Human Footprints Fossilised Locomotion

Author : Matthew R. Bennett,Sarita A. Morse
Publisher : Springer
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2014-08-20
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783319085722

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Human Footprints: Fossilised Locomotion? by Matthew R. Bennett,Sarita A. Morse Pdf

Human footprints provide some of the most emotive and tangible evidence of our ancestors. They provide evidence of stature, presence, behaviour and in the case of early hominin footprints, evidence with respect to the evolution of human gait and foot anatomy. While human footprint sites are rare in the geological record the number of sites around the World has increased in recent years, along with the analytical tools available for their study. The aim of this book is to provide a definitive review of these recent developments with specific reference to the increased availability of three-dimensional digital elevation models of human tracks at many key sites. The book is divided into eight chapters. Following an introduction the second chapter reviews modern field methods in human ichnology focusing on the development of new analytical tools. The third chapter then reviews the major footprint sites around the World including details on several unpublished examples. Chapters then follow on the role of geology in the formation and preservation of tracks, on the inferences that can be made from human tracks and the final chapter explores the application of this work to forensic science. Audience: This volume will be of interest to researchers and students across a wide range of disciplines – sedimentology, archaeology, forensics and palaeoanthropology.

Author : Andreas Pastoors,Tilman Lenssen-Erz
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 437 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2021
Category : Archaeology
ISBN : 9783030604066

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Reading Prehistoric Human Tracks by Andreas Pastoors,Tilman Lenssen-Erz Pdf

This Open Access book explains that after long periods of prehistoric research in which the importance of the archaeological as well as the natural context of rock art has been constantly underestimated, research has now begun to take this context into focus for documentation, analysis, interpretation and understanding. Human footprints are prominent among the long-time under-researched features of the context in caves with rock art. In order to compensate for this neglect an innovative research program has been established several years ago that focuses on the merging of indigenous knowledge and western archaeological science for the benefit of both sides. The book gathers first the methodological diversity in the analysis of human tracks. Here major representatives of anthropological, statistical and traditional approaches feature the multi-layered methods available for the analysis of human tracks. Second it compiles case studies from around the globe of prehistoric human tracks. For the first time, the most important sites which have been found worldwide are published in a single publication. The third focus of this book is on firsthand experiences of researchers with indigenous tracking experts from around the globe, expounding on how archaeological sciencecan benefit from the ancestral knowledge. This book will be of interest to professional archaeologists, graduate students, ecologists, cultural anthropologists and laypeople, especially those focussing on hunting-gathering and pastoralist communities and who appreciate indigenous knowledge.--

Author : Holger Preuschoft
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 587 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2022-06-28
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783030276683

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Understanding Body Shapes of Animals by Holger Preuschoft Pdf

This book discusses how and why animals evolved into particular shapes. The book identifies the physical laws which decide over the evolutionary (selective) value of body shape and morphological characters. Comparing the mechanical necessities with morphological details, the author attempts to understand how evolution works, and which sorts of limitations are set by selection. The book explains morphological traits in more biomechanical detail without getting lost in physics, or in methods. Most emphasis is placed on the proximate question, namely the identification of the mechanical stresses which must be sustained by the respective body parts, when they move the body or its parts against resistance. In the first part of the book the focus is on ‘primitive’ animals and later on the emphasis shifts to highly specialized mammals. Readers will learn more about living and fossil animals. A section of the book is dedicated to human evolution but not to produce another evolutionary tree, nor to refine a former one, but to contribute to answering the question: “WHY early humans have developed their particular body shape".

