The Wisdom of Bones by Alan Walker

The Wisdom of Bones by Alan Walker

This work tells the story of the excavation of the "Nariokotome Boy", found in Kenya in 1984 by Richard Leakey and Walker, and the most complete skeleton of Homo erectus ever found. The book also details the detective work that followed the find and the insights into our species that were revealed. The "Nariokotome Boy" has been able to tell scientists more about the human past than any other fossil so far. Instead of a human trapped in an ape body, Walker and his team found an animal in a human body - a small brain, but with legs, pelvis and torso that were astonishingly human, along with a thoroughly human adaptation to his tropical climate in terms of body build and heat disposition. The animal had mastered the human "trick" of growing a human brain at foetal rates, something no true animal can do. They also discovered that the Boy was speechless, a fact contradicting the accepted wisdom that language acquisition marks the origin of humankind.

Pat Shipman is an anthropologist at Pennsylvania State University.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780297816706
ISBN 10	0297816705
Title	The Wisdom of Bones
Author	Alan Walker
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Orion Publishing Co
Year published	1996-04-15
Number of pages	320
Prizes	Winner of Science Books Prize 1997
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable