Ancient Bones
Unearthing the Astonishing New Story of How We Became Human
Vancouver, Canada : Greystone Books, 2020.
Format: Book
Description: xii, 337 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps (some color), color portraits ; 24 cm
"Splendid and important... Scientifically rigorous and written with a clarity and candor that create a gripping tale... [Böhme's] account of the history of Europe's lost apes is imbued with the sweat, grime, and triumph that is the lot of the fieldworker, and carries great authority." --Tim Flannery, The New York Review of Books
In this "fascinating forensic inquiry into human origins" (Kirkus STARRED Review), a renowned paleontologist takes readers behind-the-scenes of one of the most groundbreaking archaeological digs in recent history.
Somewhere west of Munich, paleontologist Madelaine Böhme and her colleagues dig for clues to the origins of humankind. What they discover is beyond anything they ever imagined: the twelve-million-year-old bones of Danuvius guggenmosi make headlines around the world. This ancient ape defies prevailing theories of human history--his skeletal adaptations suggest a new common ancestor between apes and humans, one that dwelled in Europe, not Africa. Might the great apes that traveled from Africa to Europe before Danuvius's time be the key to understanding our own origins?
All this and more is explored in Ancient Bones . Using her expertise as a paleoclimatologist and paleontologist, Böhme pieces together an awe-inspiring picture of great apes that crossed land bridges from Africa to Europe millions of years ago, evolving in response to the challenging conditions they found.
She also takes us behind the scenes of her research, introducing us to former theories of human evolution (complete with helpful maps and diagrams), and walks us through musty museum overflow storage where she finds forgotten fossils with yellowed labels, before taking us along to the momentous dig where she and the team unearthed Danuvius guggenmosi himself--and the incredible reverberations his discovery caused around the world.
Praise for Ancient Bones :
"Readable and thought-provoking. Madelaine Böhme is an iconoclast whose fossil discoveries have challenged long-standing ideas on the origins of the ancestors of apes and humans."
--Steve Brusatte, New York Times -bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
"An inherently fascinating, impressively informative, and exceptionally thought-provoking read."
-- Midwest Book Review
"An impressive introduction to the burgeoning recalibration of paleoanthropology."
-- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Other Authors:
Braun, Rüdiger, 1966- author.
Breier, Florian, author.
Begun, David R., writer of foreword.
Billinghurst, Jane, 1958- translator.
Braun, Rüdiger, 1966- author.
Breier, Florian, author.
Begun, David R., writer of foreword.
Billinghurst, Jane, 1958- translator.
Contents:
El Graeco and the split between chimpanzees and humans. Questioning the origins of humans: the detective work begins -- The Greek adventure: the first fossil apes from Pikermi -- In the Queen's garden: Bruno von Freyberg's discovery -- In search of forgotten treasure: a journey into the catacombs beneath the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg -- Magnetometers and microtomography: ancient bones in a high-tech lab -- The real planet of the pages. Disasters and successes: a short history of the search for our origins -- African beginnings: the golden age of ape evolution -- Progress in Europe: great apes in oak forests -- Apes in Allgäu: was Udo a missing link -- The cradle of humanity: Africa or Europe?. The primal ancestor: still an ape or an early hominin -- Fossil footprints from Crete: puzzling prints of an ancient biped -- A skull in the sand and a secret thighbone: the shady case of Sahelanthropus -- From early hominin to prehistoric human: the out-of-Africa theory begins to wobble -- Climate change as a driver of evolution. Not just counting bones: reconstructing the environment is key -- Buried in the sands of time: landscape and vegetation in El Graeco's time -- The great barrier: a gigantic desert becomes an insurmountable obstacle -- A gray-white desert and a salty sea: The Mediterranean dries out -- What makes humans human. Free hands: lots of room for creativity -- Wanderlust: curiosity about the unknown -- Hairless marathoner: the running human -- Fire, intellect, and small teeth: how diet influenced the development of brain -- Vocal connections: from Alarm cries to culture -- The lone survivor. A confusing complexity: the problem with the family tree -- A puzzling phenomenon: humans from Denisova cave -- And then there was one: the rational human.
ISBN:
9781771647519
Availability | |||
---|---|---|---|
Call Number | Location | Shelf Location | Status |
SCIENCE Evolution Boh | Cooper (Forest Acres) | Nonfiction | In |
Originally published as Wie wir Menschen wurden in Germany, ©2019, by Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich.
A thrilling new account of human origins, as told by the paleontologist who led the most groundbreaking dig in recent history. Somewhere west of Munich, Madelaine Böhme and her colleagues dig for clues to the origins of humankind. What they discover is beyond anything they imagined: the fossilized bones of Danuvius guggenmosi ignite a global media frenzy. This ancient ancestor defies our knowledge of human history--his nearly twelve-million-year-old bones were not located in Africa--the so-called birthplace of humanity--but in Europe, and his features suggest we evolved much differently than scientists once believed. In prose that reads like a gripping detective novel, Ancient Bones interweaves the story of the dig that changed everything with the fascinating answer to a previously undecided and now pressing question: How, exactly, did we become human? Placing Böhme's discovery alongside former theories of human evolution, the authors show how this remarkable find (and others in Eurasia) are forcing us to rethink the story we've been told about how we came to be, a story that has been our guiding narrative--until now.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 295-321) and index.
In English. Translated from German.
A thrilling new account of human origins, as told by the paleontologist who led the most groundbreaking dig in recent history. Somewhere west of Munich, Madelaine Böhme and her colleagues dig for clues to the origins of humankind. What they discover is beyond anything they imagined: the fossilized bones of Danuvius guggenmosi ignite a global media frenzy. This ancient ancestor defies our knowledge of human history--his nearly twelve-million-year-old bones were not located in Africa--the so-called birthplace of humanity--but in Europe, and his features suggest we evolved much differently than scientists once believed. In prose that reads like a gripping detective novel, Ancient Bones interweaves the story of the dig that changed everything with the fascinating answer to a previously undecided and now pressing question: How, exactly, did we become human? Placing Böhme's discovery alongside former theories of human evolution, the authors show how this remarkable find (and others in Eurasia) are forcing us to rethink the story we've been told about how we came to be, a story that has been our guiding narrative--until now.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 295-321) and index.
In English. Translated from German.