The Hominin colonisation of Europe in the Early and Middle Pleistocene: a review

Abstract

During the last two decades, the Pleistocene archaeological and palaeontological record from Europe has increased in a significant manner. Several sites, in particular, Atapuerca and Dmanisi, have provided relevant evidence that leads to the refusal of old hypothesis about the first demographic expansions out of Africa and the first colonization of Europe. Other sites, such as Pakefield and Happisburg, in England, have provided interesting data to better understand the dynamics of the evolutionary history of the first European settlers. Despite many unanswered questions and the need for a better chronological frame for several sites, the available data have been already “digested” by the scientific community, who is now ready to accept a different view regarding the first colonization of Europe. In this paper we present a new model to interpret the Pleistocene record that takes into account not only the fossil evidence but also the palaeoclimatic, palaeogeographic and palaeontological data. This model comprises several hypotheses that can be tested as we obtain more information from the Eurasian Pleistocene sites.