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Children of the ice age : how a global catastrophe allowed humans to evolve / by Stanley, Steven M.(CARDINAL)330887;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 257-267) and index.
Subjects: Human evolution.; Glacial epoch.; Australopithecines.;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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From Lucy to language / by Johanson, Donald C.(CARDINAL)324225; Edgar, Blake.(CARDINAL)333295;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-285) and index.Pt. I: Central issues of paleoanthropology. What is a human? -- Evidence -- Ancestors -- Lineages -- Migration -- Diversity -- Anatomy -- Society -- Bipedalism -- Tool -- Customs -- Culture -- Imponderables -- pt. 2: Encountering the evidence. Pre-Australopithecines -- Australopithecines -- Homo -- Paleolithic technology -- Appendix 1: Type specimens for hominid species -- Appendix 2: Hominid fossil and archeological sites.In 1974 in a remote region of Ethiopia, Donald Johanson, then one of America's most promising young paleoanthropologists, discovered "Lucy", the oldest, best preserved skeleton of any erect-walking human ever found. This discovery prompted a complete reevaluation of previous evidence for human origins. In the years since this dramatic discovery Johanson has continued to scour east Africa's Great Rift Valley for the earliest evidence of human origins. In 1975 this team unearthed the "First Family", an unparalleled fossil assemblage of 13 individuals dating back to 3.2 million years ago and in 1986 at the Rift's most famous location, Olduvai Gorge, this same team discovered a 1.8 million-year-old partial adult skeleton that necessitated a reassessment of the earliest members of our own genus Homo. Johanson's fieldwork continues unabated and recently more fossil members of Lucy's family have been found, including the 1992 discovery of the oldest, most complete skull of her species, with future research now planned for 1996 in the virtually unexplored regions of the most northern extension of the Rift Valley in Eritrea. From Lucy to language is a summing up of this remarkable career and a stunning documentary of human life through time on Earth. It is a combination of the vital experience of field work and the intellectual rigor of primary research. It is the fusion of two great writing talents: Johanson and Blake Edgar, an accomplished science writer, editor of the California Academy of Sciences' Pacific Discovery, and co-author of Johanson's last book, Ancestors. From Lucy to language is one of the greatest stories ever told, bracketing the timeline between bipedalism and human language. Part I addresses the central issues facing anyone seeking to decipher the mystery of human origins. In this section the authors provide answers to the basics -- "What are our closest living relatives?"--Tackle the controversial -- "What is race?"--and contemplate the imponderables -- "Why did consciousness evolve?" From Lucy to language is an encounter with the evidence. Early human fossils are hunted, discovered, identified, excavated, collected, preserved, labeled, cleaned, reconstructed, drawn, fondled, photographed, cast, compared, measured, revered, pondered, published, and argued over endlessly. Fossils like Lucy have become a talisman of sorts, promising to reveal the deepest secrets of our existence. In Part II the authors profile over fifty of the most significant early human fossils ever found. Each specimen is displayed in color and at actual size, most of them in multiple views. With them the authors present the cultural accoutrements associated with the fossils: stone tools which evidence increasing sophistication over time, the earliest stone, clay, and ivory art objects, and the culminating achievement of the dawn of human consciousness -- the magnificent rock and cave paintings of Europe, Africa, Australia, and the Americas. In the end From Lucy to language is a reminder and a challenge. Like no species before us, we now seem poised to control vast parts of the planet and its life. We possess the power to influence, if not govern, evolution. For that reason, we must not forget our link to the natural world and our debt to natural selection. We need to "think deep", to add a dose of geologic time and evolutionary history to our perspective of who we are, where we came from, and where we are headed. This is the most poignant lesson this book has to offer.
Subjects: Australopithecines.; Fossil hominids.; Human evolution.; Lucy (Prehistoric hominid);
Available copies: 6 / Total copies: 7
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From Lucy to language / by Johanson, Donald C.(CARDINAL)324225; Edgar, Blake.(CARDINAL)333295;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-268) and index.Central issues of paleoanthropology -- What is a human? -- Evidence -- Ancestors -- Lineages -- Migration -- Diversity -- Anatomy -- Society -- Bipedalism -- Customs -- Culture -- Imponderables -- Encountering the evidence -- Australopithecines -- Homo -- Paleolithic technology.In 1974 in a remote region of Ethiopia, Donald Johanson, then one of America's most promising young paleoanthropologists, discovered "Lucy", the oldest, best preserved skeleton of any erect-walking human ever found. This discovery prompted a complete reevaluation of previous evidence for human origins. From Lucy to Language is an encounter with the evidence. Early human fossils are hunted, discovered, identified, excavated, collected, preserved, labeled, cleaned, reconstructed, drawn, fondled, photographed, cast, compared, measured, revered, pondered, published, and argued over endlessly. Fossils like Lucy have become a talisman of sorts, promising to reveal the deepest secrets of our existence. In Part II the authors profile over fifty of the most significant early human fossils ever found. Each specimen is displayed in color and at actual size, most of them in multiple views. With them the authors present the cultural accoutrements associated with the fossils: stone tools which evidence increasing sophistication over time, the earliest stone, clay, and ivory art objects, and the culminating achievement of the dawn of human consciousness - the magnificent rock and cave paintings of Europe, Africa, Australia, and the Americas.
Subjects: Human evolution.; Fossil hominids.; Australopithecines.; Lucy (Prehistoric hominid);
Available copies: 4 / Total copies: 4
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Fossil chronicles : how two controversial discoveries changed our view of human evolution / by Falk, Dean.(CARDINAL)523319;
Subjects: Fossil hominids.; Flores man.; Australopithecines.; Human remains (Archaeology); Human evolution; Paleoanthropology.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The fossil chronicles : how two controversial discoveries changed our view of human evolution / by Falk, Dean.(CARDINAL)523319;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-251) and index.Of paleopolitics and missing links -- Taung : a fossil to rival Piltdown -- Taung's checkered past -- Sulcal skirmishes -- Once upon a hobbit -- Flo's little brain -- Sick hobbits, quarrelsome scientists -- Whence Homo floresiensis? -- Bones to pick.
Subjects: Australopithecines.; Flores man.; Fossil hominids.; Human evolution; Human remains (Archaeology); Paleoanthropology.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Lucy's legacy / by Johanson, Donald C.(CARDINAL)324225; Wong, Kate.(CARDINAL)493310;
The woman who shook up man's family tree -- Unfinished business -- Rocky beginnings -- Hitting pay dirt -- Several successful field seasons -- Getting to know lucy better -- Lucy's world -- Growing up Australopithecine -- The dawn of humankind -- The first Australopithecines -- Ecce homo -- Leaving the motherland -- The Flores hobbits -- The neandertals -- The rise of homo sapiens -- Epilogue: Unsolved mysteries.
Subjects: Lucy (Prehistoric hominid); Australopithecus afarensis.; Human beings;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Lucy's legacy : the quest for human origins / by Johanson, Donald C.(CARDINAL)324225; Wong, Kate.(CARDINAL)493310;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-292) and index.The woman who shook up man's family tree -- Unfinished business -- Rocky beginnings -- Hitting pay dirt -- Several successful field seasons -- Getting to know lucy better -- Lucy's world -- Growing up Australopithecine -- The dawn of humankind -- The first Australopithecines -- Ecce homo -- Leaving the motherland -- The Flores hobbits -- The neandertals -- The rise of homo sapiens -- Epilogue: Unsolved mysteries.In this sequel to the "New York Times" bestseller "Lucy: The Beginnings of Mankind," celebrated paleoanthropologist Johanson, along with Wong, explore the extraordinary discoveries since Lucy was unearthed more than three decades ago.
