Human Adaptation in the Asian Palaeolithic: Hominin Dispersal and Behaviour during the Late Quaternary
Author(s): Ryan J. Rabett (Author)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Date: 18 Oct. 2012
Edition: Illustrated
Language: English
Print length: 383 pages
ISBN-10: 1107018293
ISBN-13: 9781107018297
Book Description
This book examines the first human colonization of Asia and particularly the tropical environments of Southeast Asia during the Upper Pleistocene. In studying the unique character of the Asian archaeological record, it reassesses long-accepted propositions about the development of human ‘modernity.’ Ryan J. Rabett reveals an evolutionary relationship between colonization, the challenges encountered during this process – especially in relation to climatic and environmental change – and the forms of behaviour that emerged. This book argues that human modernity is not something achieved in the remote past in one part of the world, but rather is a diverse, flexible, responsive and ongoing process of adaptation.
Editorial Reviews
Review
‘Good books on the Palaeolithic of Asia are hard to find. Thankfully, Ryan Rabett has produced a quality volume that synthesises important information about human occupation history in a poorly known region of the world … this book is an excellent new contribution on the Late Pleistocene history of Southeast Asia. The book challenges archaeologists to think about how their regional records developed in response to external and internal influences, ultimately leading to, as Rabett aptly puts it, ‘a Pleistocene ‘explosion’ of new life ways’.’ Michael Petraglia, Antiquity
Book Description
This book examines the first human colonization of Asia and particularly the tropical environments of Southeast Asia during the Upper Pleistocene.
About the Author
Ryan J. Rabett is a Research Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on archaeological sites in Asia and since 2007 he has been the director of a major project in northern Vietnam. He is the author of more than forty articles, which primarily focus on prehistoric subsistence and technological strategies in Asia.
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