Author : M. Gabriela Mángano,Luis A. Buatois
Publisher : Springer
Page : 485 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2016-11-17
Category : Science
ISBN : 9789401795975

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The Trace-Fossil Record of Major Evolutionary Events by M. Gabriela Mángano,Luis A. Buatois Pdf

This volume addresses major evolutionary changes that took place during the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic. These include discussions on major evolutionary radiations and ecological innovations on land and at sea, such as the Mesozoic marine revolution, the Mesozoic radiation of vertebrates, the Mesozoic lacustrine revolution, the Cenozoic radiation of mammals, the evolution of paleosol biotas, and the evolution of hominins. The roles of mass extinctions at the end of the Triassic and at the end of the Cretaceous are assessed. This volume set provides innovative reviews of the major evolutionary events in the history of life from an ichnologic perspective. Because the long temporal range of trace fossils has been commonly emphasized, biogenic structures have been traditionally overlooked in macroevolution. However, comparisons of ichnofaunas through geologic time do reveal the changing ecology of organism-substrate interactions. The use of trace fossils in evolutionary paleoecology represents a new trend that is opening a window for our understanding of major evolutionary radiations and mass extinctions. Trace fossils provide crucial evidence for the recognition of spatial and temporal patterns and processes associated with paleoecologic breakthroughs.

Author : Francesca Stavrakopoulou
Publisher : Knopf
Page : 625 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2022-01-25
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780525520450

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God: An Anatomy by Francesca Stavrakopoulou Pdf

An astonishing and revelatory history that re-presents God as he was originally envisioned by ancient worshippers—with a distinctly male body, and with superhuman powers, earthly passions, and a penchant for the fantastic and monstrous. "[A] rollicking journey through every aspect of Yahweh’s body, from top to bottom (yes, that too) and from inside out ... Ms. Stavrakopoulou has almost too much fun.”—The Economist The scholarship of theology and religion teaches us that the God of the Bible was without a body, only revealing himself in the Old Testament in words mysteriously uttered through his prophets, and in the New Testament in the body of Christ. The portrayal of God as corporeal and masculine is seen as merely metaphorical, figurative, or poetic. But, in this revelatory study, Francesca Stavrakopoulou presents a vividly corporeal image of God: a human-shaped deity who walks and talks and weeps and laughs, who eats, sleeps, feels, and breathes, and who is undeniably male. Here is a portrait—arrived at through the author's close examination of and research into the Bible—of a god in ancient myths and rituals who was a product of a particular society, at a particular time, made in the image of the people who lived then, shaped by their own circumstances and experience of the world. From head to toe—and every part of the body in between—this is a god of stunning surprise and complexity, one we have never encountered before.

Author : Martin Bell
Publisher : Oxbow Books
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2020-03-31
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781789254051

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Making One's Way in the World by Martin Bell Pdf

The book draws on the evidence of landscape archaeology, palaeoenvironmental studies, ethnohistory and animal tracking to address the neglected topic of how we identify and interpret past patterns of movement in the landscape. It challenges the pessimism of previous generations which regarded prehistoric routes such as hollow ways as generally undatable. The premise is that archaeologists tend to focus on ‘sites’ while neglecting the patterns of habitual movement that made them part of living landscapes. Evidence of past movement is considered in a multi-scalar way from the individual footprint to the long distance path including the traces created in vegetation by animal and human movement. It is argued that routes may be perpetuated over long timescales creating landscape structures which influence the activities of subsequent generations. In other instances radical changes of axes of communication and landscape structures provide evidence of upheaval and social change. Palaeoenvironmental and ethnohistorical evidence from the American North West coast sets the scene with evidence for the effects of burning, animal movement, faeces deposition and transplantation which can create readable routes along which are favoured resources. Evidence from European hunter-gatherer sites hints at similar practices of niche construction on a range of spatial scales. On a local scale, footprints help to establish axes of movement, the locations of lost settlements and activity areas. Wood trackways likewise provide evidence of favoured patterns of movement and past settlement location. Among early farming communities alignments of burial mounds, enclosure entrances and other monuments indicate axes of communication. From the middle Bronze Age in Europe there is more clearly defined evidence of trackways flanked by ditches and fields. Landscape scale survey and excavation enables the dating of trackways using spatial relationships with dated features and many examples indicate long-term continuity of routeways. Where fields flank routeways a range of methods, including scientific approaches, provide dates. Prehistorians have often assumed that Ridgeways provided the main axes of early movement but there is little evidence for their early origins and rather better evidence for early routes crossing topography and providing connections between different environmental zones. The book concludes with a case study of the Weald of South East England which demonstrates that some axes of cross topographic movement used as droveways, and generally considered as early medieval, can be shown to be of prehistoric origin. One reason that dryland routes have proved difficult to recognise is that insufficient attention has been paid to the parts played by riverine and maritime longer distance communication. It is argued that understanding the origins of the paths we use today contributes to appreciation of the distinctive qualities of landscapes. Appreciation will help to bring about effective strategies for conservation of mutual benefit to people and wildlife by maintaining and enhancing corridors of connectivity between different landscape zones including fragmented nature reserves and valued places. In these ways an understanding of past routeways can contribute to sustainable landscapes, communities and quality of life

