Book review: Advances in Human Palaeopathology

Book Reviews

HOMININ ENVIRONMENTS IN THE EAST AFRICAN PLIOCENE:

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE FAUNAL EVIDENCE. Edited byRene Bobe, Zeresenay Alemseged, and Anna K.Behrensmeyer. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.2007. 356 pp. ISBN 1-4020-3097-0. $129.00 (hardcover).

More than 25 years ago, C. K. Brain introduced theidea that there might be causal links between NeogeneAfrican climate change and major events in human evo-lution. Since that time, there have been 1) consistentadvances in the study of the deep-sea paleoclimate re-cord; 2) a more sophisticated understanding of theimpact of tectonic and orbital forcing on African paleoen-vironmental conditions; and 3) the expanded recovery ofan increasingly refined terrestrial vertebrate fossil re-cord. Vrba’s turnover pulse hypothesis, which was basedon purported rapid changes in Plio-Pleistocene verte-brate community structure, was an important early stepin organizing some of these data sets into a coherent sce-nario of the mechanisms that drove human evolution.However, improved faunal samples from East Africa donot document the abrupt bursts of evolution predicted bythe turnover pulse hypothesis (e.g., Behrensmeyer et al.,Science 1997;278:1589). Undaunted, researchers forgeahead, workshops and symposia convene, and scholarlytomes are published. In the process, the hypothesis thatenvironmental (including climatic) change is linked tospeciation has become as mundane as it is profound.Two currently prominent and competing variants of thistheme are Potts’s variability selection hypothesis andthe environmental forcing hypothesis of Bobe and col-leagues.

These issues were the subject of a recent special jour-nal issue (‘‘African Paleoclimate and Human Evolution,’’Journal of Human Evolution 2007;53:443). Consideringthe storied context of the topic (much condensed here),the introductory remarks of editors Maslin and Christen-sen, ‘‘Results presented in this volume may represent thebasis of a new theory of early human evolution in Africa,’’are laid bare as hyperbole. The primary importance of theresults presented in the Maslin and Christensen issue isnot theoretical. Its value is instead as a collective, data-rich summation that parses the relative contributions oftectonics, orbital forcing, and global climate in creatinglocal African environmental conditions under which homi-nids evolved throughout the Plio-Pleistocene.

In that perspective, Hominin Environments in theEast African Pliocene, edited by Bobe et al., can be

viewed as an important companion piece. Whereas theMaslin and Christensen issue follows in a line of succes-sion from essential volumes like Paleoclimate and Evolu-tion, with Emphasis on Human Origins (edited by Vrbaet al., 1995) that compile contributions from disparatebut complementary disciplines, the new book by Bobeet al. is much more circumscribed in its aspirations andcoverage. The majority of contributors to the book’s 12chapters are paleontologists working with primary fossildata from some of the most important Pliocene sites inEast Africa. Refreshingly, the stated overarching goalsare not restrictive, and the final product demonstratesthat authors were given the latitude to contribute chap-ters that do hang together but in a very broad way. Thecollective exercise demonstrates that in East Africa—where tight constraint of temporal context is possiblebecause of radioisotopic dating—there are a variety ofcreative ways in which faunal data can be used to sit-uate the events of hominid evolution fairly specificallywithin a long period of great geological, climatological,and ecological dynamism. In addition, most authors areto be congratulated for appropriate taphonomic sensitiv-ity in their approaches to the fossil record. Many of thedata have been presented elsewhere (sometimes in dif-ferent forms or with other emphases), but having themcollected into a single volume is useful to the interestednonspecialist, and they benefit from the uniformly clearstyle of presentation throughout.

Just as with the Maslin and Christensen issue, thereis no theoretical revolution in the pages of HomininEnvironments in the East African Pliocene. Wisely, Bobeet al. never claimed their book contained one. What itdoes contain is more valuable: the further product of thelong-running, widespread, and dogged effort to refine therelationship between environment and evolution. Moretheory will never narrow this gap. More dates and morefossils will.

TRAVIS RAYNE PICKERING

Department of AnthropologyUniversity of Wisconsin-MadisonMadison, WisconsinInstitute for Human EvolutionUniversity of the WitwatersrandJohannesburg, South Africa

DOI 10.1002/ajpa.20906Published online 18 August 2008 in Wiley InterScience

(www.interscience.wiley.com).

