Paleo-demes, species clades, and extinctions in the pleistocene hominin record

Human evolutionary studies exist in their own right due to our own anthropocentricity, but Particularly through developments within the natural sciences. The emergence of an autonomous evolutionary biology has largely engulfed human evolutionary studies. Most perspectives of earlier workers are inexplicit in regard to phylogenetic inference, taxonomic resolution, process pattern, tempo, and other aspects of hominin evolution, and thus are archaic, irrelevant, or both. Matters of epistemology have scarcely merited explicit, critical consideration; even inference as to the best explanation (abduction) has rarely been employed, or employed consistently. Human populations, their genic structure, variability, affinities and histories are now elucidated and directly quantified through molecular biology and population genetics. Past hominin populations are increasingly composed of samples necessary and sufficient to characterize paleo-demes (p-demes) and, ultimately, species clades representative of spatio-temporally bounded entities, the nature and affinities of which are informed through functional, cladistic, and morphometrical investigation. Diverse aspects of earlier hominin habitats, distributions, adaptations and behavioral parameters are increasingly revealed through multifaceted approaches, all within the framework of paleoanthropology and focused on fuller recovery and elucidation of the Pleistocene archaeological record Here, some central aspects of Pleistocene hominin evolution are broadly set out from such perspectives. Controversial issues exist, of course, but overall are secondary, in view of the prevalence of normal scientific practice.