Paleoanthropology and Human Evolution

The history of paleoanthropology in the United States is the history of the scientific and public responses to the idea of human evolution and to the discovery of hominid fossils. The most influential physical anthropologist in the early twentieth century was Aleš Hrdlička, who exerted a powerful influence in American anthropology. The theoretical framework within which paleoanthropology operated began to change in the 1950s as a result of the rise of the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis. The consequence of the emergence of dating methods were profound since for the first time paleoanthropologists had a time frame for human evolution and could confidently arrange hominid fossils in their chronological order. In recent decades American universities have trained large numbers of paleoanthropologists, many of whom are citizens of African and Asian nations where these research are conducted. As an example, the chapter highlights the case of Koobi Fora Research Project in Kenya.