The Unstoppable Human Species

In The Unstoppable Human Species John Shea explains how the earliest humans achieved mastery over all but the most severe, biosphere-level, extinction threats. He explores how and why we humans owe our survival skills to our global geographic range, a diaspora that was achieved during prehistoric times. By developing and integrating a suite of Ancestral Survival Skills, humans overcame survival challenges better than other hominins, and settled in previously unoccupied habitats. But how did they do it? How did early humans endure long enough to become our ancestors? Shea places 'how did they survive?' questions front and center in prehistory. Using an explicitly scientific, comparative, and hypothesis-testing approach, The Unstoppable Human Species critically examines much 'archaeological mythology' about prehistoric humans. Written in clear and engaging language, Shea's volume offers an original and thought-provoking perspective on human evolution. Moving beyond unproductive archaeological debates about prehistoric population movements, The Unstoppable Human Species generates new and interesting questions about human evolution.

• Provides up-to-date information about how humans settled various regions around the globe
• Identifies the Ancestral Survival Skills and explores how those skills articulate with one another in solving modern-day survival challenges (i.e., medication, thermoregulation, hydration, nutrition, communication, and transportation)
• Provides readers with detailed vector-based illustrations of all the major stone and other artifacts discussed in the text