Our Ancient Youth

Abstract

The major purpose of this monograph is to describe hominin fossils that are the juvenile representatives of the various species of our human ancestral past in the context of the disciplines of ontogeny and phylogeny. Ontogeny is the study of development through the lifespan, while phylogeny is the study of evolution. The book is appropriate largely for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students interested in the fields of developmental biology, neuroscience, and anthropology. The treatise is also accessible to a non-anthropological reader, as it provides some background pertaining to evolutionary principles and chronology. There are two major sections in the book. The first section is related to those critical characteristics that define hominins and to general concepts of ontogeny, and the second is related to the hominin lineage as a series of chronological events. These successive evolutionary stages begin with the presumed earliest hominins and end with the appearance of anatomically modern humans (AMH's) within the past 200,000 years.

The book covers 280 pages, including an extensive glossary, references, and index. There are 11 tables and 57 figures.

REVIEWS and WORDS OF PRAISE

This is a comprehensive and interesting record of the phylogeny and ontogeny of humans. It is well illustrated and written so that it is understandable by lay and experts alike. A must read for anthropologists of all ages.
--Donna M Ferriero, MD MS, Distinguished Professor, Dept of Neurology and Pediatrics, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences

For the past two centuries, paleoanthropology has focused on the anatomy of adult hominin fossils. Thus, the book entitled “Our Ancient Youth” by the Vannucci’s is both timely and a reflection of new research related to increased sample size of subadult fossils, systematics, and genetic analyses. I recommend the book for interested general readers, as well as students in Anthropology and Biology who are concerned with a comprehensive analysis of the fossil evidence of human evolution in a developmental concept, especially as it related to the hominin brain.
--Niccolo Caldararo, PhD, Department of Anthropology, San Francisco State University

About the Author

Susan and Robert Vannucci have been collaborators in scientific research and life for more than 50 years. They first met at the Cornell University Medical College in New York City during Robert's fellowship in Child Neurology, when Susan was working in the laboratory of the Neurology Department, teaching the clinical fellows how to perform basic research. The two were married several years later, and since then, they have continued to collaborate, publishing close to 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles, as well as book reviews and chapters. Both are now retired from academic medicine; this book in Physical Anthropology represents a new avenue in their scientific and literary collaboration.