Java Man: How Two Geologists' Dramatic Discoveries Changed Our Understanding of the Evolutionary Path to Modern Humans
- List Price: $27.50
- Binding: Hardcover
- Publisher: Scribner Book Company
- Publish date: 11/01/2000
Description:
In much the same way as Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein before them, Garniss Curtis and Carl Swisher affected a sea change in human consciousness when their astonishing findings hit the cover of Time in 1994. Using new techniques for dating fossils, Curtis and Swisher proved that the "primitive" Homo erectus actually coexisted with Homo sapiens and was probably not an evolutionary precursor after all. Human ancestors must have left the Cradle of Mankind -- the African continent -- a million years earlier than experts had believed. And it seems there was no certainty about how or where -- or even if at all -- Homo sapiens might evolve.
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Java Man is the story of a pair of geologists who wandered innocently into the highly contentious world of anthropology -- and caused a major uproar. How did they do it? With his trademark lucid prose and infectious enthusiasm For his subject, renowned popular science writer Roger Lewin takes us on a journey to the lndonesian island of Java, where Curtis and Swisher's discovery was born. Wholly accessible to the lay reader and filled with scientific facts that will intrigue more serious readers, the book reads like the best adventure fiction, recounting the exciting progression of the story while considering its far-reaching implications.
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