The Evolution of Human Life History (School of American Research Advanced Seminar Series) - Softcover

Hawkes, Kristen; Barrickman, Nancy; Bastian, Meredith L.; Jones, Nicholas Blurton; Bogin, Barry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1930618727 ISBN 13: 9781930618725

Publisher: School of American Research Press,U.S., 2006

Synopsis

Human beings may share 98 percent of their genetic makeup with their nonhuman primate cousins, but they have distinctive life histories. When and why did these uniquely human patterns evolve? To answer that question, this volume brings together specialists in hunter-gatherer behavioral ecology and demography, human growth, development, and nutrition, paleodemography, human paleontology, primatology, and the genomics of aging. The contributors identify and explain the peculiar features of human life histories, such as the rate and timing of processes that directly influence survival and reproduction. Drawing on new evidence from paleoanthropology, they question existing arguments that link humans extended childhood dependency and long post-reproductive lives to brain development, learning, and distinctively human social structures. The volume reviews alternative explanations for the distinctiveness of human life history and incorporates multiple lines of evidence in order to test them.

About this title

About the Author

Kristen Hawkes,/strong>Distinguished Professor, Anthropology Department, University of Utah, USA

Nancy Barrickman, Assistant Professor, who received her PhD from Duke University, is a biological anthropologist with interests in the evolution life history, complex behavior, and encephalization.

Edition details

• Publisher: School of American Research Press,U.S.
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1930618727
• ISBN 13: 9781930618725
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 526