AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 81:451-457 (1990)

Book Reviews

A THEORY OF HUMAN AND PRIMATE EVOLUTION. By Colin P. Groves. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989. x + 360 pp., fig- ures, tables, indexes. $75.00 (cloth).

Systematics, in particular its subfields of taxonom and evolutionary theory, has been

decades. With the publication of Simpson’s Principles of Animal Taxonomy (Sim son,

appeared to be stabilizing and approaching maturity. Since then, we have seen the ap- pearance of the methodological advances in Hennig‘s cladistic analysis, the punctuated equilibrium of Eldredge and Gould, and most significantly of all, major advances in the study of molecular biology. These have re- sulted in a succession of major arguments over taxonomy and evolution that have reached out into the public world of the popular press, and provided fuel for anti- intellectual fringe groups and “creationists.” With this recent history of apparent chaos in the field, it is a relief to encounter Colin Groves’ effective and thorough s thesis of taxonomy, cladistic analysis, an r evolution- ary theory.

Groves is one of the premier mammal sys- tematists of the latter part of the twentieth century. He is an acknowledged authority on the systematics of pigs, rhinos, cervids, and, of course, primates. He is the author of a number of articles whose titles fre uently begin with or contain the phrase “k?ystem- atics of the. . .”; and upon first seeing the title of this book, the reader might be for- given for assuming that it is an aggregation of these smaller works. It is, however, a quite distinct entity, one which extends each topic well beyond the limitations of a journal arti- cle. This volume represents the working s -

on evolutionary theory, taxonomic practise, and the reasoned, critical use of cladistic analysis. The reader of this work is not gen- tly introduced to a discipline, nor is he a passive receptor of the author’s words; the work is complex, detailed, indeed convoluted in places, and the reader, a t various points, may be enormously stimulated, outra ed,

will inevitably result in a visit to the library

in consi d erable flux during the past three

1961), the situation in these subdiscip P ines

thesis of a major researcher and his thoug r ts

intrigued, and puzzled. A careful rea f ing

with bibliographic references in hand to fur- ther explore topics presented in the text.

The book is organized into ei ht chapters,

the senior student, not the beginner. The first chapter deals with taxonomy, attempt- ing to resolve the issues of species and sub- species definition, before moving on to the problem of higher categories. The second and third chapters are concerned with evolution-

theory, and it is here that the author’s igection of theorists takes a strong turn away from the “evolutionary ecology’’ litera- ture familiar to the reviewer. I looked for but did not find references to Robert May, Robert MacArthur, William Bock, Eric Pianka, or E.O. Wilson. Even Richard Dawkins was missing, but I did find a brief appearance of J. Maynard Smith. This situation is natu- rall to be expected. No one can be familiar

spectrum of evolutionary thought as it is viewed from differing perspectives, and I am most grateful that the author has directed the reader into the theoretical realms of L. Berg, L. Croizat, S.M. Stanley, and M. J.D. White. Towards the end of chapter 3, Groves resurrects the work of Berg and his princi- ples of “Nomogenesis” or evolutionary laws, which form an important part of his synthe- sis in chapter 8. The central sections- chapter 4 on the taxonomy of the living primates and chapter 5 on the fossil pri- mates-form a valuable reference work, in some ways representing a significant updat- ing of Napier and Napier’s A Handbook of the Living Primates (1967) and of Szalay and Delson’s Evolutionary History of the Pri- mates (1979) to a lesser extent. The erspec-

Hershkovitz’s theory of metachromism and upon centrifugalkentipetal speciation with a substantial use of molecular genetic data as additional explanatory mechanisms. From the perspectives of a behavioural ecolo ’st,

and the use of a “taxonomic species” ap- proach, to employ Simpson’s terminology (Simpson, 1961). Groves does admit that the rerspective is one which can be considered as splitter” rather than “lumper,” and that it

may not completely reflect the conditions of the gene flow patterns.

