Extinct Humans

By Dorion Sagan and Lynn Margulis

Book Overview

From the earliest days of their science, paleoanthropologists have shown a propensity to envision the human "family tree" as a straight-line progression from the apelike australopithecines to the enigmatic Homo habilis to the perhaps misapprehended Homo erectus to the famous (or infamous) Neanderthals, culminating in us, Homo sapiens . The problem is that this model is unlike the evolutionary pattern of any other known vertebrate (or any organism, for that matter) which reveals multiple branching and extinctions.Since mid-century it has been evident that in South Africa two species of australopithecines existed at the same time, one of which - a specialized vegetarian - went extinct, leaving no successors. Then fossils were unearthed that demonstrated early members of our genus ( Homo ) existed side by side with australopithecines, complicating the picture still further. Now it is becoming increasingly clear that the Neanderthals were not a direct ancestor to modern humans but were in fact a side branch whose extirpation was at least partially at the hands of our modern human ancestors who invaded Europe 40,000 years ago. And very recent re-dating of several Javanese Homo erectus fossils has cast doubt on the notion that this widespread population was our direct ancestor.In Extinct Humans , Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz present convincing evidence that over fifteen different species of humans have existed over the six million-year sojourn of the hominid family, and that many of these species have existed simultaneously. Furthermore, a large number of these were members of our own genus. Who were these different human species? What did they look like? When and where did they evolve? Which are direct ancestors to us and which went extinct, leaving no successors? And, the most profound question of all, why is there only a single human species alive on Earth now? Tattersall and Schwartz explore these questions and many more in Extinct Humans .

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813334829
• ISBN13: 9780813334820
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 2.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.0" x 1.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Great book on subject plus recent finds

This is the most beautifully illustrated of the four books on paleontology I've read recently. The full-color plates really allow you to connect the comparative anatomy discussed in the text with the visible features. Tattersall and Schwartz write well and the text never gets dry or technical. Richard Klein's The Dawn of Human Culture is excellent also and has very clear explanations of high-tech dating methods such as radioisotope...

Outstanding

It's been 20 years since I read up much on the paleoanthropology, so I thought I'd get up to date and read some of the recent books on the subject. One thing I noticed right away, compared to when I was last studying the subject in college, was how our evolutionary tree was now much "bushier," compared to what we knew back then. Now it's thought that there were at least 3 or 4 different species of Australopithecines, and the...

Extinct dogmas

According to Reuters of December 5, 2000, French and Kenyan scientists unearthed fossilized remains of mankind's earliest known ancestor that is at least 6 million years old, and the find is not only much older than any else previously known but is also in a more advanced stage of evolution. More news from Reuters on March 21, 2001, and we find out that Meave and Louise Leakey are ready to shake the world with their discovery...

Absorbing account of human evolution

"Extinct Humans" is a fascinating account of human evolution, extraordinarily illustrated with crisp, powerful photographs of fossils which drive home the point that these are the remains of actual beings who have inhabited this world before us, whether they were our direct ancestors or instead "cousins" to our own line of descent.Tattersall and Schwartz have studied not just the literature on the subject, but virtually...

Great overview of human evolution

We were all taught in school that human evolution was linear -- Australopithicus evolved into Homo erectus who evolved into a form of Homo sapiens, or us. But all other animals have numerous speciations and dead ends. Why are humans different? The authors answer: We aren't. They discuss, in detail, the history of thought in human evolution. They go through the fossils, showing many of them in glossy color photos. They ...