Pleistocene, 93, 165, 264–65, 266, 267–68
Early, 58, 262, 267
Late, 268, 318–19
Middle, 267–68, 304
Pliocene, 93, 161
Late, 58, 165, 262
poaching, 55–56, 62, 74, 116
Poole, Joyce, 114, 120, 121
positive feedback, 263
postmenopausal period, 225, 229–30, 237–38
potassium-argon dating techniques, 266
power grip, 163, 164, 166
precession, 259, 260, 262, 263
precision grip, 162–64, 165, 190, 215
precocial babies, 228, 229, 232, 233, 234
prepared core technique, 319–20
proboscideans, 93–96, 101. See also elephants
prognathism, 203, 205
Purple Marker, 82
pygmy hippo, 87
pygmy stegodon, 284
Q
quadrupeds, 131, 133, 254
R
radiocarbon dating technique, 266
Rak, Yoel, 221
Red Marker, 82
Red Sea, 276
reproductive strategies, 228
rhinos and rhino fossils, 74, 91, 100, 101
ring species, 154–55
robust australopithecines, 181–83, 185–88, 190–91, 204–5, 207, 220–21
rock art, 45–46, 335
Romania, 321, 332
rubisco, 97–98, 99
Ruff, Chris, 316
ruminants, 188–89
running, endurance, 245–48, 255, 336
running biomechanics, 253–55
S
sabre-toothed cats, 109, 244, 271
Sadiman (volcano), 135
Safina (political party), 143
sagittal crests, 181, 182, 185, 188, 190, 213
Sahara, 272–73, 275, 331
Sahelanthropus tchadensis, 175, 180
Sambungmacan 3 (Sm 3), 299–300
Sandawe people, 335
Sangiran, Java, 277, 300
San people, 335
sapropels, 261–62, 309
Sarich, Vince, 63
Savage-Rumbaugh, Sue, 251–52
scavenging, 243–44
scissor grip, 164
scoliosis, 240–41
sea cores, 261–62, 264–65, 267, 309
secondary altricial state, 227–28, 232, 233, 234, 250
sediment layers, 60–61, 259–65
Segerdahl, Pär, 252
Senut, Brigitte, 173–74
Serengeti plains, 21, 22, 134–35, 247, 248
sexual dimorphism, 136, 153–54, 184, 185–87
sexual selection, 104–5
shifta bandits, 33, 285
Shipman, Pat, 272
shoulder morphology, 281, 282–83
Siberia, 334
Sibiloi National Park, 151, 286, 290–91
Sicily, 275–76, 280
side-necked turtles, 85, 86–87
Silberberg Grotto, 178–79
silica, 264
Sill, William, 79
Silverstein, David, 115
Simiolus enjiessi, 48
Sinanthropus pekinensis, 209
single-lineage hypothesis, 136–37, 155–56, 171, 175, 206, 207
single origin hypothesis, 318, 327, 331
Siwaliks, 97
skeleton discovery, 50–53, 54
skin cancer, 337
skin colour, 336, 337–40
slow loris, 163
Smith, Holly, 234–35, 236
snakes, 41, 47, 134, 198, 287
social bonding, 237–39, 248–49, 251–53, 315
soft-shelled turtles, 87
Sojourner, 169
solstices, 259
South Africa, 162, 177–81, 187, 190, 193, 201, 230
South America, 100
South Turkwell, 65, 166, 341
Spain, 276
speech and language, 229, 248–49, 251–53, 335
spheno-occipital synchondrosis, 234, 296–98
spina bifida, 338
spinal curvature, 131, 132
splitters versus lumpers, 318–21, 327
Spoor, Fred, 200–203, 205, 220, 255, 295–303, 341
stabilization and running, 254–55
Stegotetrabelodon, 91, 95, 96
Sterkfontein, 178–80
Stewart, Kathy, 71, 86, 89–90
stone flakes/tools
at KBS site, 30–31
Louis’s scavenging exercise and, 244
manual dexterity and, 107, 161–62, 163, 166, 191
at Mata Menge, 278–79
at Olduvai, 210, 211–12, 215, 222
at Olorgesailie, 271–72
Stoneking, Mark, 336–37
Stony Brook University, 292, 294
Strait of Gibraltar, 275–76
striae of Retzius, 236
Suidae, 91
sweating versus panting, 246, 336
Switzerland, 262
synchrotron, 341–42
T
Taieb, Maurice, 130, 133–34, 136
Tanzania, 20, 45–46, 135, 193, 242, 247. See also Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
tapeworms, 271
taphonomy, 79
Tarahumara people, 248
Tassy, Pascal, 92, 94
Taung Child, 177. See also Australopithecus africanus
Teaford, Mark, 90
technology, 4, 169, 340, 343–47
teeth. See also canine teeth
adaptations in, 88, 91–101, 165, 176, 181, 183, 185, 186
age estimates and, 234–36
comparisons of, 149–50, 153–54, 166–68, 171–72, 173, 175, 204
isotopic analysis, 97–99, 165, 183–84
theory of mind, 252
Theropithecus (genus), 184, 271–72
Theropithecus brumpti, 184
Theropithecus oswaldi, 184–85
Thin Ice (Bowen), 311
Thompson, Lonnie, 311–12
tiang, 29–30, 35, 36
Tigoni Primate Research Centre, 17–18, 20, 22–29, 37, 344
Tobias, Phillip, 178, 214–15
Tocheri, Matthew, 282
tool making, 249, 319–20. See also stone flakes/tools
tortoise fossil, 49
