Modern Origins: A North African Perspective (Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology)

Over the last decade, Africa has taken a central position in the search for the timing and mechanisms leading to modern human origins, and the rich archaeological and human paleontological record of North Africa is critical to this search. Â In this volume, we bring together new research into the archaeology, human paleontology, chronology, and environmental context of modern human origins in North Africa. Â The result is a volume that better integrates the North African record into the modern human origins debate and at the same time highlights the research questions that are currently the focus of continued work in the area.â Front Matter....Pages i-xxi Front Matter....Pages 1-1 A Multiproxy Paleoclimate Reconstruction over the Last 250 kyr from Marine Sediments: The Northwest African Margin and the Western Mediterranean Sea....Pages 3-17 A Northeast Saharan Perspective on Environmental Variability in North Africa and its Implications for Modern Human Origins....Pages 19-34 Spatial and Temporal Variation in the Nature of Pleistocene Pluvial Phase Environments Across North Africa....Pages 35-47 The Faunal Context of Human Evolution in the Late Middle/Late Pleistocene of Northwestern Africa....Pages 49-60 New Data from the Site of Ifri n’Ammar (Morocco) and Some Remarks on the Chronometric Status of the Middle Paleolithic in the Maghreb....Pages 61-78 Amino Chronology and an Earlier Age for the Moroccan Aterian....Pages 79-90 Front Matter....Pages 91-91 The Identity and Timing of the Aterian in Morocco....Pages 93-105 Late Pleistocene Human Subsistence in Northern Africa: The State of our Knowledge and Placement in a Continental Context....Pages 107-125 Modern Human Desert Adaptations: A Libyan Perspective on the Aterian Complex....Pages 127-142 Middle Stone Age in Tunisia: Present Status of Knowledge and Recent Advances....Pages 143-155 The Aterian of the Oases of the Western Desert of Egypt: Adaptation to Changing Climatic Conditions?....Pages 157-175 Front Matter....Pages 177-177 Morphological Continuity of the Face in the Late Middle and Late Pleistocene Hominins from Northwestern Africa: A 3D Geometric Morphometric Analysis....Pages 179-188 Dental Evidence from the Aterian Human Populations of Morocco....Pages 189-204 The Upper Paleolithic Human Remains of Nazlet Khater 2 (Egypt) and Past Modern Human Diversity....Pages 205-219 Middle Pleistocene Diversity in Africa and the Origin of Modern Humans....Pages 221-240 Back Matter....Pages 241-244 Over the last decade, Africa has taken a central position in the search for the timing and mechanisms leading to modern human origins, and the rich archaeological and human paleontological record of North Africa is critical to this search. Â In this volume, we bring together new research into the archaeology, human paleontology, chronology, and environmental context of modern human origins in North Africa. Â The result is a volume that better integrates the North African record into the modern human origins debate and at the same time highlights the research questions that are currently the focus of continued work in the area.â