This book replaces the 2007 book The Human Story authored by Charles Lockwood, and has been completely rewritten to reflect scientific advancements in the last decade.
Over the past 40 years there has been an explosion of species’ names in the story of human evolution, due both to new discoveries and to a growing understanding of the diversity that existed in the past. Drawing on this new information, as well as their own considerable expertise and practical experience, Chris Stringer and Louise Humphrey explain in clear, easy-to-follow language, what each of the key species represents and how it contributes to our knowledge of human evolution.
They describe the main sites, the individual fossils, the people and stories involved in the key discoveries and the basic facts about each species – what it looked like, how and when it lived and what it ate as well as explaining how we know all this.
Includes drawings, photographs and maps throughout which demystify the fascinating cast of characters who hold the secret to man’s origins.
Louise Humphrey is a researcher in human origins at the Natural History Museum, specialising in bioarchaeology and dental anthropology.
Chris Stringer is the Natural History Museum’s research leader in human origins and Britain’s foremost expert on the subject. He is the author of the bestselling books The Origin of Our Species and Homo Britannicus.