One hundred years of paleoanthropology: An American perspective

Abstract

1 | I N TR ODU C TI ON With the exception of the terminal Pleistocene peopling of the Americas and the modestly earlier occupation of Australia, the course of human evolution (both biological and cultural) took place within the greater land masses of Africa and Eurasia. Yet, American paleoanthropologists have played an increasingly important role in our understanding of the patterns and processes of human emergence. With rare exceptions (e.g., Hrdlička and MacCurdy), Americans were consumers rather than producers of paleoanthropological knowledge until the middle of the 20th century. Since then, however, American scholars have become increasingly evident, in the field, in curating institutions, and in international collaborative research. As a result Americans, and especially American perspectives on human emergence, have become a substantial presence in the efforts to enrich the paleoanthropological record and our understanding of what it means to be "human."Given the centenary of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology (AJPA), a distinctly North American journal that has also become international, it is appropriate to discuss the patterns and processes of this academic evolution. Perspectives and approaches have changed markedly over this time period, and the human fossil record and its Paleolithic, paleoenvironmental and chronological contexts have expanded massively.Many of the advances in the field have been driven by paleoanthropological discoveries. Yet, the frameworks and methodologies for integrating those remains into scenarios of human emergence have also changed, even though many of the concerns that confronted paleoanthropologists a century ago persist. This review is therefore concerned with the past century of paleoanthropological research, the concerns that arose during that time, and the issues that remain with us in the 21st century.