EVOLVING EDEN: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO THE EVOLUTION

OF THE AFRICAN LARGE-MAMMAL FAUNA. By Alan Turnerand Mauricio Anton. New York: Columbia UniversityPress. 2007. 269 pp. ISBN 0-231-11945-3. $24.95(paper).

With the steady stream of books recounting the evolu-tion of ‘‘Adam’’ and ‘‘Eve,’’ people have got to be wonder-ing what the other animals in Eden were like. Perhaps,it is this much needed perspective that motivated Turner

and Anton to contribute Evolving Eden. In this volume,the notion of Eden dominates as the authors focusmainly on the large mammals that were contemporane-ous with Plio-Pleistocene hominins.

After a foreword by Elisabeth Vrba, the first chapter,‘‘Dating, continental drift, climate change, and the motorof evolution,’’ lays the foundation for the rest of the book.Anyone wishing to brush up on the first three topics shouldconsult this useful chapter. Closing with barely threepages on evolutionary theory and processes, the authors

VVC 2008 WILEY-LISS, INC.

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 138:119–122 (2009)

assume the readers are familiar with these concepts andskip their discussion in favor of getting to the animals.

The second chapter, ‘‘The background to mammalianevolution in Africa,’’ outlines the processes of looking atthe present geography, climates, and biomes of Africa tounderstand the past. Here the authors distinguish thehunting tactics of various big cats and how they maycompete for a carcass. The readers learn of the ‘‘grazingsuccession’’: zebras first nip off the tip of the blades ofgrass, then they are followed by wildebeests, thensmaller ungulates, like gazelles, obtain the most attrac-tive parts near the ground. They also discuss the waterrequirements of different taxa, wetland opportunities,adaptations for desert survival, and rain forest produc-tivity, all from the large mammal’s perspective.

Over half of the book is contained in the third chapter,‘‘African mammals, past and present.’’ As it was unneces-sary to make Evolving Eden into a proper field guide, it isnot quite organized like one, but nearly every page of thischapter contains an illustration. Before the taxa are dis-cussed in detail, general methods of anatomical recon-struction are explained, then there is a brief discussion ofzoological nomenclature, terminology, and systematics.The guide begins with the Order Primates and it followswith Creodonta, Carnivora, Embrithopoda (Arsinoitheres),Proboscidea, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, Insectivora,Macroscelidea, Chiroptera, Pholidota, Lagomorpha,Rodentia, Tubulidentata, and Hyracoidea. The authorsmention that small mammals were included only for com-pleteness. As expected, many more pages are dedicated toprimates, carnivores, and artiodactyls than to any of theother orders. This chapter is infused with interesting bitsof information, for instance, bears of an extinct tribe (Ursa-vini) lived in Africa more than 4 million years ago; sexualselection may explain the length of the giraffe neck(p 144); the hipparionine that left a tridactyl footprint atLaetoli did so because of slippery conditions, not because itnormally walked on its lateral digits (Figure 3.66).

Readers may be disoriented while gazing at the recon-struction of the ‘‘Turkana boy’’ (Figure 3.17). Antonexpertly drew a boyish face, but he extended the boy’ships to obliterate the waist. This interpretation of Homoerectus pelvic proportions, based on those of the Ata-puerca Neanderthal specimen, is not a mainstream one,and it is surprising to see this depiction of Homo erectuswithout human-like proportions. When the authors ques-tion whether the Orrorin hominin remains comprise asingle individual (p 76), they indirectly address abroader area of contention. Their critique of paleontologi-cal techniques echoes accusations made against artistsfor fashioning fossil Frankensteins to flesh out completeanimals. As long as we are fully and expertly aware ofthe limitations of the fossil record and paleontology—from death and recovery to artistic life-like reconstruc-tion—then science and art can continue hand in hand asis showcased in the pages of Evolving Eden.

In the fourth chapter, the authors discuss the environ-mental and faunal-community reconstructions of mostwell-known fossil sites located in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia,Libya, Egypt, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania,Malawi, Zambia, Namibia, and South Africa. Each entry islimited to a single paragraph or to a few short ones. Thefinal chapter, ‘‘Evolving African mammalian faunas,’’ is theprize for reading the previous four. Illustrating mostlywith words, Turner and Anton beautifully draw togetherand reconcile all the data they discuss in the earlier pagesand paint a lovely picture of Africa and its mammalian di-versity in successive evolutionary periods. The result is aglimpse of the paleolandscapes and the large mammalsthat lived there through a time traveler’s binoculars.

