The origin of humans, whether at the "point" of divergence from other primates, from other hominid species, or within the last several hundred thousand years, are very active and contested areas of paleoanthropological research. The Aitken et al. volume represents 14 papers and an overview of the evidence for and against the emergence of modern humans with a focus on the dating evidence. The papers were originally presented in a 1987 symposium in England and were previously published in two special journal issues.