<< The whole of
page 231 (The Fossil Trail) is talking about how many taxonomic species
fossil man should be divided into. This is quite a different question from
whether or not they engaged in any kind of activity which might be
classified as human. >>
Not really. The quote appears in his summary chapter, "Where Are We?" which
deals with the entire problem. You can skip to the end of the chapter, at page
246, and respond to the following:
"Homo sapiens is EMPHATICALLY NOT an organism that DOES what its predecessors
DID, only a little better..." ["Does" and "Did" mean ACTIVITY].
Even though Tattersall's conclusion is that man has a biological past millions
of years old, he is up front about homo sapien's appearance presenting an
"enigma" (something that is unexplained). I think that is highly objective,
and I applaud him for it. And, of course, my conclusion about modern man
(given my openness to supernaturalism) would be different.
Jim