Rethinking Human Evolution

385 Pages·2018·14.94 MB·English

by  Jeffrey H. Schwartz

Rethinking Human Evolution
Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology
Gerd B. Müller, editor- in- chief
Thomas Pradeu, Katrin Schäfer, associate editors
The Evolution of Cognition, edited by Cecilia Heyes and Ludwig Huber, 2000
Origination of Organismal Form, edited by Gerd B. Müller and Stuart A. Newman, 2003
Environment, Development, and Evolution, edited by Brian K. Hall, Roy D. Pearson, and Gerd B. Müller, 2004
Evolution of Communication Systems, edited by D. Kimbrough Oller and Ulrike Griebel, 2004
Modularity: Understanding the Development and Evolution of Natu ral Complex Systems, edited by Werner
Callebaut and Diego Rasskin-G utman, 2005
Compositional Evolution: The Impact of Sex, Symbiosis, and Modularity on the Gradualist Framework of Evolu-
tion, by Richard A. Watson, 2006
Biological Emergences: Evolution by Natur al Experiment, by Robert G. B. Reid, 2007
Modeling Biology: Structure, Beh av iors, Evolution, edited by Manfred D. Laubichler and Gerd B. Müller, 2007
Evolution of Communicative Flexibility, edited by Kimbrough D. Oller and Ulrike Griebel, 2008
Functions in Biological and Artificial Worlds, edited by Ulrich Krohs and Peter Kroes, 2009
Cognitive Biology, edited by Luca Tommasi, Mary A. Peterson and Lynn Nadel, 2009
Innovation in Cultural Systems, edited by Michael J. O’Brien and Stephen J. Shennan, 2010
The Major Transitions in Evolution Revisited, edited by Brett Calcott and Kim Sterelny, 2011
Transformations of Lamarckism, edited by Snait B. Gissis and Eva Jablonka, 2011
Convergent Evolution: Limited Forms Most Beautiful, by George McGhee, 2011
From Groups to Individuals, edited by Frédéric Bouchard and Philippe Huneman, 2013
Developing Scaffolds in Evolution, Culture, and Cognition, edited by Linnda R. Caporael, James Griesemer, and
William C. Wimsatt, 2014
Multicellularity: Origins and Evolution, edited by Karl J. Niklas and Stuart A. Newman, 2015
Vivarium: Experimental, Quantitative, and Theoretical Biology at Vienna’s Biologische Versuchsanstalt, edited
by Gerd B. Müller, 2017
Landscapes of Collectivity in the Life Sciences, edited by Snait B. Gissis, Ehud Lamm, and Ayelet Shavit, 2017
Rethinking Human Evolution, edited by Jeffrey H. Schwartz, 2017
Rethinking Human Evolution
edited by Jeffrey H. Schwartz
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Mas sa chu setts
London, England
© 2017 Mas sa chu setts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means
(including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the
publisher.
This book was set in Times New Roman by Westchester Publishing Services. Printed and bound in the United
States of Amer i ca.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Schwartz, Jeffrey H., editor.
Title: Rethinking human evolution / edited by Jeffrey H. Schwartz.
Description: Cambridge, MA : The MIT Press, [2018] | Series: Vienna series in theoretical biology |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017027095 | ISBN 9780262037327 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Human evolution.
Classification: LCC GN281 .R417 2018 | DDC 599.93/8—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov /2017027095
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In memory of Werner Callebaut

Contents
Series Foreword ix
Preface xi
1 The Deceptive Search for “Missing Links” in H uman Evolution,
1860–2010: Do Paleoanthropologists Always Work in the Best
Interests of Their Discipline? 1
Richard G. Delisle
2 Biological Explanations and Their Limits: Paleoanthropology
among the Sciences 31
Siobhan Mc Manus
3 Human and Mammalian Evolution: Is There a Difference? 53
John de Vos and Jelle W. F. Reumer
4 What’s Real About Human Evolution? Received Wisdom,
Assumptions, and Scenarios 61
Jeffrey H. Schwartz
5 To Tree or Not to Tree Homo Sapiens 93
Rob DeSalle, Apurva Narechania, Martine Zilversmit,
Jeff Rosenfeld, and Michael Tessler
6 Hypothesis Compatibility Versus Hypothesis Testing of Models
of Human Evolution 109
Alan R. Templeton
7 Out of Africa: The Evolution and History of H uman Populations
in the Southern Dispersal Zone 129
Michael D. Petraglia and Huw S. Groucutt
8 The Phylogenomic Origins and Definition of Homo Sapiens 139
Peter J. Waddell
viii Contents
9 “Like Fixing an Airplane in Flight”: On Paleoanthropology
as an Evolutionary Discipline, or Paleoanthropology for What? 181
Fred L. Bookstein
10 Back to Basics: Morphological Analys is in Paleoanthropology 205
Markus Bastir
11 Where Evolutionary Biology Meets History: Ethno-n ationalism
and Modern Human Origins in East Asia 229
Robin Dennell
12 Referential Models for the Study of Hominin Evolution:
How Many Do We Need? 251
Gabriele A. Macho
13 Archeological Sites from 2.6–2.0 Ma: Toward a Deeper
Understanding of the Early Oldowan 267
Thomas W. Plummer and Emma M. Finestone
14 Human Brain Evolution: History or Science? 297
Dietrich Stout
15 Brain Size and the Emergence of Modern H uman Cognition 319
Ian Tattersall
16 Sex, Reproduction, and Scenarios of Human Evolution 335
Claudine Cohen
Contributors 353
Index 355
Series Foreword
Biology is a leading science in this c entury. As in all other sciences, prog ress in biology
depends on the interrelations between empirical research, theory building, modeling, and
societal context. But whereas molecular and experimental biology have evolved dramati-
cally in recent years, generating a flood of highly detailed data, the integration of these
results into useful theoretical frameworks has lagged behind. Driven largely by pragmatic
and technical considerations, research in biology continues to be less guided by theory than
seems indicated. By promoting the formulation and discussion of new theoretical concepts
in the biosciences, this series intends to help fill import ant gaps in our understanding of
some of the major open questions of biology, such as the origin and organi zation of organ-
ismal form, the relationship between development and evolution, and the biological bases
of cognition and mind. Theoretical biology has import ant roots in the experimental tradition
of early- twentieth- century Vienna. Paul Weiss and Ludwig von Bertalanffy were among
the first to use the term theoretical biology in its modern sense. In their understanding the
subject was not limited to mathematical formalization, as is often the case t oday, but extended
to the conceptual foundations of biology. It is this commitment to a comprehensive and cross-
disciplinary integration of theoretical concepts that the Vienna Series intends to emphasize.
Today, theoretical biology has gen e tic, developmental, and evolutionary components, the
central connective themes in modern biology, but it also includes relevant aspects of
computational or systems biology and extends to the naturalistic philosophy of sciences.
The Vienna Series grew out of theory-o riented workshops or ga nized by the KLI, an inter-
national institute for the advanced study of natu ral complex systems. The KLI fosters
research proje cts, workshops, book proj ects, and the journal Biological Theory, all devoted
to aspects of theoretical biology, with an emphasis on— but not restriction to— integrating
the developmental, evolutionary, and cognitive sciences. The series editors welcome sug-
gestions for book proj ects in these domains.
Gerd B. Müller, Thomas Pradeu, Katrin Schäfer