Bücher der Reihe Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology

By studying dental and skeletal remains, much can be learnt about how humans lived and grew in the past. This interdisciplinary volume, first published in 1999, places methodological issues of growth and development within a strong theoretical framework. It will be essential reading for biological and physical anthropologists.

Colobine monkeys are a frequently overlooked group of primates, yet they exhibit extraordinary behavioural and ecological diversity and are highly threatened. Bringing together international experts, this book summarizes current knowledge, appealing to researchers and graduate students in primatology, biological anthropology and conservation.

This book is about doing research rather than about results. It discusses obstacles encountered and strategies for success in fieldwork and survey research in biological anthropology. Such accounts can supplement what one learns from teachers and fellow students.

This volume provides a thought-provoking perspective on the empirical and analytic study of body form and composition. The techniques used for measuring body components such as fat, water, lean tissue, bone mass and bone density are evaluated against potential 'gold standards'.

Despite being our closest evolutionary relatives most non human primate species now face an uncertain future. Primates Face to Face examines the diverse and fascinating range of relationships between humans and other primates, and how this plays a critical role in their conservation.

The transition from an active hunter-gatherer lifestyle to that of a 'modern' urbanzsed lifestyle brings with it many consequences for health and fitness. In this volume, this transition is examined in circumpolar populations, where change has been rapid and extensive in the last thirty years.

Anthropometry is the measurement of human morphology, and can be used in a variety of contexts including paediatrics, orthopaedics, nutrition, physiology and anthropology. The book describes many of the ways in which anthropometry is used and discusses problems associated with such measurements.

This book provides an overview of the concepts and methods needed to understand the genetic basis of biological traits, including disease, in humans. It will appeal to many biologists and biological anthropologists interested in this field, as well as to epidemiologists, biomedical scientists, human geneticists and molecular biologists.

Seasonal variability in food abundance affects what primates eat, how they search for food, how and when they are active, and as a consequence, their body size, social life and reproductive timing. This book examines how seasonality might have also affected human evolution particularly in the transition to the savannah.

Most animals are capable of altering their biology or behaviour to respond plastically to changes in their environment. Humans are perhaps the most plastic of all species, and this book examines how human variability is affected by such factors as starvation, disease, child growth and migration.

Somatotyping is a method of description and assessment of the body on three shape and composition scales: endomorphy (relative fatness), mesomorphy (relative musculoskeletal robustness), and ectomorphy (relative linearity). This book presents a comprehensive history of somatotyping.

Primate Dentition is a comprehensive reference work on the teeth of extant primates that will serve as a benchmark for researchers in primatology, physical anthropology, comparative anatomy and vertebrate paleontology.

The assembled chapters in this book explore approaches that allow a biocultural identity to be discovered. They also explore approaches that allow the detection of human lifestyle and living conditions, and the meaning of biological information from human remains provides for the understanding of a cultural setting.

This book presents an overview of how and why human populations vary so markedly in their skin colour. The biological aspects of the pigment cell and its production of melanin are reviewed and the functions of melanin are considered. The social and biological interface of skin colour in society is also discussed.

Many aspects of human activity involve energy transfer of some type. This book considers various ways in which measurements of energy intake, expenditure and balance have been used to study human populations. It will be useful to teachers and students of human biology, anthropology and nutrition.

The unique contribution made by biological anthropology to human welfare lies in the fundamental understanding it can provide to the dynamic interrelationships between physical and social factors. By understanding these patterns, this book helps us interpret the significance of variation in such measures of human well-being in terms of the incidence of disease and mortality rate.

Through a historical perspective on the long-studied Arashiyama population of Japanese macaques, this book reviews the range of current primatological research topics, including life history, sexual, social and cultural behaviour and ecology. It highlights the historic value of the Arashiyama group and illustrates its continuing importance with significant new research.

Neanderthals and Modern Humans develops the theme of the close relationship between climate change, ecological change and biogeographical patterns in humans during the Pleistocene. In particular, it challenges the view that Modern Human 'superiority' caused the extinction of the Neanderthals between 40 and 30 thousand years ago. Clive Finlayson shows that to understand human evolution, the spread of humankind across the world and the extinction of archaic populations, we must move away from a purely theoretical evolutionary ecology base and realise the importance of wider biogeographic patterns including the role of tropical and temperate refugia. His proposal is that Neanderthals became extinct because their world changed faster than they could cope with, and that their relationship with the arriving Modern Humans, where they met, was subtle.

This volume is a review of methods used in human growth research. Aimed at junior and senior researchers in human biology, anthropology, epidemiology and paediatrics, it provides a minimum of the mathematics behind the methods, and focuses on concepts, possibilities, limitations and applications.

This volume is a review of methods used in human growth research. Aimed at junior and senior researchers in human biology, anthropology, epidemiology and paediatrics, it provides a minimum of the mathematics behind the methods, and focuses on concepts, possibilities, limitations and applications.

The follow-up companion to The Anthropology of Modern Human Teeth (Cambridge, 1997), this volume focuses on applied dental research. It starts with a cutting-edge section on genetics, and continues with a series of case studies demonstrating the utility of morphological analysis in fossil hominin and more recent populations (and individuals).

Biomedical approaches increasingly work with human variation and this volume focuses on Africa, the most genetically diverse continent, and the birthplace of modern humans. It considers population structure and the genetic basis of common infectious and non-communicable diseases in historic and modern contexts, to shed light on human biology.

This volume considers evidence concerning prehistoric migration, and colonial, regional and global processes in the production of health change in the Asia-Pacific region. This cohesive volume will be of interest to graduates and researchers specializing in public/global health and biocultural anthropology.

Reflecting the enormous advances made in the field over the past twenty years, Larsen discusses newly emerging areas in bioarchaeology. Jargon free, richly illustrated, and with numerous case studies and references, this textbook will be a valuable source to undergraduates, graduates, and instructors interested in the fundamentals of bioarchaeology.

Uniting contributions from international experts, this first ever volume on the Cheirogaleidae family reviews their behaviour, physiology, ecology, genetics and biogeography in one comprehensive volume. Featuring previously unpublished research, this unique book will encourage further exploration of the dwarf and mouse lemurs of Madagascar.

Timely analysis of medical and evolutionary data to address the role body fat has played in human biology, including in the current obesity epidemic. Obesity researchers from human biologists and anthropologists to health professionals will benefit from this comprehensive evolutionary approach to examining human body composition.

Explores the most recent findings in human reproductive ecology organised around four key themes: the impact of the environment on reproduction, the role of physical activity and energetics in regulating reproduction, sexual maturation and ovulation assessment and demographic, health and family planning issues.

Consanguinity in Context will appeal to a wide readership, from clinicians and geneticists to anthropologists and social scientists. Written in an approachable manner, with excellent illustrations and relevant background information, this book is the essential guide to the controversial medical and social issue of intra-familial marriage.

Blurton Jones interweaves data from ecology, demography and evolutionary ecology to present a comprehensive analysis of the Hadza tribe. Discussion centres on expansion of the adaptationist perspective beyond topics customarily studied in human behavioural ecology, to interpret a wider range of anthropological concepts.

Skeletonized human remains are often the only biological evidence for interpreting violent interactions in the past (by bioarchaeologists) and the present (by forensic anthropologists). Experts in bone analysis reveal how bone trauma is reconstructed. Case studies highlight methods for reading the bones and interpreting the violent encounters that took place.