If there is one gripe that many readers will haveregarding Evolving Eden, it will be about the disap-pointing presentation of Anton’s exquisite drawings.There are only 16 color glossy plates, eight of whichare reconstructions, but the other eight are photo-graphs of landscapes and animal communities. Thepublisher should have replaced the latter with more ofAnton’s unique depictions of extinct mammals. Therest of the figures, although plentiful, are restricted toblack ink. Many of them portray sweeping landscapes,but they have been shrunk to a maximum of about 5 37 inches. It is difficult to appreciate much detail inthese small renderings.

The disservice the publishers did to the artwork doesnot detract from the importance of this book. It is a suc-cinct introduction to African mammalian evolution andit will easily introduce newcomers to the field. Likewise,Evolving Eden provides new, stimulating perspectives toexperienced workers. From the tone of the preface andthe epilogue, this book is also aimed at ecotourists. Mostnotably, Evolving Eden is recommended reading for any-one who teaches human evolution, especially those whohave not been to Africa to witness its biotas.

Turner and Anton bring to life the cardboard dioramasin which we so frequently place ancient hominins. Theyshow that there is more to a savanna than grass andthat animals do not evolve in a vacuum. Evolving Edenis a step toward putting ancient mammals, including‘‘Adams’’ and ‘‘Eves,’’ not just in a sedimentary context,climate, or habitat, but into a living, breathing, evolvingecosystem of the past.

HOLLY M. DUNSWORTH

Department of AnthropologyNortheastern Illinois UniversityChicago, Illinois



ADVANCES IN HUMAN PALAEOPATHOLOGY. By Ron Pinhasi andSimon Mays. New York: Wiley. 2008. 389 pp. ISBN 0-470-03602-8. $150.00 (hardcover).

It may be asked if we really need yet another book onpaleopathology, especially because there are many

acclaimed sources available. In this case, the answermust be a resounding ‘‘Yes!’’ The field of paleopathologyhas undergone marked advances over the past 10–15 years. The intention of the editors of this book is tocall attention to this development within paleopathologi-cal research; the shift away from individual case studies

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

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of specific conditions toward the use of population stud-ies to answer archaeological questions. Each chapteraddresses the biases and limitations, history and futureprogress of paleoepidemiology, and diachronic app-roaches to paleopathology. Thus, there are importantand fundamental differences in the approach of thisbook when compared with previous publications.

The book is divided into two sections: The first comprisesnine chapters, which provide an overview of analyticalapproaches in paleopathology, whereas the second com-prises seven chapters, which focus on diagnosis and inter-pretation of disease in human remains. The 14 contributorsare experts with many years of experience in their respec-tive research fields. Each brings his or her own approachesto the study of paleopathology and presents case studiesthat add an extra interest for the reader. In addition, thecontributors provide information about sites and materialsyet to be published and information from articles in jour-nals inaccessible to many applied paleopathologists, biolog-ical anthropologists, and osteoarchaeologists.

The first section gives an overview of various analyti-cal approaches used in studying paleopathology. The ini-tial chapter provides the reader with an understandingof the form and function of bone and the processes ofchemical and microbial degradation. The next two chap-ters address the problems encountered when basing pop-ulation analyses on burial populations and the use of ep-idemiological approaches in paleopathology. The follow-ing five chapters discuss advances in methodologicalapproaches to paleopathology. These chapters describethe utility of macroscopic and microscopic examination ofbone, as well as how radiography and CT scanning canadd information about diseased bones that is not avail-able through more conventional methods. The last chap-ter in this section is a review of the databases now avail-able and their importance to the research community.

For ease of reading, each chapter follows a preset struc-ture. There is a good historical review of research pertain-ing to each specific topic. Detailed descriptions of whenand how to use different methods are followed by discus-sions of their applicability to human remains. Each chap-ter has its own extensive list of references. This works wellin this case because each chapter covers a unique topic,and thus there is little to no overlap in the sources listed.

