Java Man : How Two Geologists Dramatic Discoveries Changed Our Understanding of the Evolutionary Path to Modern Humans

With their revolutionary discovery about human origins, a pair of maverick geologists single-handedly shook the foundations of science and philosophy. Here, for the first time, is the inside story. <P> For much of the twentieth century, anthropologists believed in a simple, linear picture of evolution: the human family was born in Africa and remained there until Homo erectus, a relatively advanced form of human, migrated into eastern Asia about one million years ago. All later humans, these anthropologists thought, developed through a steady modernization process from Homo erectus. But when Garniss Curtis and Carl Swisher of the Berkeley Geochronology Center applied advanced potassium/argon dating techniques to previously studied -- and incorrectly dated -- fossils in Indonesia, their findings shocked the anthropological community and drastically altered our current view of human evolution. <P> With lucid prose and infectious enthusiasm for the subject, the authors take us on a journey tothe Indonesian island of Java, where Curtis and Swisher made two important discoveries: first, that human ancestors left the Cradle of Mankind

Author: Roger Lewin, Garniss H. Curtis, Carl Swisher

Language: English

Edition: 1st

Binding: Hardcover

Pages: 256

Publisher: Scribner

Publication Date: 2000-11-21