This new text sets out to establish the key role played by systematics in deciphering patterns of evolution from the fossil record. It begins by considering the nature of the species in the fossil record and then outlines recent advances in the methodology used to establish phylogenetics relationships, stressing why fossil evidence can be crucial. The way species are grouped into higher taxa, and how this affects their utility in evolutionary studies is also discussed. Because the fossil record abounds with sampling and preservational biases, the book emphasizes that observed patterns can...

The research design underlying this work is based on attempts to try to find the archaeology of the aboriginal herding people of the Cape: Khoekhoen (Khoikhoi, Quena = aeHottentotsAE). With the dating of sheep bones pushing back the age of domestic animals in the Cape to almost 2000 years ago it became evident that the history of pastoralism at the Cape not only was probably of far greater antiquity than had hitherto been realised, but may well have changed significantly over this long period of time. Table of contents: Preface; Chapter 1: Herders at the Cape: Some Theoretical Underpinnings;...