Chapters 6 and 7 are concerned with the human evolutionary problem set. Chapter 6 sets the scene, makin the argument for

events in the development of humans; and

and while it takes a textbook B orm, it is for

wit x the literature throughout the entire

tive employed relies very heaviy P upon

there is a substantial perception of typo Y ogy

staging, locations, an % timings of major

@ 1990 WILEY-LISS, INC.

452 BOOK REVIEWS

chapter 7 presents an extremely thorough examination of the materials (the fossil spec- imens) and of the author’s cladistic analyses (hand done, not computer generated) of their relationships. In these, Groves takes care to provide the evaluations of other workers, and has paid a great deal of attention to evaluating the polarities of the characters used. Aspects of the resultant cladograms and taxonomic categorizations will be quite sur rising for some palaeoanthropologists, an c f will no doubt engender a substantial number of continuing controversies. The fi- nal cha ter presents the author’s views on

tion, ecological situation, and returns to the theme of a set of evolutionary laws, nomo- enesis, as they may be applicable to the uman condition. While I regard this volume as a seminal

piece of work, and believe that it may become a landmark in the field of systematics, I have some quibbles. Palaeontology has always been a very visual disci line, and primatol-

thinking, but I feel that Groves has fallen somewhat short in the area of adequately illustrating this book. To be fair, if the book was fully and properly illustrated to my satisfaction, it would have doubled the num- ber of pages required. It is my feeling that chapter 4 is of sufficient merit as an update for Napier and Napier’s A Handbook of the Living Primates (1967) that it should be

the evo P ution of the human brain, locomo-

a

ogy has been similarly a ominated by visual

extracted, fleshed out with photographs and distributional ma s, provided with introduc- tory material, an a separately published as a textbook.

While other reviewers may be inclined to pick holes in Groves use of data, his method- ology, or his cladistic analyses, his use of punctuated equilibrium, or his lack of con- sideration of their favoured perspectives, I am prepared to overlook his biases; after all, I have my own, and we do work in quite different disciplines. It is my expectation that this book will very rapidly become re- quired reading for any and all graduate stu- dents, as well as researchers, in the fields of primatology and palaeoanthropology. In his dedication, the author expresses his hope that his late colleagues John Napier and Vratja Mazak would approve of his contribu- tion, I have no doubts that they would. It is not to be missed!

JAMES PATERSON Department of Anthropology University o Calgary Calgary, A1 d erta, Canada

LITERATURE CITED

Napier JR, and Napier PH (1967) A Handbook of the

Szalay FS, and Delson E (1979) Evolutionary History of

Simpson GG (1961) The Principles o f h i m a 1 Taxonomy.

Living Primates. London: Academic Press.

the Primates. New York: Academic Press.

New York: Columbia University Press.

EARLY HOMINID ACTIVITIES AT OLDUVAI. By Rich- ard Potts. New York: Aldine de Gruyter. 1988. xi + 396 pp., fi res, tables, appendi- ces, index. $49.95 (c ff” 0th).

Early Hominid Activities at Olduuai, by Richard Potts, is a detailed description of several sites a t Olduvai Gorge that have played a major role in the construction of models of the behavior of our ancestors. Be- sides a careful consideration of these sites, the book is an exposition of Potts’ theory that these sites represent not “home bases” but stone caches where hominids brought ani- mal carcasses (or parts thereof) for process- ing. There are several aims to this volume, the first being the documentation of the processes affecting formation of these sites.

Equally important are the book‘s implica- tions for the understanding of early hominid behavior.

The book is divided into three sections. The first includes an introduction to the study, and a chapter with descriptions of the sites examined: FLK North Level 6, FLK “Zinj,” F L K ” Levels 2 and 3, and DK Lev- els 2 and 3.

The second section (Formation of the 01- duvai Sites) deals primarily with faunal ma- terial from the sites and with factors respon- sible for the bone accumulations found there. Potts’ work indicates that except for FLKNN-2 (a non-artifact site and possible hyena den), hominids were the major agents responsible for transporting bones to the localities, although clearly both hominids and carnivores were responsible for damage