From tools to symbols : from early hominids to modern humans / edited by Francesco d'Errico and Lucinda Backwell.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

D'Errico, Francesco.

Backwell, Lucinda

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Tobias, Phillip V.

Hominids--South Africa--Congresses.

Hominids.

Paleoclimatology--South Africa--Congresses.

Paleoclimatology.

Tobias, Phillip V--Congresses.

South Africa.

Genre:

Conference papers and proceedings.

Festschriften.

Physical Description:

xxxii, 574 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Johannesburg : Witwatersrand University Press, 2005.

Summary:

An excellent synthesis of the palaeontological and archaeological evidence of the last five million years of human evolution A number of researchers have tried to characterise the anatomy and behavioural systems of early hominid and early modern human populations in an attempt to understand how we became what we are. Can archaeology, palaeo-anthropology and genetics tell us how and when human cultures developed the traits that make our societies different from those of our closest living relatives? In which cases are these differences substantial, and when do they simply reflect our definitions of culture, species, the image we have of their evolution or of ourselves? From Tools to Symbols, a collection of twenty-seven selected papers from a South African-French conference organised in honour of the well-known palaeo-anthropologist Phillip Tobias, provides a multidisciplinary overview of this field of study. It is based on collaborative research conducted in sub-Saharan Africa by South African, French, American and German scholars in the last twenty years, and represents an excellent synthesis of the palaeontological and archaeological evidence of the last five million years of human evolution.

Notes:

This book is the outcome of a conference, held at the University of the Witwatersrand, 16-18 March 2003.--Preliminaries.

"In honour of Professor Phillip V. Tobias".

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

1868144178

9781868144174

1868144348

9781868144341

OCLC:

70129332