A Companion to Paleoanthropology offers a broad overview of the central research on fossil hominid evidence around the world and its implications for human origins. Begun provides a guide to the study of the evolutionary history of humans and our place in the diversity of life. Top scholars are enlisted to provide the most up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of developments in the field, so that this new companion offers an authoritative guide for researchers, instructors and students in human evolution, paleoanthropology, physical/biological anthropology, paleontology, and archaeology.