Tragoportax, 91
Transvaal, 177, 180
tree shrew, 163
trilophodont gomphothere, 94
Trinil, Java, 208, 277
Trinkaus, Erik, 318
trunk stabilization, 254, 255
tuberculosis, 8
tuffs, 30–31, 59, 60–61, 80, 82, 157, 198, 216–17, 231, 308–9
Tugen Hills, 173
Tulu Bor Tuff, 198
Tunbridge, Louise, 143
Turkana
environmental changes in, 88, 90–94
fossil expeditions (1969), 3–6, 29–37
fossil expeditions (1970s), 38–39, 41–43, 215–18, 221
fossil expeditions (1980s), 46–53
fossil site dating, 61–62
humans split off from apes in, 62–65, 70–71
Leakey children at, 40–41, 47, 49, 51–52
Richard’s leaving fieldwork at, 57
Turkana Basin. See also East Turkana; Lake Turkana; Omo-Turkana Basin; West Turkana
early hominins in, 108
evolutionary history of, 47, 49
fossil record of bovids in, 268–70
fossil sites, 76, 86
geology of, 59–62, 196–97, 269
Harris’s work throughout, 90
during the Miocene, 93, 94
modern species appearances in, 159–60
Richard and exploration of, 58, 60
robust australopithecines and, 182
sediment layers in, 60–61, 261–62
suid lineages in, 91
Turkana Basin Institute (TBI), 294–95, 341
Turkana Boy. See also Homo erectus
Dean’s study of teeth of, 236–37
development of, 231–36, 249
discovery and excavation of, 76, 125, 193, 195, 230–31
humeral torsion in, 283
scoliosis, 240–41
search for hand and foot bones of, 282
skeleton of, 53
Walker and, 231–36, 249, 289, 316
Turkana people, 51–52, 70–71, 316
Turkanapithecus, 48
Turkanemys pattersoni, 85, 87
Turkwell River, 64, 65, 305–6
turnover-pulse hypothesis, 194
turtles and turtle fossils, 49, 85, 86–87
U
Uganda, 39, 41
United States, 11–12, 16, 20, 249
University of Bangor, 14–16, 26, 27, 120
University of the Witwatersrand, 178–79, 201
University of Western Australia, 338
UV radiation, 337–40
V
venomous sting, 188
vertisols, 158
vervets, 25–26
vitamin A, 239–40
vitamin D synthesis, 338–40
volcanic eruptions, 59, 60–62, 82, 84, 157
Vondra, Carl, 61
Vrba, Elisabeth, 194, 268, 269
W
Walker, Alan
Allia Bay and Kanapoi material studied by, 152–55
excavation and sabre-toothed cat bones, 109
friendship with Leakeys, 43
H. erectus pelvis calculations and, 233
Kanapoi survey and, 125
KNM-ER 1808 and, 239
at Lothagam, 109, 119
Meave’s collaborations with, 46, 50, 150–51
skull discoveries and, 182, 219, 305
Turkana Boy and, 231–36, 249, 289, 316
The Wisdom of the Bones, 233
walking versus running, 253–55
Ward, Carol, 90, 152–55
warthogs, 20
watercrafts, 279
The Weather Makers (Flannery), 257, 310
Weidenreich, Franz, 210
Weiner, Jonathan, 103
Wells, Spencer, 323, 326, 327, 333
Werdelin, Lars, 109
Weston, Eleanor, 90
West Turkana, 64–65, 270
White, Tim
Ardipithecus ramidus and, 148–50, 166, 168
Australopithecus ghari and, 190
Hadar and Laetoli fossils and, 136–37, 152, 155
hill crawl method, 167–68
H. sapiens fossils discovered by, 309
Lomekwi skull and, 201
single-lineage hypothesis and, 136–38, 171, 206, 207
White House, 9–11
Wildlife Conservation and Management Department, 55–58, 74
Williams, Renata, 120–21
Wilson, Alan, 63
Winterson, Michael, 23, 24
The Wisdom of the Bones (Walker), 233
Wood, Bernard, 216, 255
Woranso-Mille, 138
wrist morphology, 281–82
Wynn, Jonathan, 158
Y
Y chromosome, 326–27, 329
Z
Zagros mountain range, 276
zebras, 29–30, 36, 244, 247, 290
Zhoukoudian excavation, 209–10
Zinjanthropus. See Dear Boy (skull)
Zonneveld, Frans, 255
About the Authors
Maeve Leakey coheads field efforts in northern Kenya seeking fossil records to the roots of humankind. She has worked at the National Museums of Kenya since 1969 and is a research professor at Stony Brook University. She has been elected an honorary fellow of the Geological Society of London and inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, was a National Geographic explorer-in-residence, served as a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, and received the National Geographic Hubbard Medal, among many other accolades and achievements.
Samira Leakey has degrees from the University of London and Princeton University. She lives in Kenya with her daughter.
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