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Glynn Llywelyn Isaac, 1937–1985: a personal appreciation and assessment

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Publications of Glynn Ll Isaac

Monographs, articles and papers

  • 1964 Olorgesailie: a study of the natural history of a Middle Pleistocene basin. InProceedings of the East African Academy, First symposium, Makerere University College (June 1963): pp. 141–43. London and Nairobi: Longman.

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  • 1965 The stratigraphy of the Peninj Beds and the provenance of the Natron Australopithecine mandible.Quaternaria 2:101–30.

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  • 1965 An annotated list of the most important palaeontological (mammalian) and archaeological assemblages associated with the Rift Valleys of Kenya. InEast African Rift systems, Proceedings of a seminar sponsored by the Upper Mantle Committee, International Geophysical Union and UNESCO, pp. 44–49. Nairobi: University College.

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  • 1966 Olorgesailie: an investigation into the natural history of early men. InPrelude to East African history (ed. M. Posnansky): pp. 40–42. London: Oxford University Press.

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  • 1966 The middle and later Stone Ages in Africa. InPrelude to East African history (ed. M. Posnansky): pp. 43–50. London: Oxford University Press.

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  • Glynn Ll. Isaac 1966 The geological history of the Olorgesailie area. InActas, Vo Congreso Panafricano de Prehistoria y de Estudio del Quaternario (ed. L. Cuscoy): vol. 2, pp. 125–34. Publicaciones del Museo Arqueologico, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 6.

  • Glynn Ll. Isaac 1966 New evidence from Olorgesailie relating to the character of Acheulian occupation sites. InActas, Vo Congreso Panafricano de Prehistoria y de Estudio del Quaternario (ed. L. Cuscoy): vol. 2, pp. 135–45. Publicaciones del Museo Arqueologico, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 6.

  • 1966 Clark, J. D., Cole, G. H., Isaac, G. Ll. and Kleindienst, M. R. Precision and definition in African archaeology.South African Archaeological Bulletin 21 (83):114–21.

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  • 1967 The stratigraphy of the Peninj group—early Middle Pleistocene Formations west of Lake Natron, Tanzania. InBackground to evolution in Africa (eds W. W. Bishop and J. D. Clark): pp. 229–57. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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  • 1967 Towards the interpretation of occupation debris: some experiments and observations.Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers 37:31–57.

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  • 1968 Isaac, G. Ll. and Keller, C. M. Note on the proportional frequency of side- and end-struck flakes.South African Archaeological Bulletin 23:17–19.

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  • 1968 Traces of Pleistocene hunters: an East African example. InMan the Hunter (eds R. B. Lee and I. DeVore): pp. 253–61. Chicago: Aldine.

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  • 1969 Studies of early culture in East Africa.World Archaeology 1:1–28.

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  • 1970 Isaac, G. Ll. and Isaac, A. B. COWA Survey, East Africa, Area 12, No. IV, 1969. A commentary and annotated bibliography.

  • 1970 Isaac, G. Ll. and Isaac, A. B. COWA Survey, East Africa, Area 14, No. IV, 1969. A commentary and annotated bibliography.

  • 1971 The diet of early man: evidence for early Pleistocene subsistence patterns.World Archaeology 2:278–99.

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  • 1971 Whither archaeology?Antiquity 45:123–29.

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  • 1971 Isaac, G. Ll., Leakey, R. E. F. and Behrensmeyer, A. K. Archaeological traces of early hominid activity, east of Lake Rudolf, Kenya.Science 173:1129–34.

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  • 1972 Chronology and the tempo of cultural change in the Pleistocene. InCalibration of Hominid Evolution (eds W. W. Bishop and J. Miller): pp. 381–430. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.

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  • 1972 Butzer, K. W., Isaac, G. Ll., Richardson, J. L. and Washbourn-Kamau, C. Radiocarbon dating of East African lake levels.Science 175:1069–76.

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  • 1972 Some experiments in quantitative methods for characterizing assemblages of Acheulian artifacts.VI Congrès Panafricain de Préhistoire et de l'Etude du Quaternaire (ed. H. J. Hugot): pp. 547–55. Chambéry: Imprimeries Réunies de Chambéry.