Subjects: Australopithecus afarensis.; Human beings; Lucy (Prehistoric hominid);
Available copies: 9 / Total copies: 10
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Human evolution : our brains and behavior / by Dunbar, R. I. M.(Robin Ian MacDonald),1947-author.(CARDINAL)738348;
Includes bibliographical references and index."This book covers the psychological aspects of human evolution with a table of contents ranging from prehistoric times to modern days. Dunbar focuses on an aspect of evolution that has typically been overshadowed by the archaeological record: the biological, neurological, and genetic changes that occurred with each "transition" in the evolutionary narrative"--"The story of human evolution has fascinated us like no other: we seem to have an insatiable curiosity about who we are and where we have come from. Conventionally, this story has always been told in terms of the "bones and stones" that make up the archaeological record--for the very good reason that this is often all we have to go on with any certainty. For the last half-century, archaeologists have been loath to stray far from the "hard evidence" lest they be accused of being speculative. Yet the stones and the bones skirt around what is perhaps the real, yet least well known, story of human evolution, namely the social and cognitive changes that gave rise to modern humans. Dunbar has a way of appealing to the human interests of every reader, as subjects of mating, friendship, and community are featured heavily. With a time span from prehistoric times to modern days, Robin Dunbar focuses on an aspect of evolution that has typically been overshadowed by the archaeological record: the biological, neurological, and genetic changes that occurred with each "transition" in the evolutionary narrative. The author's interdisciplinary nature--with his background as an anthropologist, zoologist, and accomplished psychologist--brings the reader into all aspects of the evolutionary process, as he explains how humans derived from the genetic code of the great apes, the schema and lineage of our ancestors, and the environmental factors that affected our ability to evolve. As definitive as the "stones and bones" are for the archaeological evidence, Dunbar explores far more complex psychological questions: What is it to be human (as opposed to being an ape)? And how did we come to be that way?"--Jacket.What we have to explain -- The bases of primate sociality -- The essential framework -- The first transition: the australopithecines -- The second transition: early Homo -- The third transition: archaic humans -- The fourth transition: modern humans -- How kinship, language and culture came to be -- The fifth transition: the Neolithic and beyond.
Subjects: Evolutionary psychology.;
Available copies: 4 / Total copies: 4
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A really short history of nearly everything / by Bryson, Bill,author.(CARDINAL)274319;
Lost in the cosmos. How do they know that? : finding out about our planet ; Cooking up a universe : recipe for an explosion ; The Big Bang : what came next ; Hi! glad you could make it! : how did you get here? ; Listening to the Big Bang : cosmic radiation and you ; To the edge of the universe : how far is it? ; Journey into space : our vast solar system ; Looking for Pluto : the new dwarf planet ; Journey's end : the Voyager expeditions ; Who's out there? : advanced life elsewhere in the cosmos? ; The supernova searcher : the amazing Reverend Bob Evans -- The size of the Earth. Back on earth : Newton and gravity ; Measuring the earth : finding its circumference ; Earth's bulge: our planet is not a sphere ; How far is round? : two ill-fated measuring expeditions ; Tracking Venus : following the Venus transit ; Weighing the earth : gravity and Shiehallion ; Featherweight measures ; Cavendish's calculations ; Finding earth's age : the new science of geology ; The stone-breakers : the Geological Society ; Slow and steady does it : Lyell and tectonic plates ; Finding fossils : mapping Britain's rock layers ; Dating the rocks : the great eras of geological time ; Tooth & claw : digging up strange bones ; Dinosaur hunters : 'terrible lizards' ; It's bone time : bones and Earth's age ; The mighty atom : Dalton weighs atoms ; A matter of chemistry : adding to the elements ; The periodic table : Mendeleyev instills some order ; Growing elements : Marie Curie and deadly radiation -- A new age dawns. Einstein - the genius : the special theory of relativity ; Spacetime : time has a shape ; The big picture : the Hubble space telescope ; 'Bad' science : lead and CFCs ; A meteoric age : measuring meteorites -- Dangerous planet. Traveling trilobites : Pangaea and the fossil record ; Crust crunching : the discovery of tectonic plates ; All adrift : where does all the sediment go? ; The fire below : the earth beneath our feet ; Boom! : the eruption of Mount St Helens ; Yellowstone Park : a volcano in waiting ; Big quakes : measuring earthquakes ; Impact from space : meteors and the KT extinction ; Asteroid hit : rocky objects heading for us? -- Life itself. Our tiny patch : a comfortable