Two discoveries of early human relatives, one in 1924 and one in 2003, radically changed scientific thinking about our origins. Dean Falk, a pioneer in the field of human brain evolution, offers this fast-paced insider's account of these discoveries, the behind-the-scenes politics embroiling the scientists who found and analyzed them, and the academic and religious controversies they generated. The first is the Taung child, a two-million-year-old skull from South Africa that led anatomist Raymond Dart to argue that this creature had walked upright and that Africa held the key to the fossil ancestry of our species. The second find consisted of the partial skeleton of a three-and-a-half-foot-tall woman, nicknamed Hobbit, from Flores Island, Indonesia. She is thought by scientists to belong to a new, recently extinct species of human, but her story is still unfolding. Falk, who has studied the brain casts of both Taung and Hobbit, reveals new evidence crucial to interpreting both discoveries and proposes surprising connections between this pair of extraordinary specimens.

Product Description: Despite Darwin's bold contention in 1871 that the likely ancestor for Homo sapiens was an African ape, the scientific community hesitated for decades before accepting small-brained but bipedal walking "apes" from southern Africa as direct human ancestors...read more

An authorized analysis of the state of scientific knowledge concerning human origins, updated to include such recent discoveries as the Homo floresiensis and Mary Leakey's Kenyanthropus playtops, explores what physical artifacts can tell the modern world about key questions pertaining to humanity, language, and race. 20,000 first printing.

Product Description: When first published in 1992, Braindance presented a revolutionary look at the origins of the human brain. Biological anthropologist Dean Falk now brings the discussion into the 21st century. In this revised edition with a new preface and updated information through 2003, she reexamines her groundbreaking research of how the human brain evolved and reveals how this process continues to impact our species...read more

Provides a new explanation for human evolution that covers the origins of modern humans and the link between the 'terrestrial imperative' and the development of the large human brain (view table of contents)

Uses new techniques to examine brain lateralization in humans and present a theory which describes how the art of walking upright resulted in the brain enlargement of hominids and the evolution of the human brain

Uses new techniques to examine brain lateralization in humans and present an ingenious theory dubbed the 'radiator theory,' which proves how the art of walking upright resulted in the brain enlargement of hominids and the evolution of the human brain.