Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FIRSTSTEPS (Our first steps to Europe: Pleistocene Homo sapiens dispersals, adaptations and interactions in South-East Europe)
Reporting period: 2022-04-01 to 2023-09-30
Despite recent discoveries in human evolution, the origin of our species, Homo sapiens, and the process through which it expanded and became established around the globe remain murky. Increasingly, it is viewed as a dynamic
process of population expansions and contact among human lineages, occurring in concert with the Pleistocene climatic oscillations, which influence the probability of human survival as well as the availability of land bridges
enabling expansions. Dispersals and population contact, therefore, may have been the norm in human evolution and may have played a greater role in shaping our species than previously recognised. In such a model, South-East Europe is as a region critical not only for population migration to and from Europe, but also for sustained and / or repeated contact between our own ancestors and archaic species such as the Neanderthals. This make this region critical for testing hypotheses about modern human origins and the Pleistocene dispersals of our species around the world. Despite this crucial role, however, paleoanthropological research there has been relatively neglected in the past, with little existing data and no overarching interpretive framework.
FIRSTSTEPS aims to help fill this research gap by applying inter-disciplinary cutting edge investigation to recover new and connect existing evidence across sites, periods and regions. Key sites and assemblages are investigated from South-East Europe (Greece, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Croatia, Romania) and Italy. The latter region has a much better documented record, which has yet to be connected to its counterparts to the East and provides a crucial comparative perspective. The project conducts in-depth analyses of important fossil and cultural assemblages from specific chrono-cultural periods, between ca. 200-30 ka, potentially connected with early modern human expansions, as well as with Neanderthals, aiming to identify patterns of biological and cultural adaptations that may have enabled the spread of Pleistocene Homo sapiens. Three excavations have already been launched in Greece (Apidima cave complex), Italy (Grotta del Poggio) and Bosnia (Podlipa cave), which will provide crucial new data on this critical time period. In the long run the project aims to construct regional and supra-regional perspectives beyond individual
sites or countries.
This project addresses some of the most important and basic questions of society, which is to understand in a scientific manner where we, the human species, come from, how we dealt with important challenges, such as climate and environmental change, in the past, and what kinds of biological or cultural adaptations contributed to our successful spread around the world in the Late Pleistocene - and to unsuccessful earlier expansion attempts. Not only will it shed light on deep European prehistory, but also on the history of humanity as a whole, with implications also for humanity's future and the challenges faced going forward.
process of population expansions and contact among human lineages, occurring in concert with the Pleistocene climatic oscillations, which influence the probability of human survival as well as the availability of land bridges
enabling expansions. Dispersals and population contact, therefore, may have been the norm in human evolution and may have played a greater role in shaping our species than previously recognised. In such a model, South-East Europe is as a region critical not only for population migration to and from Europe, but also for sustained and / or repeated contact between our own ancestors and archaic species such as the Neanderthals. This make this region critical for testing hypotheses about modern human origins and the Pleistocene dispersals of our species around the world. Despite this crucial role, however, paleoanthropological research there has been relatively neglected in the past, with little existing data and no overarching interpretive framework.
FIRSTSTEPS aims to help fill this research gap by applying inter-disciplinary cutting edge investigation to recover new and connect existing evidence across sites, periods and regions. Key sites and assemblages are investigated from South-East Europe (Greece, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Croatia, Romania) and Italy. The latter region has a much better documented record, which has yet to be connected to its counterparts to the East and provides a crucial comparative perspective. The project conducts in-depth analyses of important fossil and cultural assemblages from specific chrono-cultural periods, between ca. 200-30 ka, potentially connected with early modern human expansions, as well as with Neanderthals, aiming to identify patterns of biological and cultural adaptations that may have enabled the spread of Pleistocene Homo sapiens. Three excavations have already been launched in Greece (Apidima cave complex), Italy (Grotta del Poggio) and Bosnia (Podlipa cave), which will provide crucial new data on this critical time period. In the long run the project aims to construct regional and supra-regional perspectives beyond individual
sites or countries.
