David Brown Book Company

Breathing life into fossils; taphonomic studies in honor of C.K. (Bob) Brain.

Originating in a Stone Age Institute conference, African Taphonomy: A Tribute to the Career of C.K. Bob Brain, held in April of 2004, this volume contains papers on the field of taphonomy and the perspective it brings to research into human origins. The conference was held in Bloomington in honor of naturalist Bob Brain, a pioneer in bringing taphonomic perspectives to human evolutionary studies. Pickering (U. of Wisconsin-Madison) et al. assemble 16 papers from the conference that reflect his influence on the field. In addition, they discuss the influences on his development as a scientist and his impact on paleoanthropology, mammalian carnivores as taphonomic agents, site and landscape-level issues in taphonomy and paleoanthropological assemblage formation. Other papers consider taphonomic comparisons of australopithecine skeletons from South Africa and homonids as taphonomic agents. In the first chapter, Brain describes the development of African cave taphonomy. Contributors from around the world work in natural history, paleobiology, anthropology, human evolution, and geography. There is no index. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)