Willoughby, Pamela R. 1952-

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Willoughby, Pamela R. 1952-

PERSONAL:

Born May 26, 1952. Education: Trent University, B.A., 1974; University of Alberta, M.A., 1976; University of California at Los Angeles, Ph.D., 1985.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2H4, Canada. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer and educator. University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, assistant professor, 1987-95, associate professor, 1995-2007, professor of anthropology, 2007—.

WRITINGS:

Spheroids and Battered Stones in the African Early and Middle Stone Age, B.A.R. (Oxford, England), 1987.

Bibliographie des travaux des archeologues canadiens sur L'Afrique (title means "Bibliography of Works by Canadian Archaeologists on Africa"), Canadian Association of African Studies (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 1992.

The Evolution of Modern Humans in Africa: A Comprehensive Guide, Alta Mira Press (Lanham, MD), 2007.

Contributor of essays and articles to periodicals, including World Archaeology, International Journal of Comparative Psychology, African Archaeological Review, and Canadian Journal of African Studies.

SIDELIGHTS:

Pamela R. Willoughby, a professor of anthropology at the University of Alberta, incorporates into her research interests the multidisciplinary studies of human evolution, archaeology, and palaeoanthropology. Her related publications include Spheroids and Battered Stones in the African Early and Middle Stone Age, The Evolution of Modern Humans in Africa: A Comprehensive Guide, and a French-language bibliography of works by Canadian archaeologists about Africa.

Spheroids and Battered Stones in the African Early and Middle Stone Age, published in 1987, is a continuation of the anthropological work she conducted while a doctoral student at the University of California, Los Angeles. Willoughby seeks to prove that there was an evolutionary and homogenous use of spheroids for human tool use within Africa and the southwestern United States during the Stone Age, which was approximately three million years ago. The text "assumes that all the round and battered stones in her sample shared a common function," which was tool use, according to a review by Sally McBrearty for the Journal of Human Evolution. Although McBrearty pointed out that the study's results reflect a seemingly "unfocussed research design," she acknowledged that Willoughby's study makes use of "the fields of ethnography and primate behavior" and that the examined sample materials "range from intensely flaked and pecked … to virtually unmodified natural round stones."

The Evolution of Modern Humans in Africa, like Spheroids and Battered Stones in the African Early and Middle Stone Age, focuses on early prehistoric anthropology. It contains eleven chapters discussing topics ranging from historical perspectives on human origins to the fossil evidence supporting prehistoric human existence. A contributor's article in Reference & Research Book News reported that the text "discusses various alternative models of modern human origins," such as genetic evidence and DNA gathered from fossils in Tanzania and the sub-Saharan African continent. Furthermore, Willoughby compares and contrasts modern Homo sapiens with their early hominid predecessors and places them into an environmental context in an effort to illustrate their movements and activities within a set chronology.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, October 1, 2007, R.B. Clay, review of The Evolution of Modern Humans in Africa: A Comprehensive Guide, p. 324.

Journal of Human Evolution, May 1, 1990, Sally McBrearty, review of Spheroids and Battered Stones in the African Early and Middle Stone Age, p. 331.

Reference & Research Book News, May 1, 2007, review of The Evolution of Modern Humans in Africa.