At the Origins of Homo sapiens

Conference

Published on

09 November 2018

Updated on

04 December 2018

Colloquia

Human being ? An archeology of the origins

International conference, Friday 9 and Saturday 10 November 2018, at the Muséum de Toulouse.

See the programme

International conference "Human being ? An archeology of the origins" by Jean-Jacques Hublin, Institute Max Planck in Leipzig, Germany

Data from human genetics and palaeontology established, from as early as the 1980s, that present-day humanity originated in Africa. However, the geographical origin and evolution of these humans continues to be the focus of much debate. For many years, specialists preferred the hypothesis of a sub-Saharan origin. However, the discoveries made in Morocco, at the archaeological site of Jebel Irhoud, have overturned these conceptions. The cave offered up remains of a primitive form of Homo sapiens dating back 300,000 years and a direct ancestor to modern man.

Jean-Jacques Hublin is a specialist of the Pleistocene Middle and Upper Pleistocene hominids and one of the pioneers of virtual palaeoanthropology. He is currently Director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig (Germany) and Visiting Professor at the Collège de France. He also teaches at the University of Leiden (Netherlands). Since 2011, he has chaired the European Society for the Study of Human Evolution (ESHE).

Bibliography

Hublin J-J, Ben-Ncer A, Bailey SE, Freidline SE, Neubauer S, Skinner MM, Bergmann I, Le Cabec A, Benazzi S, Harvati K et al. . 2017. New fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the pan-African origin of Homo sapiens. Nature 546(7657):289-292.
Neubauer S, Hublin J-J, and Gunz P. 2018. The evolution of modern human brain shape. Science Advances 4(1):1-8.
Richter D, Grün R, Joannes-Boyau R, Steele TE, Amani F, Rué M, Fernandes P, Raynal J-P, Geraads D, Ben-Ncer A et al. . 2017. The age of the hominin fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, and the origins of the Middle Stone Age. Nature 546(7657):293-296.
Scerri EML, Thomas MG, Manica A, Gunz P, Stock JT, Stringer C, Grove M, Groucutt HS, Timmermann A, Rightmire GP et al. . 2018. Did Our Species Evolve in Subdivided