NEW Streamlined with a thorough editing to simplify explanations, add more headings to better define and focus on shorter segments of the text, add a more conversational tone, and present a stronger articulation of the biocultural approach that tells the story of where we came from, where we are going, and how we know this.

NEW Chapter-opening student learning objectives help students understand what they are expected to learn.

NEW The Chapter Summary is now in bullet format for easier access.

NEW Closing chapter that ties together the material on human biological and cultural adaptations by focusing on lessons learned from our species evolution such as the impact of humans on the environment.

NEW Art and map programs completely redrawn and many new photos enhance student understanding of the concepts.

NEW Chapters on genetics have been trimmed and more material included on the mechanisms of evolution and examples of Natural Selection in Action.

New Chapter 1 now has a new beginning that makes the case for the relevance of the study of biocultural evolution to modern everyday life.

NEW Chapter 5 includes a new section on "What are Fossils and How Do They Form?" supported by a new photo display.

NEW Chapters on primates include more material on social organization and a new section on primate archaeology.

NEW In Chapter 8 the distinction between paleoanthropology and archaeology has been clarified and 5 new photos added; the section on dating methods has also been updated ant tightened, with the section on flourine dating deleted and replaced largely by methods of comparable accuracy and greater general applicability.

NEW Chapter 9 includes a reorganization of the first half of the chapter, so that major topics come in a different (and more easily understood) order. New material on A. sediba is included, as well as a revised discussion of the earliest appearance of the genus Homo.

NEW Chapters on paleoanthropology include a new transition from the Upper Paleolithic to the Holocene, more material and photos on Paleolithic tool traditions, a new Appendix on "Forensic Anthropology: Sexing and Aging the Skeleton," and an expanded section on the history of race and modern examples.

NEW Chapter 10 includes recalibrations of crucial dating for

NEW Chapters 11 & 12 have major changes deriving primarily from new molecular evidence and new fossil and archaeological evidence provide new interpretations of early culture. These new data reinforce the origins of modern humans in Africa (12) as well as the earlier dispersal of Neandertals and the interbreeding of Neandertals and modern humans (11).

NEW Chapter 11 features new archaeological interpretations of the first use of fire in Europe (2011) and new material on the Chatelperronian stone tool industry and re-interpretations of the cultural relationship of Neandertals and modern humans. DNA data from several Neandertals at the El Sidron site in N. Spain show that this group was closely related and might well have had a patrilocal social organization (2011).

NEW The new molecular evidence showing Neandertal/modern human interbreeding requires a completely different emphasis in Chapter 12. Instead of emphasizing the major difference between the Multiregional and Complete Replacement Models, suggesting that a Partial Replacement Model best explained modern human origins, the text now deemphasizes the Multiregional and Complete Replacement Models (as neither are correct) and discusses how the newest data show that some interbreeding did take place and furthermore, that Neandertal genetic influence can still be seen today in modern human populations distributed widely outside of Africa. New archaeological finds from Flores and new interpretations of H. Floresiensis show this species dispersed to Indonesia very early and were even more "primitive" (i.e. less derived) than previously thought and shows considerable resemblances to early Homo.

NEW In Chapter 12 very major topic relating to archaeological material has been completely updated, including 19 new references. For example, new archaeological finds from two crucial cave sites in South Africa show advanced manufacture of microliths and tool modification using fire at the earlier site (165,000 ya), and evidence of hafted tools and possible use of snares to catch small animals at the later site (

NEW In Chapter 13 the archaeological examples of Old and New World human adaptations to the end of the last Ice Age have been updated and the discussion of competing theories for the earliest entry of humans into the New World tightened up and shortened. All maps and At A Glance features have also been updated.

NEW Chapter 14 has expanded coverage of Africa and East Asia, and there is an expanded discussion of interpretations based on plant microfossil and DNA analyses of animal remains because they offer important new insights on the origins of domestication. All maps, features and tables have been updated and there are 3 new photos.

NEW Chapter 15 features an updated section "Why did Civilizations Form" and updated archaeological examples of Old and New World early civilizations, including shorter sections on Mesopotamia and Peru and an expanded section on early Chinese civilizations. The section on biocultural consequences of domestication has been moved to the new Chapter 16, and all maps, features and tables have been updated and there are 3 new photos.

NEW Chapter 16 is an entirely new chapter that seeks to heighten student awareness of the consequences of human biocultural evolution. The chapter returns to the claim made in Chapter 1 about the relevance of the study of biocultural evolution to modern everyday life and discusses the changing human impacts on other living things and the Earth by first addressing the impact of the earliest hominins to the end of the Ice Age, then the earliest farmers and cities, and finally the impacts of the Industrial Revolution to the present.