Hominin Environments in the East African Pliocene / Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology (PDF)

1: Approaches to the analysis of faunal change during the East African Pliocene; 2: Environmental hypotheses of Pliocene human evolution; 3: African Pliocene and Pleistocene cercopithecid evolution and global climatic change; 4: Patterns of change in the Plio-Pleistocene carnivorans of eastern Africa: implications for hominin evolution; 5: Stratigraphic variation in Suidae from the Shungura Formation and some coeval deposits; 6: Patterns of abundance and diversity in late Cenozoic bovids from the Turkana and Hadar Basins, Kenya and Ethiopia; 7: Comparability of fossil data and its significance for the interpretation of hominin envrironments: a case study in the lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia; 8: The effects of collection strategy and effort on faunal recovery: a case study of the American and French collections from the Shungura Formation, Ethiopia; 9: Serengeti micromammals and their implications for Olduvai paleoenvironments; 10: Taphonomy and paleoecological context of the Upper Laetolil Beds (Localities 8 and 9), Laetoli in northern Tanzania; 11: The paleoecology of the Upper Laetolil Beds at Laetoli: a reconsideration of the large mammal ; 12: Fauna, taphonomy and ecology of the Plio-Pleistocene Chiwondo Beds, Northern Malawi; Finale and future: investigating faunal evidence for hominin paleoecology in East Africa

From the reviews:

'This book provides valuable insights into the way archaeologists attempt to unravel human history and the daunting problems they face'. William Ruddiman, EOS Vol. 89 No. 18, April 2008.

'The book delves intensively and extensively into the methodologies for analyzing faunal change using the mammalian fossil record, paleoecology. The 12 papers contributed by more than 30 authors focus on carnivores, bovids, nonhuman primates, and small mammals, and provide suggestions for future research. … The large amount of data has yielded a significant integration of information and shows how different lines of study can strengthen the understanding of complex evolutionary problems. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students through professionals.' D. Bardack, CHOICE, Vol. 45 No. 10, June, 2008.

'The new book by Bobé et al. is much more circumscribed in its aspirations and coverage. … In addition, most authors are to be congratulated for appropriate taphonomic sensitivity in their approaches to the fossil record. … is useful to the interested nonspecialist, and they benefit from the uniformly clear style of presentation throughout.' Travis Rayne Pickering, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2008.

'This tome is a timely and welcome contribution to the hominin paleoenvironmental literature … . a must-have for students and senior researchers alike. … The volume signifies an important step forward in hominin paleoenvironmental research and certainly foreshadows a promising body of work yet to come from a bright and enthusiastic group of researchers.' Katie M. Binetti, PaleoAnthropology, 2008.