Comparison is fundamental to evolutionary anthropology. When scientists study chimpanzee cognition, for example, they compare chimp performance on cognitive tasks to the performance of human children on the same tasks. And when new fossils are found, such as those of the tiny humans of Flores, scientists compare these remains to other fossils and contemporary humans. Comparison provides a way to draw general inferences about the evolution of traits and has long been the cornerstone of efforts to understand biological and cultural diversity. Individual studies of fossilized remains, living species, or human populations are the essential units of analysis in a comparative study; bringing these elements into a broader comparative framework creates a means of testing adaptive hypotheses and generating new ones. With this book, Charles L. Nunn intends to ensure that evolutionary anthropologists and organismal biologists have the tools to realize the potential of comparative research. Nunn provides a wide-ranging investigation of the comparative foundations of evolutionary anthropology in past and present research, including studies of animal behavior, biodiversity, linguistic evolution, allometry, and cross-cultural variation. He also points the way to the future, exploring the new phylogeny-based comparative approaches and offering a how-to manual for scientists who wish to incorporate these new methods into their research.

About the Author
Charles L. Nunn is associate professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He is coeditor of Evolution of Sleep: Phylogenetic and Functional Perspectives and coauthor of Infectious Diseases in Primates: Behavior, Ecology and Evolution.

Reviews
"A very impressive volume. I found myself again and again wanting to revisit many old questions and explore just as many new ones - truly delicious food for thought." (William L. Jungers, Stony Brook University)"



Book Information
ISBN 9780226608990
Author Charles L. Nunn
Format Paperback
Page Count 392
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 567g
Dimensions(mm) 23mm * 16mm * 2mm