"The Origins of Man" gathers the many strands of investigation into our origins - including fossil remains, ancient artefacts, palaeoclimatological evidence from ice cores, genetics and linguistic traces - to offer a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge of our origins. The text is richly supplemented with detailed, specially commissioned cartography, illustrations and photographs. The book begins by setting the scene for our investigation of ourselves as a biological species: What kind of evidence is available, how good is it and how can it be interpreted? Then the extended genealogical search for our ancestry begins - first Dr Palmer describes our most familiar immediate ancestors, then he takes us deeper into the remote and less familiar past. Our relationship to our forebears is described, and the link between us and our primate ancestors is revealed. Finally, perhaps the most remarkable and most puzzling part of our story - our global dispersal beyond Africa, a mere 100,000 years ago - is explored. The motivation behind this diaspora, and it's impact on our world today brings the story of our origin to a close.
