Abstract
With the discovery of new fossils from regions that have been both historically well-studied and poorly sampled, and thanks to major advances in paleogenetic research, Asian paleoanthropology has now entered a new phase of research. In particular, fossil discoveries from insular Southeast Asia reveal unique pathways of hominin evolution that contrast sharply with the continental pattern, while new fossils from the latter region reveal the previously unrecognized wide range of morphological diversity that characterized pre-sapiens archaic Asian Homo . Furthermore, extensive analyses of Denisovan and modern human genomes provide a new framework for interpreting the existing Asian fossil record. In this lecture, I will review these developments in two main areas: the origins and evolution of archaic Homo groups during the Middle Pleistocene, and the dispersal and diversification of early modern humans in Asia.
