Book excerpt: A reference work that should be a first port of call for students and researchers in any discipline studying fundamental questions concerning the origins and nature of human symbolic abilities. The book is about the evolution of humanity: our language, art, tools, and communication. As suchit covers a wide range of disciplines: anthropology, psychology, primatology, paleontology, and archaeology. The various topics are dealt with by experts from each field, in articles that provide summaries that are scholarly but will also be comprenhensive to the many people (both lay andprofessional) who are interested in human evolution.