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  • 1972 Identification of cultural entities in the Middle Pleistocene.VI Congrès Panafricain de Préhistoire et de l'Etude du Quaternaire (ed. H. J. Hugot): pp. 556–62. Chambéry: Imprimeries Réunies de Chambéry.

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  • 1972 Comparative studies of Pleistocene site locations in East Africa. InMan, settlement and urbanism (eds P. J. Ucko and G. W. Dimbleby): pp. 165–76. London: Duckworth.

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  • 1972 Early phases of human behaviour: models in Lower Palaeolithic archaeology. InModels in Archaeology (ed. D. L. Clarke): pp. 167–99. London: Methuen.

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  • 1972 Leakey, R. E. and Isaac, G. Ll. Hominid fossils from the area east of Lake Rudolf, Kenya. Photographs and a commentary on context. InPerspectives on human evolution, 2nd edition (eds S. Washburn and P. Jay): pp. 129–40. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

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  • 1972 Isaac, G. Ll., Merrick, H. and Nelson C. Stratigraphic and archaeological studies in the Lake Nakuru basin, Kenya.Palaeoecology of Africa 6:225–32.

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  • 1974 Brock, A. and Isaac, G. Ll. Palaeomagnetic stratigraphy and chronology of hominind-bearing sediments east of Lake Rudolf, Kenya.Nature 247:344–48.

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  • 1974 Isaac, G. Ll. and Curtis, G. H. Age of early Acheulian industries from the Peninj Group, Tanzania.Nature 249:624–27.

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  • 1974 Stratigraphy and patterns of cultural change in the Middle Pleistocene.Current Anthropology 15:508–14.

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  • 1975 Isaac, G. Ll. and Isaac, A. B. Africa. InVarieties of culture in the Old World (eds S. Gorenstein and R. Stigler): pp. 8–48. New York: St Martin's Press.

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  • 1975 Butzer, K. W. and Isaac, G. Ll (eds)After the Australopithecines. The Hague: Mouton.

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  • 1975 Stratigraphy and cultural patterns in East Africa during the middle ranges of Pleistocene time. InAfter the Australopithecines (eds K. W. Butzer and G. Ll. Isaac): pp. 495–542. The Hague: Mouton.

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  • 1975 Sorting out the muddle in the middle: an anthropologist's post-conference appraisal. InAfter the Australopithecines (eds K. W. Butzer and G. L. Isaac): pp. 875–87. The Hague: Mouton.

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  • 1976 Coppens, Y., Howell, F. C., Isaac, G. Ll. and Leakey, R. E. F. (eds)Earliest man and environments in the Lake Rudolf basin. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

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  • 1976 Brock, A. and Isaac G. Ll. Reversal stratigraphy and its applications. InEarliest man and environments in the Lake Rudolf basin (eds Y. Coppens, F. C. Howell, G. Ll. Isaac and R. E. F. Leakey): pp. 148–62. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

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  • 1976 Isaac, G. Ll., Harris, J. W. K. and Crader, D. Archaeological evidence from the Koobi Fora Formation. InEarliest man and environments in the Lake Rudolf basin (eds Y. Coppens, F. C. Howell, G. Ll. Isaac and R. E. F. Leakey): pp. 533–51. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

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  • 1976 Plio-Pleistocene artifact assemblages from East Rudolf, Kenya. InEarliest man and environments in the Lake Rudolf basin (eds Y. Coppens, F. C. Howell, G. Ll. Isaac and R. E. F. Leakey): pp. 552–64. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

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  • 1976 Isaac, G. Ll. and McCown, E. (eds)Human origins. Louis Leakey and the East African evidence. Menlo Park. W. A. Benjamin.

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  • 1976 East Africa as a source of fossil evidence for human evolution. InHuman origins, Louis Leakey and the East African evidence (eds G. Ll. Isaac and E. McCown): pp. 121–37. Menlo Park: W. A. Benjamin.