Author : Matthew R. Bennett,Marcin Budka
Publisher : Springer
Page : 251 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2018-08-25
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783319936895

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Digital Technology for Forensic Footwear Analysis and Vertebrate Ichnology by Matthew R. Bennett,Marcin Budka Pdf

“There is no branch of detective science which is so important and so much neglected as the art of tracing footsteps. Happily, I have always laid great stress upon it, and much practice has made it second nature to me.” Sherlock Holmes, Study of Scarlet. Despite the fictional nature of Sherlock Holmes this statement rings true today. The study of footwear is neglected in modern forensic practice and does have much to offer. What it needs is an injection of technology and modern analytical tools. These tools are emerging from the digital revolution currently transforming vertebrate ichnology. Ichnology is the discipline of earth science which focuses on the study of trace fossils such as footprints. This book draws upon both disciplines - geology (ichnology) and forensic science - to show how the two have much to learn from each other especially with regard to the digital capture and analysis of footprints. This book presents field and laboratory methods associated with the collection, analysis and presentation of three-dimensional tracks (footprints) whether from a crime scene or a geological/archaeological excavation. It shows students, researchers and practitioners how to collect and analyse 3D data and take advantage of the digital revolution transforming ichnology. This book is not only essential reading for forensic and earth science students but also for professional forensic practitioners as well as for applied computer scientists developing new tools for visualization and analysis of 3D data. The book forms a natural methods focused complement to the successful text Fossilised Locomotion published by Springer 2014.

Author : Anthony R. Fiorillo
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 360 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2018-01-02
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781351669320

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Alaska Dinosaurs by Anthony R. Fiorillo Pdf

Anthony Fiorillo has been exploring the Arctic since 1998. For him, like many others, the Arctic holds the romance of uncharted territory, extreme conditions, and the inevitable epic challenges that arise. For Fiorillo, however, the Arctic also holds the secrets of the history of life on Earth, and its fossils bring him back field season after field season in pursuit of improving human understanding of ancient history. His studies of the rocks and fossils of the Arctic shed light on a world that once was, and provide insight into what might be.

Author : Andrew Horwood,Nachiappan Chockalingam
Publisher : Elsevier
Page : 718 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2023-03-16
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9780323853682

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Clinical Biomechanics in Human Locomotion by Andrew Horwood,Nachiappan Chockalingam Pdf

