Exploring behaviour through bones has always been a fascinating topic to those that study human remains. Human bodies record and store vast amounts of information about the way we move, where we live, and our experiences of health and socioeconomic circumstances. We see it every day, and experience it, but when it comes to past populations, understanding behaviour is largely mediated by our ability to read it in bones. Behaviour in Our Bones: How Human Behaviour Influences Skeletal Morphology examines how human physical and cultural actions and interactions can be read through careful analyses of skeletal human remains. This book synthesises the latest research on reconstructing behaviour in the past. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific region of the human body, guiding the reader from head to toe and highlighting how evidence found on the skull, shoulder, thorax, spine, pelvis, and the upper and lower limbs has been used to infer patterns of activity and other behaviour. Chapter authors expertly summarise and critically discuss a range of methodological, theoretical, and interpretive approaches used to read skeletal remains and interpret a wide variety of behaviours, including tool use, locomotion, reproduction, health, pathology, and beyond. - Serves as a comprehensive resource for readers who are new to human skeletal behaviour investigations - Offers an overview on how behaviour may impact the entire skeleton (from head to toe) - Discusses activities that can leave evidence on the human skeleton and how behaviour can become incorporated in bone - Introduces methods that biological anthropologists use to quantify and interpret skeletal evidence for behaviour and its range of morphological variation - Critically examines the current state of skeletal behaviour research and provides recommendations for future work in this field

A synthetic treatment of the study of human remains from archaeological contexts for current and future generations of bioarchaeologists.

A wild myth. A lake amidst a forbidden forest. A siren song. When Esai arrives at St. Margaret’s imposing campus, amidst which lie the mysterious woods, she plunges headfirst into a world of power games, underground recitals, new enemies, and complicated relationships. And then Esai is lured into the arms of something far more dangerous and exciting —a water spirit lurking in the foliage. She stumbles onto an ancient secret that threatens to dismantle the entire college to the bone. Esai knows something the others don’t. She finds herself at the heart of the unrest brewing on campus, alongside Scheher. Scheher, once her only friend, now a formidable face of dissent. What happens when those you fought for once, turn against you? Within the halls and thickets of St. Margaret’s, decisions must be made. Friends, foes, and lovers must learn to navigate the quiet truths of life, the fragility of friendships, and the aftermath of passion.

"Splendid and important... Scientifically rigorous and written with a clarity and candor that create a gripping tale... [Böhme's] account of the history of Europe's lost apes is imbued with the sweat, grime, and triumph that is the lot of the fieldworker, and carries great authority." —Tim Flannery, The New York Review of Books In this "fascinating forensic inquiry into human origins" (Kirkus STARRED Review), a renowned paleontologist takes readers behind-the-scenes of one of the most groundbreaking archaeological digs in recent history. Somewhere west of Munich, paleontologist Madelaine Böhme and her colleagues dig for clues to the origins of humankind. What they discover is beyond anything they ever imagined: the twelve-million-year-old bones of Danuvius guggenmosi make headlines around the world. This ancient ape defies prevailing theories of human history—his skeletal adaptations suggest a new common ancestor between apes and humans, one that dwelled in Europe, not Africa. Might the great apes that traveled from Africa to Europe before Danuvius's time be the key to understanding our own origins? All this and more is explored in Ancient Bones. Using her expertise as a paleoclimatologist and paleontologist, Böhme pieces together an awe-inspiring picture of great apes that crossed land bridges from Africa to Europe millions of years ago, evolving in response to the challenging conditions they found. She also takes us behind the scenes of her research, introducing us to former theories of human evolution (complete with helpful maps and diagrams), and walks us through musty museum overflow storage where she finds forgotten fossils with yellowed labels, before taking us along to the momentous dig where she and the team unearthed Danuvius guggenmosi himself—and the incredible reverberations his discovery caused around the world. Praise for Ancient Bones: "Readable and thought-provoking. Madelaine Böhme is an iconoclast whose fossil discoveries have challenged long-standing ideas on the origins of the ancestors of apes and humans." —Steve Brusatte, New York Times-bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs "An inherently fascinating, impressively informative, and exceptionally thought-provoking read." —Midwest Book Review "An impressive introduction to the burgeoning recalibration of paleoanthropology." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Leading New Zealand anti-apartheid campaigner Trevor Richards has written this history of New Zealand's contribution to the fight against racism and apartheid in South Africa. The story of the protests is vividly told - but it is not an account of one man's battle against the system - "it is a serious history of a crucial part of our recent past."

