# Dragon Bone Hill: An Ice-Age Saga of Homo Erectus - Hardcover

by **Noel T. Boaz** (Author), **Russell L. Ciochon** (Author)

"Peking Man," a cave man once thought a great hunter who had first tamed fire, actually was a composite of the gnawed remains of some fifty women, children, and men unfortunate enough to have been the prey of the giant cave hyena. Researching the famous fossil site of Dragon Bone Hill in China, scientists Noel T. Boaz and Russell L. Ciochon retell the story of the cave's unique species of early human, _Homo erectus_.  
Boaz and Ciochon take readers on a gripping scientific odyssey. New evidence shows that _Homo erectus_ was an opportunist who rode a tide of environmental change out Africa and into Eurasia, puddle-jumping from one gene pool to the next. Armed with a shaky hold on fire and some sharp rocks, _Homo erectus_ incredibly survived for over 1.5 million years, much longer than our own species _Homo sapiens_ has been on Earth. Tell-tale marks on fossil bones show that the lives of these early humans were brutal, ruled by hunger and who could strike the hardest blow, yet there are fleeting glimpses of human compassion as well. The small brain of _Homo erectus_ and its strangely unchanging culture indicate that the species could not talk. Part of that primitive culture included ritualized aggression, to which the extremely thick skulls of _Homo erectus_ bear mute witness.  
Both a vivid recreation of the unimagined way of life of a prehistoric species, so similar yet so unlike us, and a fascinating exposition of how modern multidisciplinary research can test hypotheses in human evolution, _Dragon Bone Hill_ is science writing at its best.

### Author Biography

**Noel T. Boaz** is Professor of Anatomy, Ross University School of Medicine. He is the author of _Evolving Health, Eco Homo_ and _Quarry: Closing in on the Missing Link_.  
**Russell L. Ciochon** is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Iowa. His books include _Other Origins: The Search for the Giant Ape in Human Prehistory_ and _The Human Evolution Source Book_.

**Number of Pages:** 232

**Dimensions:** 0.91 x 9.53 x 6.38 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** February 16, 2004

## Details

- **Price:** 75.22 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 75.22 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Dragon Bone Hill: An Ice-Age Saga of Homo Erectus - Hardcover

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