Core Concepts in Biological Anthropology

by Agustín Fuentes

Written by a professor who has spent eleven years teaching and practicing biological anthropology and who takes care to relate its significance to everyday life, this new text focuses on central contemporary genetics and genomics, "natural" behavior, evolution, and human variation. The book tells the story of biological anthropology and evolutionary theory, our bio-history, in a way that encourages students to use it in their own lives and to think critically about the issues explored. "This textbook seeks to meld the traditional and the new, to create a textbook/web hybrid from the ground up, facilitating access to biological anthropological knowledge. The field is growing at a fantastic rate; multiple disciplines (genomics, epidemiology, physiology, anatomy, paleoanthropology, and primatology, for example) currently contribute to its knowledge base. My goal is to create a book that has the core information, access to more in-depth details, and is engaging for students and faculty alike." -- Agustin Fuentes

Genres: Science, Anthropology

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 27, 2006

About the author

Agustín Fuentes, trained in Zoology and Anthropology, is the Edmund P. Joyce C.S.C. Professor of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame. His research delves into the how and why of being human. Ranging from chasing monkeys in jungles and cities, to exploring the lives of our evolutionary ancestors, to examining what people actually do across the globe, Professor Fuentes is interested in both the big questions and the small details of what makes humans and our closest relatives tick. He has published more than 150 peer reviewed articles and chapters, authored or edited 19 books and a three-volume encyclopedia, and conducted research across four continents and two-million years of human history. His current explorations include the roles of creativity and imagination in human evolution, multispecies anthropology, evolutionary theory, and the structures of race and racism. Fuentes is an active public scientist, a well-known blogger and lecturer, and a writer and explore for National Geographic. Fuentes’ recent books include “Race, Monogamy, and other lies they told you: busting myths about human nature” (U of California), “Conversations on Human Nature(s)” (Routledge) and “The Creative Spark: how imagination made humans exceptional" (Dutton).