The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey: Unearthing the Origins of Monkeys, Apes, and Humans

366 Pages·2004·4.23 MB·English

by  Christopher Beard

THE HUNT FOR THE DAWN MONKEY

University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2004 by the Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Beard, K. Chris.
The hunt for the dawn monkey : unearthing the
origins of monkeys, apes, and humans / Chris Beard;
illustrations by Mark Klingler.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 0–520–23369–7 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Primates, Fossil. 2. Monkeys, Fossil.
3. Fossil hominids. 4. Human beings—Origin.
5. Paleoanthropology. I. Title.
qe882.p7b35 2004
569'.8—dc22 2004001403
Manufactured in the United States of America
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of ansi/nisoz39.48–1992 (r1997)
(Permanence of Paper).
For Sandi
Amor vitae supervivit

The Hunt for
the Dawn Monkey
Unearthing the Origins of
Monkeys, Apes, and Humans
CHRIS BEARD
ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARK KLINGLER
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley Los Angeles London
Contents
List of Illustrations / ix
Preface / xiii
1 Missing Links and Dawn Monkeys / 1
2 Toward Egypt’s Sacred Bull / 29
3 A Gem from the Willwood / 61
4 The Forest in the Sahara / 87
5 Received Wisdom / 115
6 The Birth of a Ghost Lineage / 142
7 Initial Hints from Deep Time / 167
8 Ghost Busters / 194
9 Resurrecting the Ghost / 215
10 Into the African Melting Pot / 246
11 Paleoanthropology and Pithecophobia / 277
Notes / 295
References Cited / 313
Index / 331

Illustrations
FIGURES
1. Cranial anatomy typical of prosimians and anthropoids 7
2. The author and Wen Chaohua 10
3. Barnum Brown’s expedition to Myanmar 17
4. Holotype lower jaw of Amphipithecus mogaungensis 19
5. Ladder and tree evolutionary paradigms 26
6. Georges Cuvier 31
7. Nineteenth-century exploitation of phosphatic fissure-
fillings in France unearths Adapisand other primate fossils 37
8. Lower jaws of two European adapiforms 46
9. Skull of Tetonius homunculus 65
10. Trogolemurand Shoshoniusincisor morphology 69
11. Fragmentary specimen of lower jaw of Teilhardina 73
12. Gradual evolution documented in Bighorn Basin
omomyids 77
13. Jacob Wortman and other notable paleontologists near
Sheep Creek, Wyoming, 1899 85
14. Holotype lower jaw of Apidium phiomense 91
15. Elwyn Simons and Tom Bown in the Fayum 98
16. Face of Aegyptopithecus zeuxis 101
ix