The Evolution of the Human Head

Daniel E. Lieberman

Published by Harvard University Press 2011

The Evolution of the Human Head

Daniel E. Lieberman

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674059443

Overview
Contents

About this book

Dan Lieberman has written an innovative, exhaustively researched and carefully argued book dealing with the evolution of the human head. In it he addresses three interrelated questions. First, why does the human head look the way it does? Second, why did these transformations occur? And third, how is something as complex and vital as the head so variable and evolvable? This book addresses these questions in three sections. The first set of chapters review how human and ape heads grow, both in terms of individual parts (organs and regions) and as an integrated whole. The second section reviews how the head performs its major functions: housing the brain, chewing, swallowing, breathing, vocalizing, thermoregulating, seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and balancing during locomotion. The final set of chapters review the fossil evidence for major transformations of the head during human evolution from the divergence of the human and ape lineages through the origins of Homo sapiens. These chapters use developmental and functional insights from the first two sections to speculate on the developmental and selective bases for these transformations.

Reviews

Lieberman's integrated approach will make his book a forum for a way of thinking in human evolution that has not yet found its equal in print.
-- Christopher Dean, University College London

This is an outstanding book. Lieberman draws from a wide variety of disciplines, including bone biology, embryology, morphometrics, functional anatomy, and paleontology to forge a masterful synthesis of the evolution of the human head. It will be the definitive reference for decades.
-- John G. Fleagle, Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University

Lieberman offers acute descriptions of anatomy, embryology, physiology, and hominid fossils, while providing an exciting way to observe the relationships among structures, functions, and evolutionary variance.
-- Scott Vieira Library Journal

Lieberman dives deep into the cranium, showing just how much of what we consider to be human is connected to what happens above the neck.
-- Carolyn Y. Johnson Boston Globe

Daniel Lieberman has written a wonderful and inspiring book about the human head's evolution...One stands in awe at the work that has gone into it...This encyclopedic book is transformative...The morphological details in Lieberman's book make it a direct descendant of Gray's Anatomy...If a single word describes this book, it is integrative. The author integrates material from anatomy, physiology, physics, biomechanics, molecular and developmental biology, but brings all under the umbrella of evolutionary theory.
-- Chris McManus Times Higher Education

This [is an] impressive book...This hefty and well-written book offers a scholarly breadth and attention to detail that are certainly laudable. The book is quite unusual in that it includes a comprehensive review of the soft tissues associated with cranial features and discusses them within the context of evolutionary morphology and the fossil record of the human skull. I can think of no other volume that packages the anatomy of the human head in this fashion...Lieberman's big book definitely moves us ahead in effectively synthesizing so much of what is currently understood about the structure, function and evolution of the human head.
-- Brian T. Shea American Scientist

By rooting his study in the basics of tissue mechanics and functional morphology, Lieberman does the spadework to which all such studies aspire but few achieve--and makes that task seem elegant and effortless.
-- Henry Gee Nature

Daniel Lieberman marshals diverse evidence to provide a comprehensive framework for understanding patterns of variation and covariation in the form, function, and phylogeny of the human head...The breadth and diversity of subject matter the volume will impart to the reader is particularly laudable. Lieberman's holistic approach is a welcome, if not requisite, strategy for addressing a multifarious biological system such as the human head. The book's focus on both hard- and soft-tissue components, consideration of how such elements correspond to one another, and comprehensive overview of external and internal influences on patterns of morphological variation and covariation clearly set the tone for how one might profitably investigate cranial evolution across all vertebrates. The introductions to myriad biological concepts, surveys of some modern approaches to outstanding paleoanthropological questions, and review of fossil evidence regarding evolutionary transformations in human skull form will enlighten readers of all backgrounds. The Evolution of the Human Head is an entertaining read...It contains a wealth of information relevant to human evolution. In doing so, it offers a wonderful entrée into many of the outstanding issues that will undoubtedly remain at the center of debates regarding human origins for years to come.
-- Matthew J. Ravosa Science

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface: Heads Up Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
1 A Tinkered Ape? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 The Skeletal Tissues of the Head Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
3 Setting the Stage: Embryonic Development of the Head Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	56
4 Modular Growth of the Fetal and Postnatal Head Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
5 Integration of the Head during Fetal and Postnatal Growth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	144
6 The Brain and the Skull Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	182
7 You Are How You Eat: Chewing and the Head Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	224
8 Pharynx, Larynx, Tongue, and Lung Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
9 Holding Up and Moving the Head Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	338
10 Sense and Sensitivity: Vision, Hearing, Olfaction, and Taste Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	374
11 Early Hominin Heads Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	414
12 Ecce Early Homo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	475
13 The Evolution of the Head in Homo sapiens Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	527
14 Final Thoughts and Speculations 14 Final Thoughts and Speculations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	604
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	615
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	627
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	727
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	729

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 768

eBook

Published: May 3, 2011
ISBN: 9780674059443