place to be ; Earth's blanket : the atmosphere that protects us ; Wild and windy : Earth's weather ; Hot-water bottle : the effect of the oceans ; Awash with water : a watery planet ; Down in the deep : living on the ocean floor ; Protein soup : oceans, where life started ; Battling bacteria : the coming of microbes ; Your mini world : the bacteria that feed on us ; Making you ill : infectious organisms ; Citizen cells : you and your cells ; How long can you stay? : adapt or die ; A runaway success : trilobites and other fossils ; Time to get started : earth's long pre-human history ; Out of the sea : when creatures took to the land ; Where did we come from? : from reptiles to mammals ; Comings and goings : the great extinctions ; Labelling life : the classification of plants and animals ; Can't count? : Earth's unknown creatures ; Journey to the future : Darwin On the Origin of Species ; The quiet monk : Mendel and the study of genes ; One big happy family : inheritance and chromosomes ; Chain of life : Crick and Watson and DNA -- The road to us. Hot and cold : ice sheets and climate ; Chilly times : living in an ice age ; Skull and bones : discovering early human remains ; Lucy : the most famous australopithecine ; From there to here : the rise of Homo sapiens ; Tool-makers : inventors of the first technology ; Humans take over : extermination and extinction ; What now? : a polluted planet ; Goodbye : our planet and us."Bill Bryson's storytelling skill makes the "How?" and, just as importantly, the "Who?" of scientific discovery entertaining and accessible for all ages. In this exciting new edition of his worldwide bestseller A Short History of Nearly Everything, which has been specially abridged and adapted for younger readers, Bill Bryson explores the mysteries of time and space and how, against all odds, life came to be on the wondrous planet we call home. Along the way, we meet several bizarre scientists and get acquainted with crackpot theories that held sway for far too long, as well as several accidental discoveries that changed the way science developed."--1190LLexile
Subjects: Informational works.; Illustrated works.; Science; Discoveries in science; Discoveries in science;
Available copies: 21 / Total copies: 27
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National Geographic prehistoric mammals / by Turner, Alan,1947-(CARDINAL)330920;
Introduction: What is a mammal? -- Age of mammals: Eocene -- Oligocene -- Miocene -- Pliocene -- Pleistocene -- Other creatures of the Cenozoic era -- Mammal deposits -- Reconstruction: Reconstruction from fossils -- Behavior: How we know -- What they ate -- Social behavior -- Classification: Mammal groupings -- Mammals: Prehistoric profiles -- Reptiles into mammals: Mammal-like reptiles -- Cynodonts-"near-mammals" -- Primitive mammals: Mesozoic mammals -- Marsupials: Kangaroos -- Australian marsupials -- Wombats -- South American marsupials -- Primitive placentals: Eomaia -- Aardvarks -- Desmostylians: Sea cows and relatives -- Proboscids: Deinotheres -- Gomphotheres -- True mastodons -- Elephantids --Mammoths -- Embrithopods: Arsinoitheres -- Edentates: Sloths -- Glyptodonts -- Rodents -- Primates: Early primates -- Monkeys -- Apes -- Australopithecines -- Paranthropus -- Homo erectus -- Homo antecessor -- Neandertals -- Homo sapiens -- Insectivores -- Bats -- Creodonts -- Carnivores: Bear-dogs -- Dogs -- Bears -- Seals and relatives -- Mustelids -- Nimravids -- Civets -- Cats -- Xenosmilus -- Smilodon -- Hyenas -- Early ungulates -- Dinocerates -- Whales: Primitive whales -- Whales -- Cloven-hoofed mammals: Entelodonts -- Hippopotamids -- Pigs -- Camels and relatives -- Deer and relatives -- Deer -- Antelope -- Cattle and bison -- Bison -- South American ungulates: Notoungulates -- Litopterns -- Astrapotheres -- Perissodactyls: Palaeotheres -- Rhinoceroses -- Indricotheres -- Chalicotheres -- Early horses -- Later horses -- Brontotheres -- Reference: Museums/glossary -- Index.Provides young readers with profiles, details, and reconstructions of over 100 prehistoric animals. Written by one of the world's foremost paleontologists, Prehistoric Mammals gives children a rare glimpse at a world gone by in a stunningly illustrated, incredibly comprehensive reference book. Readers take a prehistoric journey through time to visit some of the most amazing creatures that ever walked the Earth. From the well-known saber-toothed cat and woolly mammoth to the obscure but equally amazing hornless rhino and giant ground sloth, a total of 100 remarkable mammals are showcased in full-color detail. Each absorbing profile features a carefully detailed reconstruction of the species, fun-to-read text that explains how the mammal lived and behaved, specifics about its habitat, where fossils have been found, and more. A fact file provides important details at a glance, including the mammal's size and where it lived, and a time line indicates the era in which it existed. Here's a perfect way to spark kids' love of learning.Accelerated Reader AR
Subjects: Mammals, Fossil.;
Available copies: 6 / Total copies: 9
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