The second section addresses diagnosis and interpreta-tion of disease in human remains. The conditionsdescribed are those associated with trauma, infectiousand metabolic diseases, tumors and tumor-like processes,diseases of the teeth and jaws, and congenital anomalies.Each chapter is brimming with in-depth information onhow to recognize various diseases based on skeletal evi-dence. An important aspect here is that the focus is notnecessarily on extreme or advanced cases; rather, less

advanced cases are considered and information on how adisease progresses over time is presented. In addition,the chapters highlight what other infectious organismsmay cause the same or similar skeletal lesions and,whenever possible, provide information to differentiateone cause from another. The chapter on congenital skele-tal anomalies has a welcome inclusion of in-depth infor-mation on human development and embryology, topicsthat are often left out or only briefly touched upon instandard paleopathology discussions. The concludingchapter discusses temporal changes in stature inarchaeological populations and the predictive power ofvarious skeletal elements to model growth curves.

This book is essentially an introduction to advances inpaleopathology. It offers a realistic approach to informa-tion that can be acquired from archaeological popula-tions and encourages researchers to think about the fac-tors that may influence the results of their analyses. Ithighlights the problems and limitations of archaeologicalmaterial and emphasizes the importance of detaileddescription and differential diagnosis in analysis. Theauthors acknowledge the potential for bias in the dataand present thoughtful discussions of how to counteractsuch biases. The authors accept that there is much thatcannot be discussed in this volume, and each author hasprovided exceptional references to enable readers toresearch topics on their own.

As an advanced how-to guide, where methodology isdescribed in such detail that even a novice may be able toperform the research, this book is an invaluable resourcefor those embarking on careers in either academic orapplied paleopathology. The volume is a good teaching toolfor graduate students and professionals, as it addresseshow to recognize and record changes to skeletal remainsand how to recognize what potential disease process areresponsible. The many illustrations included, all in blackand white, are of excellent quality and are useful repre-sentations of specific lesions and diseases, especially asthey depict the progression of pathological lesions. Visu-ally and textually, this volume is of exceptional value forguiding future generations of paleopathologists.

PIA NYSTROM

DIANA MAHONEY-SWALES

Department of ArchaeologyUniversity of Sheffield, SheffieldUnited Kingdom



ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE NEW GENETICS. Edited by GısliPalsson. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2007.268 pp. ISBN 978-0-521-67174-3. $29.99 (paper).

This volume in Cambridge University Press’s NewDepartures in Anthropology series uses the Icelandic bio-pharmaceutical company deCODE Genetics as a casestudy to examine the contributions of anthropology tothe understanding of contemporary biomedical debates

and issues. The focus on deCODE Genetics is a strengthof the volume and derives from the author’s ethno-graphic study of deCODE from its earliest days. One ofthe weaknesses of the volume, however, is that the‘‘thick description’’ of deCODE is rather thinner thanone might hope. I learned much about the history ofdeCODE, as well as about other similar ventures inother countries, but the wide-ranging digressions thatthe discussion spawns give short shrift to many topics.


121BOOK REVIEWS

This may be the result of the series’ self-stated goal ofproviding concise syntheses of emerging themes in socialand cultural anthropology that ‘‘stimulate, provoke, andinform anthropologists at all stages of their careers’’(p. iii). At times I found the descriptions too concise andmore provocative than informative.

The book itself comprises eight chapters. The introduc-tory chapter provides background information on deCODEGenetics along with some basics of Mendelian and molecu-lar genetics. The concluding chapter attempts to placedebates and controversies in some historical context and toframe questions for continued discussion and debate withinthe discipline. The real substance of the volume, however,is in the intervening six chapters. The first of these intro-duces the first of three persistent metaphorical themes inthe book: birthmarks are body landmarks, just as genes aregenomic landmarks and health statistics are the ‘‘birth-marks of the national body’’ (p. 114), and all may be imbuedwith significance beyond their physical locations anddescriptions. In the subsequent chapter on genealogies,trees are used as metaphorical descriptors of various levelsof human variation, from population genetics to genealogi-cal linkages. The inadequacy of the ‘‘Tree of Life’’ metaphoris explored in various ways throughout the volume. Thethird metaphorical theme is that of machines. The machin-ery of molecular biology, the gene-hunting machine that isdeCODE, and the machine that maps gene to phenotypeare but a few of the machines in the book. The metaphor isa tired one, but it facilitates the characterization of geneticsand biology as undergirding the ‘‘hegemony of geneticdeterminism in contemporary discourse’’ (p. 13). This con-tinuing theme of the volume is but one with which manyphysical anthropologists and geneticists will take issue.

