The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins

Citation

Klein, R. G. (2009). The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins (3rd ed.). University of Chicago Press.

Chapter Summary

The third edition has eight chapters, but they are very unequal in length: the text runs to about 750 pages, followed by roughly 180 pages of references and three indexes (a reference index, a site index and a subject index), for a total of 989 pages. The first edition, published in 1989, was listed at 524 pages, so the book has almost doubled. The publisher describes it as a chronicle of human evolution "from the earliest primates through the emergence of fully modern humans within the past 200,000 years", covering both the fossil record and the archaeological record over the 2.5 million years for which both are available. The chapter summaries below follow the contents list and the publisher's description, and the page counts are taken from the contents list.

Chapter 1: Evolution, Classification, and Nomenclature

A short opening chapter (about eighteen pages) whose title points to the conceptual and naming background for the rest of the book: evolution, classification and nomenclature.

Chapter 2: The Geologic Time Frame

A chapter of about forty-five pages on the geological framework in which the fossil and archaeological records are placed.

Chapter 3: The Primate Background

About sixty-five pages on the primates from which the human lineage emerged. This is the chapter that takes the story back to the earliest primates, which the publisher gives as the starting point.

Chapter 4: The Australopiths and Homo habilis

At about 150 pages, this is one of the longest chapters. It covers the australopiths and Homo habilis, the first hominin groups in the contents list.

Chapter 5: Evolution of the Genus Homo

About 155 pages devoted to the genus Homo.

Chapter 6: The Neanderthals and Their Contemporaries

The single largest chapter, at about 180 pages, treating the Neanderthals together with the other people living at the same time.

Chapter 7: Anatomically Modern Humans

About 110 pages on anatomically modern humans. The publisher stresses the growing evidence that fully modern humans originated in Africa and spread from there, replacing the Neanderthals in Europe and equally archaic people in Asia.

Chapter 8: Synopsis: Anatomy, Behavior, and Modern Human Origins

A closing chapter of nearly thirty pages that draws the evidence together on anatomy, behaviour and the origin of modern humans. After it come the references (pages 753–933) and the indexes.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–3

• Classification and nomenclature: the framework for naming organisms and fossil groups.
• The geologic time frame: the time scale used to date the record.
• The primate background: the ancestry from which hominins arise.

Chapters 4–6

• Australopiths and Homo habilis: the early hominin groups of Chapter 4.
• The genus Homo: the subject of Chapter 5.
• Neanderthals and their contemporaries: Chapter 6.

Chapters 7–8

• Anatomically modern humans: Chapter 7.
• Modern human origins: the synthesis in Chapter 8 of anatomy and behaviour, in which the publisher says morphology and behaviour are shown to have evolved together.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Fossils and archaeology together. The publisher emphasises the coverage of both records over the 2.5 million years for which both exist, and its argument that human morphology and behaviour evolved together. The contents show the middle chapters organised by hominin group.
• Alternative views, plainly stated position. According to the publisher, Klein presents the evidence for alternative points of view but "does not hesitate to make his own position clear", which tells a reader that this is a synthesis with a stand, not a neutral catalogue.
• Heavily documented. About 180 pages of references and separate reference, site and subject indexes make the book usable as a reference to the literature and to individual sites.
• Reader aids added in this edition. The third edition adds numerous tables, a new citation system designed to enhance readability, and more than fifty new illustrations.

Limitations

• Size. At 989 numbered pages plus thirty of front matter, it is far too long to read straight through in a typical course, so the reader must choose chapters. The first edition was about half as long.
• Dated by edition. The third edition appeared in 2009, so later discoveries and analyses of the human fossil and genetic record need to come from newer sources.
• Dense treatment. The publisher's own description is of a detailed account of the kinds of data that support the broad pattern of human evolution. This makes the book better suited to readers who already know the basics than to beginners.
• A single author's position. Because Klein states his own view (the publisher's summary stresses African origin and replacement of archaic populations), students should compare it with other sources, such as Lewin and Foley's treatment of the same debate.

Where It Fits in the Course

Klein is the reference-scale text of the biological anthropology list. The introductory books come first: Stanford, Allen and Antón's Biological Anthropology, Larsen's Our Origins, the free Explorations textbook, and Bernard Wood's Human Evolution: A Very Short Introduction each give the vocabulary and the outline of the field. Lewin and Foley's Principles of Human Evolution is the theory-led alternative: it begins with evolutionary and ecological theory (seven chapters of framework before any hominin appears), whereas Klein goes straight from classification and geological time to the primates and then through the record in order.

The two books are therefore complementary: Lewin and Foley for how evolutionary theory frames the question, Klein for what is known, site by site and specimen by specimen.

How to Use This Book

It is meant for students who have had an introductory course in biological anthropology and need a detailed synthesis of the record. As a reference, use the contents and the site and subject indexes to look up a hominin group or locality and follow its references into the primary literature.

For a course, read Chapter 1 and the parts of Chapter 2 that explain dating, then work through Chapters 4–7 in order, selecting the portions that match the lectures. Chapter 8 is the best single place to see how the evidence is summarised, and it can be read early as a guide to the argument. Read the Neanderthal and modern human chapters (6 and 7) together with a theory-led source such as Lewin and Foley.