In the Footsteps of Eve: The Mystery of Human Origins - Softcover

Berger, Lee; Barber, Brett Hilton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0792277287 ISBN 13: 9780792277286

Publisher: National Geographic Books, 2001

Synopsis

In the Footsteps of Eve, with its carefully reasoned argument, challenges the conventional wisdom of half a century. It suggests that the true cradle of our species lies the fossil-rich limestone of South Africa rather than East African sites where Louis and Mary Leakey revolutionised modern paleoanthropology and where Don Johanson made the discovery of the ancient skeleton immortalised as Lucy. Dr.Lee Berger, a leader of the new generation of scientists whose recent discoveries have reshaped our ideas about human genesis, is an expert and engaging guide who offers a detailed yet always clear and readable overview of the quest for our origins, from Darwin to the present day. He makes a persuasive case for redrawing our ancient family tree. The reader joins him in deep caves where miner's head-lamp illuminate the long-buried bones that are the clues in the detective story that spanes more than three million years, and laboratories where patient researchers spend years assembling tiny shardes into the scull of the creature who walked into the Earth more than 5,000 generations ago. Readers can sit in on conferences where brilliant scientists engage in intellectual sparing matches as tense as any courtroom drama. And we share the electric thrill when he runs his fingertips across the fossilized footprint of young human female who walked along a South African beach more than 100,000 years ago- and suddenly realizes that this extraordinary find may alter our current perceptions of human history. In Footsteps of Eve introduces readers both to an outstanding, wonderfully articulate new voice in paleoanthropology and to a bold new theory of our earliest ancestry. Combining hard science and high drama, it is a book as it is important.

About this title

Review

Where did we come from? Though it's been fairly well settled that our species was born in Africa, the debate still rages over our hometown. In the Footsteps of Eve: The Mystery of Human Origins is a beautifully written argument in favour of the southern end of the continent rather than the eastern locations more popular among palaeanthropologists. Author Lee R. Berger's discovery and analysis of 117,000-year-old fossilised footprints of modern humans in South Africa, as well as a wealth of other fossils and artefacts, point to a speciation event in the unique ecosystem found along the Cape. He tells his story lyrically, and his rich descriptions of his finds and reconstructions of past events conjure strong imagery in the reader's mind; unfortunately, the book must rely on these descriptions as illustrations are sparse. Using clear, careful language, Berger explains the differing theories of recent human evolution, how his differs from the Leakey/Johansen model cradling H. sapiens near the Horn of Africa, and where the argument stands as of his writing in early 2000. Capturing the excitement of fossil hunting, the frustration of challenging established authority, and the sheer delight of scientific pursuit, In the Footsteps of Eve finds the mystery of life in ancient dust and rocks. --Rob Lightner

Review

"Provocative and enthralling." - Library Journal"

About this edition

• Publisher: National Geographic Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0792277287
• ISBN 13: 9780792277286
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336