The role of the central balkans in the peopling of Europe: Paleoanthropological evidence

Abstract

The paucity of fossil human remains from the Central Balkans represents a very serious lacuna in our understanding of human evolution in the Pleistocene of Europe, which is—as a result—strongly influenced by the material from the better researched parts of the continent further to the west of the Balkans. The scant fossil record from the Central Balkans suffers from a lack of archaeological/geological context, and with the exception of the Balanica hominin (BH-1) has no associated chronological data. In this chapter, I present all of the purported Pleistocene specimens currently known from the area and discuss their possible affinities.