The Fossil Hominoids of Rudabánya (Northeastern Hungary) and the Early Hominization (dedikált példány) [antikvár]

MIKLÓS KRETZOIPREFACEThe course of the evolution of the Primates is known perhaps even more deficiently than that of the other Mammalian orders. One of the reasons for this is the scanty number of fossil Primate finds. According to the estimation of R. D. Martin (1986), in the Cenozoic period altogether 6060 Primate species used to exist, among which only some 16% were found so far in the fossil record. The other reason for the scantity of information is the overall poor state of preservation of the finds: 66% of the total amount comprises only fragmentary remains, mainly some teeth and mandible fragments.The two phases of evolution of the Primates debated most are the "beginning" and the "end". For the beginning, we have to consider the issue of the earliest Primates. An essential part of specialists disregarded the earliest, so-called "dental" Primates of the Paleocene (probably already Upper Cretaceous) period being ancestors of the later Primates and consider them as a side-branch which became extinct in the Eocene. The "end" is concerned with the appearance of the earliest men, the divergence of Hominoidea and Homínida, and the spatial and temporal position of this process. In getting nearer to a solution, further finds like the discovery of African Sahelanthropus tchadensis and Orrorin tugenensis, dated around 7.5-7.0 Ma might have a great significance.Opinions vary considerably on the evolving group of Hominoids developing towards hominisation in time and space, but with a high probability we can postulate that they were close to the Dryopithecus-Sivapithecus-Ramapithecus(?) complex group. The first Rudabánya find, found with great luck in 1965 and described first in 1967 and the fossils of the subsequent excavations can have a crucial importance in the decision of this question.The first Rudabánya finds found their way into the hands of Miklós Kretzoi, doyen of Hungarian palaeontology. His professional career started in the 1920-ies. His interest did not confine itself to the study of a limited group of fossils but had a wide scope during all of his studies embracing almost the totality of the Cenozoic animal world, starting from insects and invertebrates, including birds and large Pleistocene mammals, extending till Hominoids.This monograph presents the reader not only the Rudabánya finds excavated till 1978 but also presents an overview on all essential aspects of the investigation of the Primate evolution. We can find in it the history of research starting from Cuvier, the changing of the notions on the evolution of Primates m course of time reflected in different representations of the "Stnmmbnum" and the "phyletic tree" and its consequences in the interpretation of the late phases of hominisation. The description, comparison and analysis of the Rudabánya finds is of exemplary high quahty. Further unique parts of the book comprise a complete summary of the taxonal nomenclature of Hominoidea starting from 1758, the construction of the genus Homo (Linné) till 1988, the description of the genus Sinopithecus (a variety of the genus Lufengpithecus described in 1987). Listing the 286 taxa in itself explains the difficulty caused by the "freedom" of scholarly research on the evaluation of the fossil record.By all means, this monograph is destined to become a "Bible" for the scholars dealing with the evolution of Hominoids.Gyula Gyenis Dept. of Biological Anthropology Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest