This book focuses on how climatic change during the last fifteen million years - especially the last three million - has affected human evolution and other evolutionary events. Leading evolutionists and physical geologists from all over the worldauthorities on such subjects as paleoceanography, palynology, mammalian paleontology, and paleoanthropology - address the relationship between climatic and biotic evolution, presenting and integrating the most up-to-date research in their fields. Among the subjects discussed are: global and regional climatic changes; tectonism and its effects on climate; the evolution of biomes and mammals; the ways climate might have influenced the origins of hominid species; and the evolution of hominid morphologies and behaviors. The book draws on the comparatively rich data base of the Late Neogene and includes many new data sets and hypotheses on paleoclimatic changes and on floral and mammalian evolution.

The unique fossils featured in Caves of the Ape-Men were excavated at cave-sites which today are clustered within the first World Heritage Site to be proclaimed in South Africa under the auspices of UNESCO. This title includes excellent visuals of the area, a brief account of its history, and an accessible assessment of its importance for understanding the emergence of hominids – the early creatures transitional between the great apes and man – and, later, some of the earliest representatives of our own species. The publication is based on short text boxes interspersed with illustrations of key fossil specimens as old as four million years. Also included are reconstructions of how these hominids might have appeared and the dramatic landscapes within which they were discovered. Three scientific books on different aspects of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site have appeared recently. As Sterkfontein is the richest single fossil hominid site in the world it deserves to be promoted as one of the foremost tourist attractions in Africa, along with half a dozen other local sites also immensely rich in fossil specimens. Together, these sites proclaim South Africa as one of the key areas which saw the emergence of human ancestors in the distant past. The Cradle of Humankind clearly meets the criterion of an internationally acclaimed destination to which justice should be accorded in a volume, containing high quality visuals while at the same time informing the visitor and providing an accurate account, which will be treasured forever.