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  • 1976 Leakey, R. E. F. and Isaac, G. Ll. East Rudolf: an introduction to the abundance of new evidence. InHuman origins. Louis Leakey and the East African evidence (eds G. Ll. Isaac and E. McCown): pp. 307–33. Menlo Park: W. A. Benjamin.

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  • 1976 The activities of early African hominids: a review of archaeological evidence from the time span two and a half to one million years ago. InHuman origins. Louis Leakey and the East African evidence (eds G. Ll. Isaac and E. McCown): pp. 483–514. Menlo Park: W. A. Benjamin.

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  • 1976 Early hominids in action: a commentary on the contribution of archaeology to understanding the fossil record in East Africa.Yearbook of Physical Anthropology for 1975, pp. 19–35. Washington, D.C.: AAPA.

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  • 1976 From East Africa, fragments of man's prehistory.The Listener, pp. 379–80. London: BBC.

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  • 1976Perspectives on human evolution: East Africa and paleoanthropolog. Series of 100 slides and handbook. Menlo Park: W. A. Benjamin.

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  • 1976 A brief report on Quaternary stratigraphy in Kenya.Commission on Nomenclature and Terminology 6:57–66 (cyclostyled). Berkeley: Department of Anthropology.

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  • 1976 Traces of early hominid activities from the Lower Member of the Koobi Fora Formation, Kenya. InLes plus anciennes industries en Afrique (eds J. D. Clark and G. Ll. Isaac): pp. 7–23. Nice: UISPP.

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  • 1976 Isaac, G. Ll. and Harris, J. W. K. The Karari industry: early Pleistocene archaeological evidence from the terrain east of Lake Turkana, Kenya.Nature 262:102–07.

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  • 1976 Stages of cultural elaboration in the Pleistocene: possible archaeological indicators of the development of language capabilities. InOrigins and evolution of language and speech, pp. 275–88. New York: New York Academy of Science.

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  • 1976 Researches in the area formerly known as ‘East Rudolf’, a commentary and classified bibliography.Palaeoecology of Africa 9:109–22.

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  • 1977 Early stone tools—an adaptive threshold? InProblems in economic and social archaeology (eds G. de G. Sieveking, I. H. Longworth and K. E. Wilson): pp. 39–47. London: Duckworth.

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  • 1977Olorgesailie: archaeological studies of a Middle Pleistocene lake basin. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

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  • 1977 Squeezing blood from stones. InStone tools as cultural markers: change, evolution and complexity (ed. R. V. S. Wright): pp. 5–12. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.

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  • 1978 The food-sharing behavior of protohuman hominids.Scientific American 238:90–108.

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  • 1978 Isaac, G.Ll. and Harris J. W. K. Archaeology. InKoobi Fora research project. Vol. 1 (eds M. G. Leakey and R. E. Leakey): pp. 64–85. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Volume also includes ‘Series Editors' Preface’ by R. E. F. Leakey and G. Ll. Isaac.)

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  • 1978 The first geologists—the archaeology of the original rock breakers. InGeological background to fossil man (ed. W. W. Bishop): pp. 139–47. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.

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  • Glynn Ll. Isaac 1978 The Olorgesailie Formation: stratigraphy, tectonics and the palaeogeographic context of the Middle Pleistocene archaeological sites. InGeological background to fossil man (ed. W. W. Bishop): pp. 173–206. (Together with a colour map of the Olorgesailie Formation, prepared from the original map by R. Shackleton, by A. B. Isaac with the assistance of G. Ll. Isaac.)

  • 1978 Food-sharing and human evolution: archaeological evidence from the Plio-Pleistocene of East Africa.Journal of Anthropological Research 34:311–25.

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  • 1978 Early man reviewed.Nature 273:588–89.

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  • 1978 The archaeological evidence for the activities of early African hominids. InEarly hominids of Africa (ed. C. J. Jolly): pp. 219–54. London: Duckworth.

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  • 1979 Isaac, G. Ll. and Leakey, R. E. F. (eds)Human Ancestors. Readings from Scientific American. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Co.

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  • 1979 The philosophy of archaeology. InAnalytical archaeologist (eds R. Chapman, N. Hammond, G. Ll. Isaac and A. Sherratt): pp. 15–20. New York: Academic Press.