In Uncivilised Genes: Human Evolution and the Urban Paradox, Gustav Milne explores how we can reconfigure our lifestyles and urban environments, based on an understanding of our prehistoric past, in order to bring about a richer future for mankind. We evolved as hunter-gatherers over a period of more than three million years: living off the land within small tribal societies in a symbiotic working relationship with nature. Understanding this legacy and how our evolution has determined our social, psychological, nutritional and physiological needs means we can adopt what Milne has termed evolutionary-concordant behaviours: behaviours designed to reconcile the fundamental mismatch between our current urban lifestyles and our ancient biology. Our ancestral diets and lifestyles could hold the secret not only to enhancing our health and happiness but also to combating the prevalence of western lifestyle diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and various types of cancer to name but a few. Milne expertly evaluates these challenges - along with many other issues pertinent to our urban wellbeing - and proposes solutions within our reach, including adaptations to our dietary regimes, lifestyle-embedded activities and school and university curriculums, and a re-engineering of our built environment to better suit our needs. Drawing on what archaeological evidence reveals about Palaeolithic and Mesolithic diets, as well as on anthropological studies of contemporary hunter-gatherer societies, Uncivilised Genes offers timely insights to enhance our collective and individual health and prosperity. It also shines a spotlight on the evolutionary determinants of social behaviour, and looks at how we can bridge the gap between the world we are creating and the un-urbanised, uncivilised world to which we are genetically and psychologically better adapted. This book is not a rejection of modernity. Neither is it a call to reject towns and seek solace in a rural idyll, nor another celebrity-endorsed fad diet or exercise programme. Rather, it is a comprehensive chronicle of the myriad factors that continue to contribute to our societal and personal wellbeing, and a broad-ranging blueprint for a richer future more in tune with our basic physiology, psychology, metabolism and mindset. Essential reading for anyone interested in living a healthier, more evolutionary-concordant life. Contents include: 1. In the Beginning; 2. Genesis; 3. A View of the Garden; 4. A Hunger Game; 5. Food for Thought; 6. Body of Evidence; 7. A Life Less Sedentary; 8. Lost Tribes; 9. Hunter-Gatherer vs. Football-Shopper; 10. Music and Words; 11. Green and Pleasant; 12. Central Park; 13. Old Town; 14. Urban Regeneration; 15. Revelations.

This informative volume summarizes what is known about bone mechanics. It describes the methods used to acquire that knowledge and suggests the nature of future research on this topic. This easy-to-read book keeps mathematical notation simple and minimal and presents data in summary form. Bone Mechanics is concerned with the mechanical behavior and functional stress adaptation of whole bones as structural elements, the mechanical behavior and functional adaptation of bone tissue as material, and the physiological significance of the mechanical properties of bone and the biological response of bone to applied stress. Orthopaedic surgeons, dentists, anatomists, biologists, biomedical engineers and physiologists are among those who will find this volume to be of interest.

"Bubbles over with the joy of scientific discovery as he shares his natural enthusiasm for the blend of sleuthing and imagination."—Publishers Weekly, starred review What if we woke up one morning all of the dinosaur bones in the world were gone? How would we know these iconic animals had a165-million year history on earth, and had adapted to all land-based environments from pole to pole? What clues would be left to discern not only their presence, but also to learn about their sex lives, raising of young, social lives, combat, and who ate who? What would it take for us to know how fast dinosaurs moved, whether they lived underground, climbed trees, or went for a swim?Welcome to the world of ichnology, the study of traces and trace fossils – such as tracks, trails, burrows, nests, toothmarks, and other vestiges of behavior – and how through these remarkable clues, we can explore and intuit the rich and complicated lives of dinosaurs. With a unique, detective-like approach, interpreting the forensic clues of these long-extinct animals that leave a much richer legacy than bones, Martin brings the wild world of the Mesozoic to life for the 21st century reader.

This is a comprehensive and accessible overview of what is known about the structure and mechanics of bone, bones, and teeth. In it, John Currey incorporates critical new concepts and findings from the two decades of research since the publication of his highly regarded The Mechanical Adaptations of Bones. Crucially, Currey shows how bone structure and bone's mechanical properties are intimately bound up with each other and how the mechanical properties of the material interact with the structure of whole bones to produce an adapted structure. For bone tissue, the book discusses stiffness, strength, viscoelasticity, fatigue, and fracture mechanics properties. For whole bones, subjects dealt with include buckling, the optimum hollowness of long bones, impact fracture, and properties of cancellous bone. The effects of mineralization on stiffness and toughness and the role of microcracking in the fracture process receive particular attention. As a zoologist, Currey views bone and bones as solutions to the design problems that vertebrates have faced during their evolution and throughout the book considers what bones have been adapted to do. He covers the full range of bones and bony tissues, as well as dentin and enamel, and uses both human and non-human examples. Copiously illustrated, engagingly written, and assuming little in the way of prior knowledge or mathematical background, Bones is both an ideal introduction to the field and also a reference sure to be frequently consulted by practicing researchers.

Analyzes experiences in British schools concerning students' ability to learn on their own.