The three chapters on biobanking, bioethics, and bio-value raise interesting questions and provide consider-able insight into the international discussion of theseissues from the perspective of deCODE Genetics. Thebiobanking chapter offers a useful summary of and com-parison among deCODE and six other national efforts tointegrate medical records, genealogical information, andgenetic data. The bioethics chapter is perhaps the mostinteresting, informative, and thought provoking of thevolume. It fairly portrays the early controversy overthe opt-out model of the Icelandic database, the role ofthe international bioethics research community in thiscontroversy, and how Icelandic citizens’ perceptions havechanged over time. Support for the effort initially wasvery high, but the opt-out rate has grown significantly inrecent years. This chapter also explores other issuesassociated with informed consent (e.g., individual vs.group), patient rights, and privacy protections.

Curiously, the chapter on human variation is the weak-est and least satisfying of the volume. The chapter coversmuch ground, but little of it is new or stimulating forgeneticists or biological anthropologists. It rehashes old(and not so old) controversies and arguments, but littleadvance is made. Yes, trees are not particularly useful atrepresenting some levels of human variation. Perhaps arhizome model is better, but no comparable attempt toevaluate its shortcomings is made. And yes, populationsare difficult to define and are frequently defined fairlyarbitrarily. These issues aren’t new and neither are theanalytical difficulties they pose. Some may be surprised toread that there is a general tendency (among geneticists,presumably) to assume that human population geneticdata fit an island model and that the history of population

definitions and sampling emanates from this assumption.In contrast, I take this to be an active area of research anddebate rather than a uniform disciplinary assumption.The discussion of populations, races, and patternedhuman variation is neither new nor illuminating. There isoccasionally some confusion concerning levels of variation:within and between populations, individual familialancestry, among individual genetic markers, linkagegroups, etc. This chapter does not fit seamlessly with theothers; perhaps because it is also the only one that doesnot even mention deCODE Genetics.

The concluding chapter is not just a rehashing of theprevious discussions. It is generally well written and per-haps deliberately provocative. Many will find it frustrat-ing, with its restatement of the presumption of biologicaldeterminism but inadequate attention to modern analyti-cal models of variation, e.g., gene-environment interac-tions or other translational and developmental complex-ities. But the distinction between ‘‘gene-centrism’’ andgenetic determinism is worthy of discussion, as is the pro-pensity for degrees of relatedness among individuals andpersonal identity to be reduced to ‘‘genetic connectionsand genome properties’’ (p. 213). On the other hand, thereare literary excesses here. I don’t know, for example, whatit means to be posthuman in the modern age, or why weshould prefer the ‘‘holistic’’ term genomic anthropology tothe ‘‘reductionistic’’ biological or genetic anthropology (p.208). Similarly, the claim for radical change in ‘‘concep-tions of personhood, individuality, kinship, and society’’(p. 212) as a result of biological/genetic research and medi-cal procedures is not well supported. Like many similarbold claims in the volume, this one, too, is unencumberedby documentation or citation of the primary literature.

Despite what I view as some basic weaknesses in presen-tation and documentation, this volume is worth perusing, ifonly because it is often useful. The book was written forsocial and cultural anthropologists, and as such is a usefulbarometer of how effectively, or ineffectively, we communi-cate the complexities of phenotypic development and humanvariation. Beyond that, the treatment of the history ofnational biobanks, especially deCODE Genetics and the de-mise of the Icelandic Health Sector Database, is useful andinformative. The related discussion of the history of bioethi-cal issues is similarly instructive and important. Theintended audience of this volume seems to be advancedgraduate students and professional anthropologists (or othersocial scientists). Given its wide range and limited (some-times superficial) treatment of some subjects, it would beuseful as a text only in the context of a fairly focused gradu-ate seminar. Some of the individual chapters, on the otherhand, could be productively used in a variety of courses inboth social and biological anthropology. They would cer-tainly stimulate discussion and debate. If many of the posi-tions taken here are contentious, the conclusion of the bookthat ‘‘biological anthropology has thrown a new light onhuman evolution, history and migration’’ (p. 229) is one thatshould be received warmly by readers of this journal.

DENNIS H. O’ROURKE

Department of AnthropologyUniversity of UtahSalt Lake City, Utah

DOI 10.1002/ajpa.20936Published online 15 October 2008 in Wiley InterScience



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Book review: Advances in Human Palaeopathology