This project addresses some of the most important and basic questions of society, which is to understand in a scientific manner where we, the human species, come from, how we dealt with important challenges, such as climate and environmental change, in the past, and what kinds of biological or cultural adaptations contributed to our successful spread around the world in the Late Pleistocene - and to unsuccessful earlier expansion attempts. Not only will it shed light on deep European prehistory, but also on the history of humanity as a whole, with implications also for humanity's future and the challenges faced going forward.
FIRSTSTEPS is an ongoing project and most of its actions have not yet been published or produced final results. The most important achievements so far are listed below.
The launching of three excavations in Greece (Apidima Cave complex), Italy (Grotta del Poggio) and Bosnia (Podlipa cave). The ongoing excavations aim to uncover new evidence to improve the dating of the sites, shed light on what kind of stone tools were produced by modern humans as opposed to Neanderthals, on what kinds of technological or biological changes may have led to successful migrations in the past and on what kind of biological or cultural interaction there may have been between Neanderthals and early modern humans.
Furthermore, the FIRSTSTEPS team is working on re-evaluating existing collections from old excavations in Italy and the Balkans, as well as possible cultural connections between regions (e.g. Italy and Greece, or Greece and the Central Balkans).
Finally, the team has been successful in developing and applying new methods to the analysis of fossil and cultural remains to shed light on our ancestors’ relationships, their adaptation and behavior. Such methods include virtual anrthropology, paleogenomics, stable isotope and other comparative approaches. Several publications have appeared on this topic in this reporting period. Additional results for all of these activities are expected in the next years of the project.
The launching of three excavations in Greece (Apidima Cave complex), Italy (Grotta del Poggio) and Bosnia (Podlipa cave). The ongoing excavations aim to uncover new evidence to improve the dating of the sites, shed light on what kind of stone tools were produced by modern humans as opposed to Neanderthals, on what kinds of technological or biological changes may have led to successful migrations in the past and on what kind of biological or cultural interaction there may have been between Neanderthals and early modern humans.
Furthermore, the FIRSTSTEPS team is working on re-evaluating existing collections from old excavations in Italy and the Balkans, as well as possible cultural connections between regions (e.g. Italy and Greece, or Greece and the Central Balkans).
Finally, the team has been successful in developing and applying new methods to the analysis of fossil and cultural remains to shed light on our ancestors’ relationships, their adaptation and behavior. Such methods include virtual anrthropology, paleogenomics, stable isotope and other comparative approaches. Several publications have appeared on this topic in this reporting period. Additional results for all of these activities are expected in the next years of the project.
FIRSTSTEPS has been able to launch the very challenging excavation at the Apidima cave site and successfully conduct two excavation campaigns there in this reporting period. Furthermore, the team has also successfully launched two more excavations, one in Italy and one in Bosnia, with similarly promising first results.
All three excavations are expected to yield critical new evidence on the dispersal of early modern humans into Europe, as well as on their potential biological and cultural interactions with archaic humans such as Neanderthals.
Important methodological breakthroughs were also achieved, with the application of the new method of surface registration method to fossil human remains for the first time; as well as the elucidation of the influence of different evolutionary processes on modern human anatomy. These and other approaches will be applied in the next funding periods to help understand the process through which our ancestors migrated out of Africa and successfully colonized the rest of the world in the Late Pleistocene.
All three excavations are expected to yield critical new evidence on the dispersal of early modern humans into Europe, as well as on their potential biological and cultural interactions with archaic humans such as Neanderthals.
Important methodological breakthroughs were also achieved, with the application of the new method of surface registration method to fossil human remains for the first time; as well as the elucidation of the influence of different evolutionary processes on modern human anatomy. These and other approaches will be applied in the next funding periods to help understand the process through which our ancestors migrated out of Africa and successfully colonized the rest of the world in the Late Pleistocene.