Essentials of Physical Anthropology

“This textbook is the best on the market. The well-written current material is accessible. The appendices are a bonus to which I refer often.”

“It has a good balance of technical content and engaging examples.”

Robert Jurmain received an A.B. in Anthropology from UCLA and a Ph.D. in Biological Anthropology from Harvard. He taught at San Jose State University from 1975 to 2004 and is now professor emeritus. During his teaching career, he taught courses in all major branches of physical anthropology, including osteology and human evolution, with the greatest concentration in general education teaching for introductory students. His research interests are skeletal biology of humans and non-human primates, paleopathology, and paleoanthropology. In addition to his three textbooks, which together have appeared in 35 editions, he is the author of STORIES FROM THE SKELETON: BEHAVIORAL RECONSTRUCTION IN HUMAN OSTEOLOGY (1999, Gordon Breach Publishers), as well as numerous articles in research journals.

Lynn Kilgore earned her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she now holds an affiliate faculty position. Her primary research interests are osteology and paleopathology. She has taught numerous undergraduate and graduate courses in human osteology, primate behavior, human heredity and evolution, and general physical anthropology. Her research focuses on developmental defects as well as on disease and trauma in human and great ape skeletons.

Wenda Trevathan is regents’ professor, emerita, of anthropology at New Mexico State University, where she taught from 1983 to 2009. She is a biological anthropologist whose research focuses on the evolutionary and biocultural factors underlying human reproduction, including childbirth, maternal behavior, sexuality, and menopause. Her primary publications include works on the evolution of childbirth and evolutionary medicine. Her recent books include ANCIENT BODIES, MODERN LIVES: HOW EVOLUTION HAS SHAPED WOMEN’S HEALTH (2010, Oxford University Press) and COSTLY AND CUTE: HELPLESS INFANTS AND HUMAN EVOLUTION (2016, SAR/UNM Press). She is also the Editor in Chief of the INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, which will be published by John Wiley and Sons in 2018. She has taught courses in physical anthropology, nutritional anthropology, medical anthropology, evolutionary medicine, and anthropology of reproduction.

Eric Bartelink received a B.S. in Anthropology from Central Michigan University (1995), an M.A. in Anthropology at California State University, Chico (2001), and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Texas A&M University (2006). He has taught for eleven years at California State University, Chico, where he is currently a Full Professor and Director of the Human Identification Laboratory. He teaches courses in introductory physical anthropology, human osteology, human growth and development, human origins, bioarchaeology, forensic anthropology, and statistics. His research interests focus on the bioarchaeology of Native California, dietary reconstruction using stable isotope analysis, and applications within forensic anthropology. He is a co-author on ESSENTIALS OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY (10e, Cengage Learning), FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY: CURRENT METHODS AND PRACTICE (2014, Academic/Elsevier Press), and has authored and co-authored numerous articles in scientific journals.