The Hominin Fossil Record from Greece

Abstract

Human paleontology is a relatively limited field, given that human fossil remains tend to be extremely rare. Furthermore, it differs from paleontology in that it is intrinsically bound with Paleolithic archaeology, at least for the later parts of human evolution, and cannot be considered independently from human early prehistory. Modern paleoanthropology is by nature interdisciplinary, drawing not only from paleontology and archaeology but also from other closely related fields, such as genetics, geoarchaeology, taphonomy, and others. In contrast to other European countries, such as France, Croatia, or Spain, this discipline is still in its infancy in Greece and in the past has been focused almost exclusively on important individual fossils. Despite the relative paucity of research, however, the human fossil record from Greece is surprisingly rich, highlighting the potential of the region for illuminating human evolution, dispersals, and adaptation.