Bücher der Reihe Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology

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.

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.

While most of us live our lives according to the working week, we did not evolve to be bound by industrial schedules, nor did the food we eat. Despite this, we eat the products of industrialization and often suffer as a consequence. This book considers aspects of changing human nutrition from evolutionary and social perspectives. It considers what a 'natural' human diet might be, how it has been shaped across evolutionary time and how we have adapted to changing food availability. The transition from hunter-gatherer and the rise of agriculture through to the industrialisation and globalisation of diet are explored. Far from being adapted to a 'Stone Age' diet, humans can consume a vast range of foodstuffs. However, being able to eat anything does not mean that we should eat everything, and therefore engagement with the evolutionary underpinnings of diet and factors influencing it are key to better public health practice.

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.

Taking a critical perspective to the field, this book challenges how evidence in biological anthropology is discovered, collected and interpreted. It encourages researchers and students in anthropology and related disciplines to de-familiarize themselves from well-known methods and develop novel, multidisciplinary approaches.

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.

The first of its kind collection and analysis of human health data recorded from the skeletal remains of 15,119 individuals at 101 localities across the continent of Europe. The book will interest a wide range of scholars and students across the medical and the social sciences.

Exploring developments in palaeoanthropology since the discovery of Australopithecus africanus in 1924, this book is a valuable companion for students and researchers of human origins. It covers a range of key themes, from the earliest hominin fossils to the origins of bipedalism and the evolution and dispersal of modern humans.

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.

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).

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 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.

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.

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.

Spider monkeys are traditionally very difficult to study in the wild, but there has been an expansion in research being carried out on this genus in the past decade. This book is an assimilation of both published and previously unpublished research on spider monkeys, for academic researchers and graduate students.

Feeding Ecology in Apes and Other Primates explores the relationships between food, behaviour and nutrition in our closest living relatives and ourselves to draw conclusions about how our own ancestors may have evolved.

Bringing together a variety of accomplished dental researchers, this valuable reference source focuses on methodology required for the study of modern dental anthropology. It comprises the most up-to-date scientific methods in use today. Written for graduate students, academic researchers and professionals in social and life sciences and clinicians.

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.

This 2006 book provides in-depth guidelines for designing a field project on stress in humans. It provides pros and cons of various methods and guides the researcher through every aspect of study design from what containers to use to collect samples, to the most appropriate measures and statistical analysis.

Exploring developments in palaeoanthropology since the discovery of Australopithecus africanus in 1924, this book is a valuable companion for students and researchers of human origins. It covers a range of key themes, from the earliest hominin fossils to the origins of bipedalism and the evolution and dispersal of modern humans.

Shaping Primate Evolution describes form in terms of primate biology, and the consequences of form for function and behavior. Covering cellular morphometrics through to the primate evolutionary ecology and written by leading researchers, it will be a must-have volume for primate functional morphologists.

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.

If the earliest human ancestors grew more like apes than like humans today, when, how and why did our modern growth patterns evolve? This book focuses on species within the genus Homo to investigate the evolutionary origins of characteristic human patterns and rates of craniofacial and postcranial growth and development.

The 20 species of macaques show a broad range of social relationships, making them an ideal group for exploring the evolution of primate societies. Written especially for those studying animal behaviour and primatology, this book will also be of interest to those studying human societies and their evolution.

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.

Shaping Primate Evolution describes form in terms of primate biology, and the consequences of form for function and behavior. Covering cellular morphometrics through to the primate evolutionary ecology and written by leading researchers, it will be a must-have volume for primate functional morphologists.

If the earliest human ancestors grew more like apes than like humans today, when, how and why did our modern growth patterns evolve? This book focuses on species within the genus Homo to investigate the evolutionary origins of characteristic human patterns and rates of craniofacial and postcranial growth and development.

This book synthesises the biological consequences of changes environments on the migrants and the genetic impact of immigration on the host populations. Patterns of migration, past and present and genetic, epidemological and demographic consequences are considered, forming a unique synthesis for human biologists in general.

Bioarchaeology of Southeast Asia focuses uniquely on the physical remains of the prehistoric peoples of this region, exploring questions such as possible migration routes, and health in the advent of agriculture. Written for archaeologists and anthropologists, it is a fascinating insight into the bioarchaeology of this important region.

Animal herding (or pastoralism) is a vanishing way of life that has been practised worldwide. This book is a systematic evaluation of the biology and health of pastoralist groups, which will be of broad appeal to scholars in both the biological and social sciences.