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Tempo and mode in hominid evolution

Nature volume 292, pages 113–122 (1981)Cite this article

Abstract

The nature of human evolution has been viewed recently as a specific example of a more general model of evolution termed ‘punctuated equilibrium’. The characteristics of this model are long periods of little or no evolutionary change (stasis) interspersed with periods of rapid (punctuated) morphological change. Careful analysis of the hominid fossil record over the past 4.0 million years, however, suggests no well documented examples of either stasis or punctuation. The evidence for the evolution of the hominid lineage is most reasonably interpreted by a model of more gradual change with periods of varying rates of evolution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, USA

    J. E. Cronin

  2. Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, New York, 10003, USA

    N. T. Boaz

  3. Department of Palaeontology, British Museum (Natural History), London, SW7 5BD, UK

    C. B. Stringer

  4. Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Israel

    Y. Rak

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Cronin, J., Boaz, N., Stringer, C. et al. Tempo and mode in hominid evolution. Nature 292, 113–122 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/292113a0

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