The Unstoppable Human Species

The Emergence of Homo Sapiens in Prehistory

John J. Shea (State University of New York, Stony Brook)

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English

Cambridge University Press
23 March 2023

Prehistoric archaeology; Mathematics & Sciences

In The Unstoppable Human Species John Shea explains how the earliest humans achieved mastery over all but the most severe, biosphere-level, extinction threats. He explores how and why we humans owe our survival skills to our global geographic range, a diaspora that was achieved during prehistoric times. By developing and integrating a suite of Ancestral Survival Skills, humans overcame survival challenges better than other hominins, and settled in previously unoccupied habitats. But how did they do it? How did early humans endure long enough to become our ancestors? Shea places 'how did they survive?' questions front and center in prehistory. Using an explicitly scientific, comparative, and hypothesis-testing approach, The Unstoppable Human Species critically examines much 'archaeological mythology' about prehistoric humans. Written in clear and engaging language, Shea's volume offers an original and thought-provoking perspective on human evolution. Moving beyond unproductive archaeological debates about prehistoric population movements, The Unstoppable Human Species generates new and interesting questions about human evolution.

By: John J. Shea (State University of New York Stony Brook)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 253mm, Width: 175mm, Spine: 21mm
Weight: 690g
ISBN: 9781108452984
ISBN 10: 1108452981
Pages: 350
Publication Date: 23 March 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

John J. Shea is Professor of Anthropology at Stony Brook University, New York. He is the author of Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Near East: A Guide (Cambridge University Press, 2013), Stone Tools in Human Evolution: Behavioral Differences Among Technological Primates (Cambridge University Press, 2019), and Prehistoric Stone Tools of Eastern Africa: A Guide (Cambridge University Press, 2020). A paleoanthropologist, archaeologist, and an experienced practitioner of ancestral survival skills, Shea's demonstrations of stoneworking appear in numerous television documentaries and in the United States National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC.

Reviews for The Unstoppable Human Species: The Emergence of Homo Sapiens in Prehistory

'... a new, comprehensive, and engaging critique of current understandings of how the human species evolved and spread throughout the earth. ... Highly recommended.' R. B. Clay, Choice