For the one-term course in human evolution, paleoanthropology, or fossil hominins taught at the junior/senior level in departments of anthropology or biology.
This new edition provides a comprehensive overview to the field of paleoanthropology the study of human evolution by analyzing fossil remains. It includes the latest fossil finds, attempts to place humans into the context of geological and biological change on the planet, and presents current controversies in an even-handed manner."

Did human evolution proceed in an inevitable fashion? Can we attribute our origins solely to natural selection, or were more mischievous forces at work?

These are the questions investigated by anthropologist Jeff McKee. He argues that if we were to wind back the clock to our split from ancestral apes, evolution would proceed differently. Ever since our ancestors first stood up on two feet, natural selection undoubtedly was an important factor in guiding human evolution. But McKee shakes the standard notion that natural selection steered early hominids toward particular environmental...