What hypotheses have been posited to explain the evolution of the
following hominid characteristics and behaviors: bipedal locomotion,
provisioning, food sharing, home base, cooperative social behavior,
sexual division of labor, reduced birth spacing, sequestered
ovulation, pair bonding/monogamy, brain expansion, opportunistic and
deterministic tool-use and hunting behavior

Great question, jess

 As mother said in her comment, the answer would have to
 combine several fields of science in a balanced and 
 acessible maner - a tall order.

 It just so happens that I am just finishing 
reading a book which accomplished just that.

 Here is a review
http://dannyreviews.com/h/Guns_Germs_Steel.html

 Another review
http://www.wwnorton.com/catalog/spring99/gunsgerms.htm

and ordering info:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393317552/104-2725714-8351968

This book, while very readable, manages to answer all the questions you ask
without spending 4 years to get the degree in antropology. I trust you will agree
that it the best source of the answer, and since you will read it anyway, I do not
have to duplicate the effort and  type extensive qotes here.

 I hope you will enjoy it.

hedgie

Hello Jess,

Your list almost covers what it took four years to learn and earn a
degree in Anthropology. Several fields are covered in your question:
Evolutionary biology, physical (now medical) anthropology,
ethnography, paleoanthropology, primatology, osteology, and more. This
is what makes me wary of attempting an answer. Each one of these
fields has its own agenda and therefore sometimes conflicting theories
about cause and effect.

Certainly your list makes up a small part of what it means to be
"human." When you think of one adaptation causing another, in turn
causing something else and possibly being a factor in another species
several thousand years away, then supporting the previous one and then
branching out to cause another, you realize that there is no finite
set of theories that you can plug into any of the characteristics or
behaviors in your list. The most shallow research will reveal that you
really have to follow one school of thought or another to be able to
coherently provide an answer, and this answer will be fundamentally
disagreed with by a member of the other school.

You may find these resources helpful to your research:

Recommended reading: Human Origins & Evolutionary Theory (Anthro.net)
http://home1.gte.net/ericjw1/humanevolution.html

Good luck!
-- mother

Hi Jess,

Here's a link that might assist you in the information you're looking
for.  also, if you click on the "correspondent and editors" page,
there are several contacts listed along with their field of specialty.

http://www.pscw.uva.nl/sociosite/TOPICS/anthropo.html 

Best of luck on your anthropological quest,
V