Ancient bones : unearthing the astonishing new story of how we became human / by Madelaine Böhme, Rüdiger Braun, and Florian Breier ; foreword by David. R. Begun ; translated by Jane Billinghurst.
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.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781778400315 (trade paperback)
- Physical Description: xii, 337 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 22 cm
- Publisher: Vancouver : Greystone Books, 2020.
Content descriptions
| General Note: | Originally published as Wie wir Menschen wurden in Germany, ©2019, by Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich. |
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 295-321) and index. |
| Language Note: | In English. Translated from German. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Evolution (Biology) Human beings. Human evolution. Paleoanthropology > Research. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Tsuga Consortium.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stroud Branch | 599.938 Boh | 31681010297562 | NONFICPBK | Available | - |
- Perseus Publishing
"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." âTim 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 historyâhis 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 himselfâand 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."
âSteve Brusatte, New York Times-bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
"An inherently fascinating, impressively informative, and exceptionally thought-provoking read."
âMidwest Book Review
"An impressive introduction to the burgeoning recalibration of paleoanthropology."
âKirkus Reviews (starred review)