Fred H. Smith & James C. Ahern 
The Origins of Modern Humans 
Biology Reconsidered

This update to the award-winning The Origins of Modern
Humans: A World Survey of the Fossil Evidence covers the most
accepted common theories concerning the emergence of modern Homo
sapiens–adding fresh insight from top young scholars on
the key new discoveries of the past 25 years.

The Origins of Modern Humans: Biology Reconsidered allows
field leaders to discuss and assess the assemblage of hominid
fossil material in each region of the world during the Pleistocene
epoch. It features new fossil and molecular evidence, such as the
evolutionary inferences drawn from assessments of modern humans and
large segments of the Neandertal genome. It also addresses the
impact of digital imagery and the more sophisticated morphometrics
that have entered the analytical fray since 1984.

Beginning with a thoughtful introduction by the authors on
modern human origins, the book offers such insightful chapter
contributions as:

* Africa: The Cradle of Modern People

* Crossroads of the Old World: Late Hominin Evolution in Western
Asia

* A River Runs through It: Modern Human Origins in East Asia

* Perspectives on the Origins of Modern Australians

* Modern Human Origins in Central Europe

* The Makers of the Early Upper Paleolithic in Western
Eurasia

* Neandertal Craniofacial Growth and Development and Its
Relevance for Modern Human Origins

* Energetics and the Origin of Modern Humans

* Understanding Human Cranial Variation in Light of Modern Human
Origins

* The Relevance of Archaic Genomes to Modern Human Origins

* The Process of Modern Human Origins: The Evolutionary and
Demographic Changes Giving Rise to Modern Humans

* The Paleobiology of Modern Human Emergence

Elegant and thought provoking, The Origins of Modern Humans:
Biology Reconsidered is an ideal read for students, grad
students, and professionals in human evolution and
paleoanthropology.

Table of Content

Contributors ix

Introduction: Thoughts on Modern Human Origins: From 1984 to 2012
xi

Fred H. Smith and James C. M. Ahern

1 Africa: The Cradle of Modern People 1

Osbjorn M. Pearson

2 Crossroads of the Old World: Late Hominin Evolution in Western
Asia 45

Robert G. Franciscus and Trenton W. Holliday

3 A River Runs through It: Modern Human Origins in East Asia
89

Karen R. Rosenberg and Xinzhi Wu

4 Perspectives on the Origins of Modern Australians 123

Arthur C. Durband and Michael C. Westaway

5 Modern Human Origins in Central Europe 151

James C. M. Ahern, Ivor Jankoviæ, Jean-Luc Voisin, and Fred
H. Smith

6 The Makers of the Early Upper Paleolithic in Western Eurasia
223

Jean-Jacques Hublin

7 Neandertal Craniofacial Growth and Development and Its Relevance
for Modern Human Origins 253

Frank L’Engle Williams

8 Energetics and the Origin of Modern Humans 285

Andrew W. Froehle, Todd R. Yokley, and Steven E.
Churchill

9 Understanding Human Cranial Variation in Light of Modern Human
Origins 321

John H. Relethford

10 The Relevance of Archaic Genomes to Modern Human Origins
339

John Hawks and Zach Throckmorton

11 The Process of Modern Human Origins: The Evolutionary and
Demographic Changes Giving Rise to Modern Humans 355

Rachel Caspari and Milford H. Wolpoff

12 The Paleobiology of Modern Human Emergence 393

Erik Trinkaus

Index 435

The color plate section can be found between pages 242 and
243.

About the author

Fred Smith is Chairman of the Department of Anthropology at
Illinois State University and a past president of the American
Association of Physical Anthropology. A noted authority on
neanderthal and early modern human evolution, Dr. Smith has a 40
year record of thought-leading publications.

Jim Ahern is Associate Professor of Biological
Anthropology at the University of Wyoming. Dr.
Ahern’s research has covered many aspects of human biological
and biocultural evolution, ranging from work on the origin of the
hominin lineage to the peopling of the Americas.