Origins and Principles of Clinical Biomechanics in Human Locomotion discusses key concepts of how biomechanics links to the development of pathology through mechanical laws, anatomy, physiology and health. It provides fundamental principles and practical data, and guidance of how to apply these in the clinical biomechanics field. Coverage includes: major joint movement, muscle action around joints, physiology and patho-physiology of bone, muscle and neurologic disorders. This reference is ideal for teaching students in biomechanics, orthopedics and physiotherapy. It should also be of interest to product development engineers, rehabilitation engineers, those working in prosthetics and orthotics, physiotherapists and occupational therapists. The authors explore the simple laws of motion as applied to anatomy and physiology, in order to help readers understand human pathology within the human lower limb and mobility. They then go on to look at materials science concerns within this field, such as engineering stresses and strains, principles and types of material properties and the shaping of structural properties. Readers will also find within this book information on tissue science, force generation, biological sciences, evolution in biomechanics, human gait, functional units of the lower limb and foot, and finally pathomechanical principles; all as applied to clinical biomechanics. Bridges the void between research biomechanics and clinically applied biomechanics Links human locomotive biomechanics to medicine, physiology and evolutionary anatomy and medicine Prepares students, bioengineers and clinicians for the reality of utilizing biomechanical principles in clinical practice, while informing researchers of the environment limits that most clinical biomechanics practice occurs in

Author : Spencer G. Lucas,Robert B. Blodgett,Asher J. Lichtig,Adrian P. Hunt
Publisher : New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
Page : 506 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2022-08-02
Category : Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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FOSSIL RECORD 8 by Spencer G. Lucas,Robert B. Blodgett,Asher J. Lichtig,Adrian P. Hunt Pdf

Author : Mark Jobling,Edward Hollox,Toomas Kivisild,Chris Tyler-Smith
Publisher : Garland Science
Page : 689 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2013-06-25
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9781317952268

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Human Evolutionary Genetics by Mark Jobling,Edward Hollox,Toomas Kivisild,Chris Tyler-Smith Pdf

Human Evolutionary Genetics is a groundbreaking text which for the first time brings together molecular genetics and genomics to the study of the origins and movements of human populations. Starting with an overview of molecular genomics for the non-specialist (which can be a useful review for those with a more genetic background), the book shows h

Author : Jeremy DeSilva
Publisher : HarperCollins
Page : 389 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2021-04-06
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780062938510

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First Steps by Jeremy DeSilva Pdf

Winner of the W.W. Howells Book Prize from the American Anthropological Association and named one of the best science books of 2021 by Science News “DeSilva takes us on a brilliant, fun, and scientifically deep stroll through history, anatomy, and evolution, in order to illustrate the powerful story of how a particular mode of movement helped make us one of the most wonderful, dangerous and fascinating species on Earth.”—Agustín Fuentes, Professor of Anthropology, Princeton University and author of Why We Believe: Evolution and the Human Way of Being “Breezy popular science at its best. . . . Makes a compelling case overall.”—Science News Blending history, science, and culture, a stunning and highly engaging evolutionary story exploring how walking on two legs allowed humans to become the planet’s dominant species. Humans are the only mammals to walk on two, rather than four legs—a locomotion known as bipedalism. We strive to be upstanding citizens, honor those who stand tall and proud, and take a stand against injustices. We follow in each other’s footsteps and celebrate a child’s beginning to walk. But why, and how, exactly, did we take our first steps? And at what cost? Bipedalism has its drawbacks: giving birth is more difficult and dangerous; our running speed is much slower than other animals; and we suffer a variety of ailments, from hernias to sinus problems. In First Steps, paleoanthropologist Jeremy DeSilva explores how unusual and extraordinary this seemingly ordinary ability is. A seven-million-year journey to the very origins of the human lineage, First Steps shows how upright walking was a gateway to many of the other attributes that make us human—from our technological abilities, our thirst for exploration, our use of language–and may have laid the foundation for our species’ traits of compassion, empathy, and altruism. Moving from developmental psychology labs to ancient fossil sites throughout Africa and Eurasia, DeSilva brings to life our adventure walking on two legs. Delving deeply into the story of our past and the new discoveries rewriting our understanding of human evolution, First Steps examines how walking upright helped us rise above all over species on this planet. First Steps includes an eight-page color photo insert.

