When we published our first joint paper on human evolution back in early 1975 (Eldredge and Tattersall 1975), the world of human evolution was a very different place. For a start, it was populated by a much smaller cast of characters. Not only was paleoanthropology itself a much tinier enterprise than it is today, but the sum total of hominid fossils known was hugely smaller. The riches of the Turkana Basin in northern Kenya had only just begun to be explored. The iconic fossil "Lucy" had yet to be found in Ethiopia, and indeed, the Hadar area from which she came had only just been recognized for the palaeoanthropological treasure trove it has turned out to be. Now near-mythic names such as Atapuerca in Spain and Dmanisi in Georgia were yet to become part of the paleoanthropological vocabulary. And such lesser but nonetheless significant names as Ceprano, Drimolen, and Buia had still to fall even on professional ears.
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