavior from Fossil Evidence 226

J. Michael Plavcan

13 Geochronology 244

Alan L. Deino

14 The Origins and Evolution of Technology 265

Kathy Schick and Nicholas Toth

Section 4 Genetics and Race 290

15 Genetic Perspectives on Ape and Human Evolution 291

Todd R. Disotell

16 The Genetics of Morphology 306

Richard J. Sherwood and Dana L. Duren

17 Paleoanthropology and Race 321

Milford H. Wolpoff and Rachel Caspari

Part II The Fossil Record 339

Section 5 Paleogene Primates 339

18 Primate Origins 341

Mary T. Silcox

19 Anthropoid Origins 358

K. Christopher Beard

20 Catarrhine Origins 376

Terry Harrison

Section 6 Neogene/Quaternary Hominoids 397

21 The Miocene Hominoid Radiations 398

David R. Begun

22 Before Australopithecus : The Earliest Hominins 417

Scott W. Simpson

23 Australopithecus and Kenyanthropus 434

Ashley S. Hammond and Carol V. Ward

24 Paranthropus 457

Bernard Wood and Kes Schroer

Section 7 The Age of Homo 479

25 Earliest Homo 480

Friedemann Schrenk

26 Homo erectus and Related Taxa 497

Susan C. Antón

27 The Middle Pleistocene Record: On the Ancestry of
Neandertals, Modern Humans and Others … 517

Jean-Jacques Hublin

28 Neanderthals 538

Katerina Harvati-Papatheodorou

29 Modern Human Origins 557

Mark Collard and Mana Dembo

30 Homo floresiensis 582

William L. Jungers

Index 599

About the author

David Begun is Professor in the Department of Anthropology,
University of Toronto. A paleoanthropologist with 30 years of
experience in the analysis of fossil apes, Begun’s current
research focuses on the relationships between European and African
fossil and living great apes and the origin of the African apes and
humans. He has published numerous articles and book chapters
on that topic, and on the description and analysis of fossils from
Europe, Asia, and Africa.