INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, presents the most up-to-date, balanced, and comprehensive introduction to the field, combining an engaging writing style and compelling visual content to bring the study of physical anthropology to life for today's students. With a focus on the big picture of human evolution, the 15th Edition helps students master the basic principles of the subject and arrive at an understanding of the human species and its place in the biological world. It continues to keep pace with changes in the field, with new material on genetic technology and other topics reflecting recent scientific findings, including recent fossil discoveries as well as ancient DNA research on Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans.

1. Introduction to Physical Anthropology.
2. The Development of Evolutionary Theory.
3. The Biological Basis of Life.
4. Heredity and Evolution.
5. Macroevolution: Processes of Vertebrate and Mammalian Evolution.
6. Survey of the Living Primates.
7. Primate Behavior.
8. Overview of the Fossil Primates.
9. Paleoanthropology: Reconstructing Early Hominin Behavior and Ecology.
10. Hominin Origins in Africa.
11. The First Dispersal of the Genus Homo: Homo Erectus and Contemporaries.
12. Premodern Humans.
13. The Origin and Dispersal of Modern Humans.
14. Modern Human Biology: Patterns of Variation.
15. Modern Human Biology: Patterns of Adaptation.
16. Legacies of Human Evolutionary History: Effects on the Human Life Course.
17. The Human Disconnection.
Appendix A. Atlas of Primate Skeletal Anatomy.
Appendix B. Sexing and Aging the Skeleton.

INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, presents the most up-to-date, balanced, and comprehensive introduction to the field, combining an engaging writing style and compelling visual content to bring the study of physical anthropology to life for today's students. With a focus on the big picture of human evolution, the 15th Edition helps students master the basic principles of the subject and arrive at an understanding of the human species and its place in the biological world. It continues to keep pace with changes in the field, with new material on genetic technology and other topics reflecting recent scientific findings, including recent fossil discoveries as well as ancient DNA research on Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans. Acknowledging the unprecedented pace of advances in genetic technology, this edition presents the most relevant new discoveries in as simple a manner as possible. We have greatly expanded our review on genetics, including the newly developed synthetic bacterial cell, and the basis for genetic typing of biological materials used in forensic science. In response to reviewer suggestions, we have expanded our discussion of primate conservation, climate change, the oldest known stone tools from Africa, as well as recent fossil hominin discoveries, including Homo naledi and the new discoveries of Homo floresiensis remains in Indonesia. Comprehensive updates throughout each chapter reflect additions to scientific knowledge that in many fields -- such as the biological sciences -- have accumulated amazingly fast. To reinforce the unifying concept of our "connection" to all life as an integrative framework for presenting the material, each chapter opens with a pedagogical aid that clearly shows students the biological connections as they are organized within and between chapters. Revised student learning objectives are provided at the beginning of each chapter to emphasize the broad themes covered in each chapter and help students focus their study time. "A Closer Look" boxes provide students with an engaging and in-depth look at some of the high-interest topics discussed within the chapter. "How Do We Know?" chapter-concluding sections summarize the basic scientific information used in drawing accurate conclusions about our evolutionary history. These have been revised and now include a critical thinking question at the end of the section. "At a Glance" boxes briefly summarize complex or controversial material in a simple, visual fashion. New box features have been added to guide students through models on modern human origins. Critical Thinking Questions at the end of each chapter reinforce key concepts and encourage students to think critically about what they have read.