Early Human Behaviour in Global Context

Archaeological traces of the activities of our early tool using ancestors are spread throughout the Old World. While material evidence is plentiful, we still know very little about the particular behaviours which resulted in their creation. Early Human Behaviour in Global Context contributes greatly to the huge gap in knowledge about how our ancestors led their lives. An international group of scholars in the field present the latest results of investigations on the Lower Palaeolithic. Chapters focus on the nature of archaeological evidence, stone tool technology, subsistence practices and settlement distribution, offering interpretations of palaeoeconomic organisations, adaptive variations and evolutionary processes. Early Human Behaviour in Global Context begins with the identification and interpretation of the earliest archaeological evidence in Africa, usually found as juxtapositions of stone tools in various geological and ecological settings. Chapters then document the material record found in the Near East, Asia and Europe, providing evidence for the migration of early humans out of Africa and into other parts of the Old World. Syntheses of regional archaeological records admit interpretations of the activities of our early human ancestors, and inter-regional comparisons set the stage for study of similarities and differences in adaptive responses. Early Human Behaviour in Global Context is the basic reference text for students and professionals interested in prehistory, Palaeolithic archaeolgoy and palaeoanthropology, our ancestors and their place in the natural world. Ofer Bar-Yosef, Harvard University, USA. Susan Cachel,Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA. J.Desmond Clark, University of California, Berkley, USA. Gudrun Corvinus