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  • 1980 The emergence of man. (A report on a Royal Society and British Academy meeting).Nature 285:72.

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  • (1980) Casting the net wide: a review of archaeological evidence for early hominid land-use and ecological relations. InCurrent argument on Early Man (ed. L. K. Konigsson): pp. 226–51. London: Pergamon.

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  • 1980 Isaac, G. Ll. and Harris, J. W. K. A method for determining the characteristics of artifacts between sites in the Upper Member of the Koobi Fora Formation, East Lake Turkana. InProc. 8th Panafrican Congress on Prehistory and Quaternary Studies (eds R. E. F. Leakey and B. A. Ogot): pp. 19–22. Nairobi: International Louis Leakey Memorial Institute for African Prehistory.

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  • 1980 Harris, J. W. K. and Isaac, G. Ll. Early Pleistocene site locations at Koobi Fora, Kenya. InProc. 8th Panafrican Congress on Prehistory and Quaternary Studies (eds R. E. F. Leakey and B. A. Ogot): pp. 205–07. Nairobi: International Louis Leakey Memorial Institute for African Prehistory.

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  • 1980 Bunn, H. T., Harris, J. W. K., Isaac, G. Ll., Kaufulu, Z., Kroll, E., Schick, K., Toth N. and Behrensmeyer, A. K. FxJi 50: an early Pleistocene site in northern Kenya.World Archaeology 12:109–36.

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  • 1981 Hodder, I., Isaac, G. Ll. and Hammond, N. (eds)Pattern of the past: studies in honour of David Clarke. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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  • 1981 Stone Age visiting cards: approaches to the study of early land-use patterns. InPattern of the past (eds I. Hodder, G. Ll. Isaac and N. Hammond): pp. 131–55. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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  • 1981 Isaac, G. Ll. and Crader, D. C. To what extent were early hominids carnivorous? An archaeological perspective. InOmnivorous primates (eds R. S. O. Harding and G. Teleki): pp. 37–103. New York: Columbia University Press.

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  • 1981 Archaeological tests of alternative models of early hominid behaviour: excavation and experiments.Philosophical Transactions, Royal Society of London, series B, 292:177–88.

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  • 1981 Analytical archaeology. (A review article on the book of the same title by David Clarke.)Antiquity 55:200–05.

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  • 1981 Isaac, G. Ll., Harris, J. W. K. and Marshall, F. Small is informative: the application of the study of mini-sites and least effort criteria in the interpretation of the early Pleistocene archaeological record at Koobi Fora, Kenya. InLas industrias mas antiguas (eds J. D. Clark and G. Ll. Isaac): pp. 101–19. Mexico: Xo Congreso Union International de Ciencias Prehistoricas y Protohistoricas.

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  • 1981 Gifford, D. P., Isaac, G. Ll. and Nelson, C. M. Evidence for predation and pastoralism at Prolonged Drift: a pastoral Neolithic site in Kenya.Azania 15:57–108.

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  • 1981 Hoe leefden onze voorouders? InDe Evolutie van de Mens, pp. 184–203. Maastricht: Natuur en Techniek.

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  • 1982 The earliest archaeological traces. InThe Cambridge history of Africa, vol. 1 (ed. J. D. Clark): pp. 157–247. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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  • 1983 Aspects of human evolution. InEvolution from molecules to men (ed. D. S. Bendall): pp. 509–43. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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  • Glynn Ll. Isaac 1983 Bones in contention: competing explanations for the juxtaposition of early Pleistocene artifacts and faunal remains. InAnimals and archaeology: hunters and their prey (eds J. Clutton-Brock and C. Grigson): pp. 3–19. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.

  • 1983 Early stages in the evolution of human behaviour: the adaptive significance of stone tools. 60th Kroon Lecture. Amsterdam: Stichting Nederlands Museum voor Anthropologie en Prehistorie.

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  • 1983 Aspects of the evolution of human behaviour: an archaeological perspective.Canadian Journal of Anthropology 3 (2):233–43.

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  • 1984 The archaeology of human origins: studies of the Lower Pleistocene in East Africa, 1971–1981.Advances in World Archaeology 3:1–87.

