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The science of human evolution : getting it right / John H. Langdon

By: Publisher: Switzerland : Springer, [2016]Description: xxi, 220 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 3319415840
  • 9783319415840
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 599.938 23
LOC classification:
  • GN281 .L36 2016
Contents:
Introduction: The Method of Science -- Case Study 1. The Darwinian Paradigm: An Evolving World View -- Case Study 2. Proving Prehistory: William Pengelly and Scientific Excavation -- Case Study 3. Testing Predictions: Eugene Dubois and the Missing Link -- Case Study 4. Self-Correcting Science: The Piltdown Forgery -- Case Study 5. Checking the Time: Geological Dating at Olduvai Gorge -- Case Study 6. Quantifying Evolution: Morris Goodman and Molecular Phylogeny -- Case Study 7. Reinterpreting Ramapithecus: Reconciling Fossils and Molecules -- Case Study 8. Taming the Killer Ape: The Science of Taphonomy -- Case Study 9. Reading the Bones (1): Recognizing Bipedalism -- Case Study 10. Reading the Bones (2): Sizing up the Ancestors -- Case Study 11. The Habilis Workbench: Experimental Archaeology -- Case Study 12. Hunting for Predators: The Scavenging Hypothesis -- Case Study 13. Climate Change in the Pliocene: Environment and Human Origins -- Case Study 14. Free Range Homo: Modernizing the Body at Dmanisi -- Case Study 15. Reading the Bones (3): Tracking Life History at Nariokotome -- Case Study 16, Democratizing Homo naledi: A New Model for Fossil Hominin Studies -- Case Study 17. A Curious Isolation: The Hobbits of Flores -- Case Study 18, Neanderthals in the Mirror: Imagining our Relatives -- Case Study 19, Leaving Africa: Mitochondrial Eve -- Case Study 20. The Neanderthal Problem: Neighbors and Relatives on Mt. Carmel -- Case Study 21. Chasing Smaller Game: The Archaeology of Modernity -- Case Study 22, Strangers in Paradigms: Ancient DNA Reveals Mysterious Populations -- Case Study 23, Is Humanity Sustainable? Tracking the Source of our Ecological Uniqueness -- Case Study 24, The Unknowable Biped: Questions We Cannot Answer -- Case Study 25, Parsimony and the Aquatic Ape -- Case Study 26. What Science Is: A Cultural and Legal Challenge
Summary: This textbook provides a collection of case studies in paleoanthropology demonstrating the method and limitations of science. These cases introduce the reader to various problems and illustrate how they have been addressed historically. The various topics selected represent important corrections in the field, some critical breakthroughs, models of good reasoning and experimental design, and important ideas emerging from normal science

Includes bibliographical references and index

Introduction: The Method of Science -- Case Study 1. The Darwinian Paradigm: An Evolving World View -- Case Study 2. Proving Prehistory: William Pengelly and Scientific Excavation -- Case Study 3. Testing Predictions: Eugene Dubois and the Missing Link -- Case Study 4. Self-Correcting Science: The Piltdown Forgery -- Case Study 5. Checking the Time: Geological Dating at Olduvai Gorge -- Case Study 6. Quantifying Evolution: Morris Goodman and Molecular Phylogeny -- Case Study 7. Reinterpreting Ramapithecus: Reconciling Fossils and Molecules -- Case Study 8. Taming the Killer Ape: The Science of Taphonomy -- Case Study 9. Reading the Bones (1): Recognizing Bipedalism -- Case Study 10. Reading the Bones (2): Sizing up the Ancestors -- Case Study 11. The Habilis Workbench: Experimental Archaeology -- Case Study 12. Hunting for Predators: The Scavenging Hypothesis -- Case Study 13. Climate Change in the Pliocene: Environment and Human Origins -- Case Study 14. Free Range Homo: Modernizing the Body at Dmanisi -- Case Study 15. Reading the Bones (3): Tracking Life History at Nariokotome -- Case Study 16, Democratizing Homo naledi: A New Model for Fossil Hominin Studies -- Case Study 17. A Curious Isolation: The Hobbits of Flores -- Case Study 18, Neanderthals in the Mirror: Imagining our Relatives -- Case Study 19, Leaving Africa: Mitochondrial Eve -- Case Study 20. The Neanderthal Problem: Neighbors and Relatives on Mt. Carmel -- Case Study 21. Chasing Smaller Game: The Archaeology of Modernity -- Case Study 22, Strangers in Paradigms: Ancient DNA Reveals Mysterious Populations -- Case Study 23, Is Humanity Sustainable? Tracking the Source of our Ecological Uniqueness -- Case Study 24, The Unknowable Biped: Questions We Cannot Answer -- Case Study 25, Parsimony and the Aquatic Ape -- Case Study 26. What Science Is: A Cultural and Legal Challenge

This textbook provides a collection of case studies in paleoanthropology demonstrating the method and limitations of science. These cases introduce the reader to various problems and illustrate how they have been addressed historically. The various topics selected represent important corrections in the field, some critical breakthroughs, models of good reasoning and experimental design, and important ideas emerging from normal science

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