At the Crossroads of Europe and Asia: Human evolution in the Central Balkans

巴尔干半岛的半岛是了解欧洲人口的一个重要地区，从人类祖先最初进入欧洲大陆，通过尼安德特人的起源和他们从欧洲传播到中亚，到现代人类的到来和尼安德特人在最后一个冰川时期的灭绝。巴尔干半岛中部-萨瓦河和多瑙河以南和希腊以北-在更新世时期扮演了两个重要角色，作为从黎凡特，安纳托利亚和高加索地区到欧洲的移民走廊之间的十字路口，以及在冰川期间为人类，动物和植物提供避难所的三个南部半岛之一。我们在该地区的工作已经挑战了一些关于欧洲人类进化的流行观点，我们希望拟议的研究，新的古人类材料和对人类运动和定居的古环境约束的关注，将进一步有助于改变人类进化的图景和大陆上古人类群体之间的相互作用。 我们最近在塞尔维亚的Mala Balanica遗址（BH-1）发现了人类下颌骨，分类学上被确定为海德堡人（Homo heidelbergensis），可追溯到距今50万年前（kBP），这表明该地区的人类种群并没有遵循与向西观察到的尼安德特人（Neanderthalisation）相同的过程，并促使我们重新定义H。海德堡在最近的一篇论文中。现代人类DNA在270 kBP左右遗传转移到尼安德特人谱系的发现支持了我们对H.这表明早期尼安德特人和不同的古代人口之间的接触。来自巴尔干半岛中部的更多人类化石是必要的，以测试模型的有效性，并更好地定义这个所谓的“不同的人群”。 拟议的研究计划包括我与塞尔维亚同事共同指导的三个并行项目：1）调查和挖掘巴尔干半岛中部更新世地区，以确定，挖掘和确定潜在的人类遗址; 2）比较分析（包括古代DNA）的出土人类材料与同期标本; 3）了解和确定巴尔干半岛中部的环境变化和更新世期间的人类适应。这些项目是基于国际多学科合作和加拿大和塞尔维亚学生的参与。

The Balkan Peninsula is a crucial area for understanding the peopling of Europe, from the initial movement of human ancestors into the continent, through the origin of Neanderthals and their spread from Europe into Central Asia, to the arrival of modern humans and the extinction of the Neanderthals during the last glacial period. The Central Balkans - south of the Sava and Danube rivers and north of Greece - played two important roles in the Pleistocene era as the crossroads between corridors of migration from the Levant, Anatolia and Caucasus regions to Europe, and one of the three southern peninsulas that provided refuge to humans, animals and plants during glaciations. Our work in the region has already challenged some of the prevalent ideas about human evolution in Europe and we expect that the proposed research, with new hominin material and a focus on the palaeoenvironmental constraints of human movement and settlement, will further contribute to changing the picture of human evolution and interactions between hominin groups on the continent. Our recent find of the human mandible from the site of Mala Balanica in Serbia (BH-1), taxonomically identified as Homo heidelbergensis and dated to 500 thousand years before present (kBP), demonstrated that human populations in this area did not follow the same process of Neanderthalisation' observed further west, and prompted us to redefine H. heidelbergensis in a recent paper. Findings of the genetic transfer of modern human DNA into the Neanderthal lineage around 270 kBP support our interpretation of H. heidelbergensis, suggesting contact between early Neanderthals and a different archaic population. More hominin fossils from the Central Balkans are necessary to test the validity of the model, and to better define this purported “different population”. The proposed research program consists of three concurrent projects that I am co-directing with colleagues from Serbia: 1) survey and excavation of Pleistocene areas in the Central Balkans to identify, excavate and date potential hominin-bearing sites; 2) comparative analysis (including ancient DNA) of the excavated hominin material with contemporaneous specimens; 3) understanding and dating environmental changes in the Central Balkans and human adaptation during the Pleistocene. These projects are based on an international multidisciplinary collaboration and involvement of both Canadian and Serbian students.