Author : D. Jeffrey Meldrum,Charles E. Hilton
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 213 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2011-06-27
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781441989659

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From Biped to Strider by D. Jeffrey Meldrum,Charles E. Hilton Pdf

The inspiration for this volume of contributed papers stemmed from conversations between the editors in front of Chuck Hilton's poster on the determinants of hominid walking speed, presented at thel998 meetings of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA). Earlier at those meetings, Jeff Meldrum (with Roshna Wunderlich) had presented an alternate interpretation of the Laetoli footprints based on evidence of midfoot flexibility. As the discussion ensued we found convergence on a number of ideas about the nature of the evolution of modem human walking. From the continuation of that dialogue grew the proposal for a symposium which we called From Biped to Strider: the Emergence of Modem Human Walking. The symposium was held as a session of the 69th annual meeting of the AAPA, held in San Antonio, Texas in 2000. It seemed to us that the study of human bipedalism had become overshadowed by theoften polarized debates over whether australo pithecines were wholly terrestrial in habit, or retained a significant degree of arboreality.

Author : Camilo J. Cela-Conde,Francisco J. Ayala
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 446 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2007-09-27
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9780198567806

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Human Evolution by Camilo J. Cela-Conde,Francisco J. Ayala Pdf

This book is intended as a comprehensive overview of hominid evolution, synthesising data and approaches from physical anthropology, genetics, archaeology, psychology and philosophy. Human evolution courses are now widespread and this book has the potential to satisfy the requirements of most, particularly at the advanced undergraduate and graduate level. It is based on a translation, albeit with substantial modification, of a successful Spanish language book.

Author : Martin Bell
Publisher : Oxbow Books
Page : 495 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2020-02-28
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781789254037

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Making One's Way in the World by Martin Bell Pdf

The book draws on the evidence of landscape archaeology, palaeoenvironmental studies, ethnohistory and animal tracking to address the neglected topic of how we identify and interpret past patterns of movement in the landscape. It challenges the pessimism of previous generations which regarded prehistoric routes such as hollow ways as generally undatable. The premise is that archaeologists tend to focus on ‘sites’ while neglecting the patterns of habitual movement that made them part of living landscapes. Evidence of past movement is considered in a multi-scalar way from the individual footprint to the long distance path including the traces created in vegetation by animal and human movement. It is argued that routes may be perpetuated over long timescales creating landscape structures which influence the activities of subsequent generations. In other instances radical changes of axes of communication and landscape structures provide evidence of upheaval and social change. Palaeoenvironmental and ethnohistorical evidence from the American North West coast sets the scene with evidence for the effects of burning, animal movement, faeces deposition and transplantation which can create readable routes along which are favoured resources. Evidence from European hunter-gatherer sites hints at similar practices of niche construction on a range of spatial scales. On a local scale, footprints help to establish axes of movement, the locations of lost settlements and activity areas. Wood trackways likewise provide evidence of favoured patterns of movement and past settlement location. Among early farming communities alignments of burial mounds, enclosure entrances and other monuments indicate axes of communication. From the middle Bronze Age in Europe there is more clearly defined evidence of trackways flanked by ditches and fields. Landscape scale survey and excavation enables the dating of trackways using spatial relationships with dated features and many examples indicate long-term continuity of routeways. Where fields flank routeways a range of methods, including scientific approaches, provide dates. Prehistorians have often assumed that Ridgeways provided the main axes of early movement but there is little evidence for their early origins and rather better evidence for early routes crossing topography and providing connections between different environmental zones. The book concludes with a case study of the Weald of South East England which demonstrates that some axes of cross topographic movement used as droveways, and generally considered as early medieval, can be shown to be of prehistoric origin. One reason that dryland routes have proved difficult to recognise is that insufficient attention has been paid to the parts played by riverine and maritime longer distance communication. It is argued that understanding the origins of the paths we use today contributes to appreciation of the distinctive qualities of landscapes. Appreciation will help to bring about effective strategies for conservation of mutual benefit to people and wildlife by maintaining and enhancing corridors of connectivity between different landscape zones including fragmented nature reserves and valued places. In these ways an understanding of past routeways can contribute to sustainable landscapes, communities and quality of life