Meat-eating & human evoution /

One intriguing anthropological question concerns the origin of meat eating. We might assume the earliest human ancestors were meat eaters, but there is no clear evidence that this was the case. Archaeological evidence of meat eating dates only back to about 2.5 million years ago, much later than the split that sent hominids off on their own evolutionary pathway. A related issue is the role hunting played in human evolution. Were early hominids hunters, or did they merely scavenge? Stanford and Bunn attacked head-on the problem of where, when, and why meat eating appeared by assembling a group of leading anthropologists, archaeologists, and primatologists to discuss the issue at a Wenner-Gren Foundation-sponsored meeting in 1998. Their edited book is the best summary yet of the evidence for meat consumption by hominids. Importantly, it becomes clear that hunting versus scavenging is not an either/or situation, but that they represent points along a continuum of how humans and other primates acquire meat. The book--well edited, as opposed to being simply a collated collection of disparate papers, with numerous figures, tables, and valuable references--will appeal to anyone interested in human evolution, especially interdisciplinary studies of human evolution. The index is first-rate. Upper-division undergraduates and above. M. J. O'Brien University of Missouri--Columbia