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  • 1984 Kroll, E. and G. Ll. Isaac. Configurations of artifacts and bones at Early Pleistocene sites in East Africa. InIntrasite spatial analysis in archaeology (ed. H. J. Hietala): pp. 4–30. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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  • 1985 Ancestors for us all: towards broadening international participation in paleoanthropological research. InAncestors: the hard evidence (ed. E. Delson): pp. 346–51. New York: Alan R. Liss.

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  • 1985 The first human economy. InHomo: four million years of evidence, pp. 56–59. Venezia: Cataloghi Marsilio.

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  • 1986 Foundation stones: early artefacts as indicators of activities and abilities. InStone Age prehistory (eds G. N. Bailey and P. Callow): pp. 221–41. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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In press

  • Issac, G. Ll. and Sept, J. M. Long-term history of the human diet. InModern concepts of the eating disorders: research, diagnosis, treatment. New York: Spectrum Medical Books.

In preparation

  • Glynn Ll. Isaac Monograph on the archaeology of the Koobi Fora region, East Turkana. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

  • Cartmill, M., Pilbeam, D. and Isaac, G. Ll. Human origins research.American Scientist.

Reviews, comments, forewords

  • 1967 Review of ‘Southern Africa during the Iron Age’ by B. M. Fagan.American Anthropologist 69(6):776.

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  • 1969 Review of ‘Culture traditions and environment of early man’ by D. Collins.Current Anthropology 10: 4.

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  • 1969 Review of ‘Kalambo Falls prehistoric site, vol. 1’ by J. D. Clark (and contributors).Azania 4:175–77.

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  • 1971 Review of ‘The emergence of man’ by J. Pfeiffer.Current Anthropology 12:3.

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  • 1971 Review of ‘Aboriginal man and environment in Australia’ edited by D. J. Mulvaney and J. Golson.Mankind 8:162–64.

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  • 1972 Review of ‘Olduvai Gorge, vol. 3. Excavations in Beds I and II’ by M. D. Leakey.Antiquity 46:242–44.

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  • 1979 Review of ‘People of the eland’ by P. Vinnicombe.American Anthropologist 81:145–47.

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  • 1980 Review of ‘Time and place’ by J. Parkington.South African Archaeological Bulletin 35:96–98.

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  • Glynn Ll. Isaac 1980 Foreword to ‘The biology of love’ by S. Mellon. Freeman and Co.

  • Glynn Ll. Isaac 1981 ‘The early development of protohuman sociocultural behaviour’, a comment on ‘The origin of man’ by C. O. Lovejoy.Quarterly Review of Archaeology 2.1.

  • Glynn Ll. Isaac 1982 ‘Life in the Pliocene: the primacy of gathering’, a comment on ‘On becoming human’ by N. M. Tanner.Quarterly Review of Archaeology 3.1.1.

  • 1982 ‘Early hominids and fire at Chesowanja’, letter to ‘Matters Arising’.Nature 296:870.

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  • 1983 Review of ‘Bones. Ancient men and modern myths’ by L. R. Binford.American Antiquity 48:416–19.

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  • 1983 ‘Art of indoctrination’, a comment on ‘The creative explosion: an enquiry into the origins of art and religion’ by J. E. Pfeiffer.Nature 302:764–65.

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  • 1984 Review of ‘in pursuit of the past: decoding the archaeological record’ by L. R. Binford.American Scientist 72:51.

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  • 1984 ‘The loss of robusticity transition’, a review of ‘The Mousterian legacy: human biocultural change in the Upper Pleistocene’ edited by E. Trinkaus.Quarterly Review of Archaeology 5(2):12–13.

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  • 1985 ‘Using isotope chemistry to detect prehistoric diet’, a report in ‘News and Views’ on J. Sealy and N. Van der Merwe's letter in the same issue.Nature 315:98–99.

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  1. J. Desmond Clark
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Clark, J.D. Glynn Llywelyn Isaac, 1937–1985: a personal appreciation and assessment. Afr Archaeol Rev 4, 7–19 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01117033

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