When did language begin? How did early humans populate the globe? By looking closely at four of the most significant hominins ever discovered, the authors explain how Turkana Boy, Lapedo Child, Kennewick Man, and Iceman have influenced debates about the nature of the earliest members of the family Hominidae.

"In Patina, anthropologist Shannon Lee Dawdy examines what was lost and found through the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. Tracking the rich history and unique physicality of New Orleans, she explains how it came to adopt the nickname "the antique city." With innovative applications of thing theory, Patina studies the influence of specific items--such as souvenirs, heirlooms, and Hurricane Katrina ruins--to explore how the city's residents use material...

From the early colonial period to the close of World War II, life in North America was predominantly agrarian and rural. Archaeological exploration of farmsteads unveils a surprising quantity of data about rural life, consumption patterns, and migrations across the continent. Mark Groover offers both case studies and an overview of current trends in farmstead archaeology in this exciting new work. He also proposes a research design and makes numerous...

"The history of North America, from Christopher Columbus to the present day, is a chaotic struggle for ownership of the land. This text will address questions such as the history of native communities that were displaced or conquered, and even further back to how Native North, Central and South Americans came to these continents in the first place. Historical facts are mainly supported through archaeological findings."--Publisher information.

Egypt is home to the richest source of archaeological treasures on the planet. In this series, the cameras follow teams across Egypt on the front line of archaeology, through a full season of excavations. Crawling beneath pyramids, uncovering long-lost tombs and unearthing 3,000-year-old mummies, the world's top archaeologists race to unlock the secrets of this ancient civilization.

Humans are unique in their ability to inhabit an immense range of physical environments. This capacity partially results from the need to cope with variation in spatial and temporal distributions of critical resources. Yet factors other than the search for food often impact relocation. Information gathering, raw material collection, social networking, trade and searching for mates each presents motivation for mobility. While physical evidence might...