Reconstructing Behavior in the Primate Fossil Record

This volume brings together a series of papers that address the topic of reconstructing behaviour in the primate fossil record. Here is a review of broad issues related to reconstructing various aspects of behaviour - such as diet and social systems - from very different types of evidence, including comparative analysis and adaptation, ontogenetic evidence, paleoenvironmental and paleo-community analysis, experimental functional analysis, and comparative socioecology. The reader should gain a perspective on the various types of evidence that can be brought to bear on reconstructing behaviour, the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches, and, perhaps, new approaches to the topic. Authors review not only the types of evidence that can be used to reconstruct behaviour, but also the limitations of the evidence, only emphasizing the weakness of behavioural reconstruction as a basis and inspiration for further research.