Chapter 1 - Introduction

Summary

ch 1: This chapter introduces the book’s main themes: differences between dispersals and migrations and their roles in how humans settled the world during prehistoric times. It distinguishes paleoanthropologists “who questions” (questions about prehistoric humans’ identities) from “how questions,” questions about how prehistoric people overcame specific survival challenges. It argues that paleoanthropologists have spent far too much time and energy investigating “who questions” than “how questions” and that progress toward understanding our evolved unstoppability requires more research on how questions. The chapter also explains differences between traditional narrative approaches to explaining human evolution and the comparative approach this work employs.