Research Catalog

Java man : how two geologists' dramatic discoveries changed our understanding of the evolutionary path to modern humans

Title
Java man : how two geologists' dramatic discoveries changed our understanding of the evolutionary path to modern humans / Carl C. Swisher, Garniss H. Curtis, Roger Lewin.
Author
Swisher, Carl Celso III.
Publication
New York : Scribner, ©2000.

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Details

Additional Authors
  • Curtis, Garniss H.
  • Lewin, Roger.
Description
256 pages : illustrations (some color), map; 24 cm
Summary
"The authors take us on a journey to the Indonesian island of Java, where Curtis and Swisher made two important discoveries: first, that human ancestors left the Cradle of Man-kind - the African continent - and migrated east almost two million years ago, much earlier than anthropologists had believed, and second, that Homo Erectus might have survived until as late as 27,000 years ago, suggesting that Homo Erectus actually coexisted with Homo sapiens and was probably not an evolutionary precursor. Their findings not only destroy the straight line of human evolution, but also call into question the inevitability of the evolution of Homo sapiens." "Eventually, politics and a lack of funding find their way into the story, providing a realistic, if unfortunate, look at the travails that accompany scientific discovery. Swisher's and Curtis's findings are often met with skepticism, and their scientific methods are called into question. But conviction and determination lead them to conclusions that not only redefine their field but raise philosophical questions about what it means to be human."--Jacket.
Subject
  • Java man
  • Human evolution
  • Geochronometry
  • Evolution (Biology)
  • Anthropology > history
  • Biological Evolution
  • evolution
  • Geochronometry
  • Human evolution
  • Java man
  • Indonesia
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (p. 237-244) and index.
Contents
Tales a Child Can Tell -- The Road to Trinil -- On to Mojokerto -- The Lure of the Missing Link -- Dubois's Story: Link No Longer Missing -- The Child Has a Date -- Rocky Marriage, Painful Separation -- On the Cusp of Humanity -- A Change of Body -- A Change of Mind -- The Origin of Modern Humans -- Headhunters at Ngandong -- Facing the Inescapable.
ISBN
  • 0684800004
  • 9780684800004
LCCN
00061187
OCLC
  • ocm44683602
  • 44683602
  • SCSB-1254633
Owning Institutions
Princeton University Library