Michael Petraglia | Griffith University (original) (raw)

Books by Michael Petraglia

Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, 2004

Beginning with the first accession of Paleolithic collections in 1869, the Smithsonian Institutio... more Beginning with the first accession of Paleolithic collections in 1869,
the Smithsonian Institution and its scientific staff have shown great interest in pursuing research, education, and exhibition of early human lifeways. During the more than 130-year history of acquiring objects from the Old World, a total of 22,000 objects has been amassed from some 332 Lower to Upper Paleolithic localities. Certain objects are rare pieces from classic Paleolithic localities, although many others were obtained as representative pieces for comparative purposes and exhibition. Documents and letters of correspondence between Old and New World investigators provide the historical context of collection acquisition and the motivations
of those involved in the international transfer and exchange of artifacts. Synthesis of the documentation shows variability in the tempo of collection acquisition and biases in geographic interests that are tied to patterns of scientific inquiry, world wars, and later, adherence to antiquity laws and reorientation of modern paleoanthropological methods and approaches.
Because we refer extensively to archived letters and memoranda in the text, Appendix 1 provides a chronological list of these materials and the specific Smithsonian Institution archive where they are located.

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How have humans colonised the entire planet and reshaped its ecosystems in the process? This uniq... more How have humans colonised the entire planet and reshaped its ecosystems in the process? This unique and groundbreaking collection of essays explores human movement through time, the impacts of these movements on landscapes and other species, and the ways in which species have co-evolved and transformed each other as a result. Exploring the spread of people, plants, animals, and diseases through processes of migration, colonisation, trade, and travel, it assembles a broad array of case studies from the Pliocene to the present. The contributors from disciplines across the humanities and natural sciences are senior or established scholars in the fields of human evolution, archaeology, history, and geography.

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Papers by Michael Petraglia

Quaternary International, 2021

Though hundreds of caves are known across Mongolia, few have been subject to systematic, interdis... more Though hundreds of caves are known across Mongolia, few have been subject to systematic, interdisciplinary archaeological surveys and excavations to understand Late Pleistocene and Holocene environments. Previous cave excavations in Mongolia have demonstrated their potential for preservation of archaeological and biological material, including Palaeolithic assemblages and Holocene archaeology, particularly burials, with associated organic finds. In other cases, cave surveys found that stratigraphic deposits and archaeological materials are absent. The large number of caves makes the Mongolian Altai Mountain Range a potentially attractive region for human occupation in the Pleistocene and Holocene. Here we present the results of an interdisciplinary survey of caves in four carbonate areas across the Gobi-Altai Mountains. We report 24 new caves, some of which contain archaeological material recovered through survey and test excavations. Most caves presented limited sedimentation, and some were likely too small for human habitation. Six caves showed evidence of palaeontological remains, most likely from the Late Holocene and recent periods. The most notable anthropogenic findings included petroglyphs at Gazar Agui 1 & 13. Gazar Agui 1 also contained lithics and a bronze fragment. Tsakhiryn Agui 1 contained 31 wooden fragments that include an unused fire drilling tool kit and items commonly found in association with medieval burials. We observed that the caves remain in contemporary use for religious and economic purposes, such as the construction of shrines, mining and animal corralling. Water samples from the caves, and nearby rivers, lakes, and springs were analysed for their isotopic compositions (δ18O, δD, δ17O, 17Oexcess, d-excess) and the data, combined with backward trajectory modelling revealed that the Gobi-Altai region receives moisture mainly from western sources. These results form a baseline for future archaeological, palaeoclimate and palaeoecological studies about regional seasonality and land use.

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Human Dispersal and Species Movement, 2017

Hominin dispersals in the Pliocene and Pleistocene have led to repeated range expansions of multi... more Hominin dispersals in the Pliocene and Pleistocene have led to repeated range expansions of multiple human species, some with significant niche constructing behaviours. There is little doubt that humans have dramatically transformed global ecosystems since the adoption of agriculture by many societies in the Holocene. Beyond megafaunal extinctions, however, little attention has been paid to how pre-Holocene societies and our earlier hominin ancestors may have modified ecosystems as a consequence of subsistence-related activities and other pursuits. Evidence is reviewed here to demonstrate that the subsistence activities of hominins did in fact have an effect on local and regional environments as humans expanded their niches and territorial ranges in the Pliocene and Pleistocene. Evidence for the transformation of local ecologies in the Upper Palaeolithic of Europe is particularly convincing. Hominins also shaped their habitats through the use of fire and through the procurement and quarrying of raw materials for stone tool manufacture. Anthropogenic transformation of the natural world would appear to have begun in the Pliocene and Pleistocene, albeit on a different scale than in later periods.

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Scientific Reports, 2018

The Acheulean is the longest lasting cultural–technological tradition in human evolutionary histo... more The Acheulean is the longest lasting cultural–technological tradition in human evolutionary history. However, considerable gaps remain in understanding the chronology and geographical distribution of Acheulean hominins. We present the first chronometrically dated Acheulean site from the Arabian Peninsula, a vast and poorly known region that forms more than half of Southwest Asia. Results show that Acheulean hominin occupation expanded along hydrological networks into the heart of Arabia from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 7 until at least ~190 ka ̶ the youngest documented Acheulean in Southwest Asia. The site of Saffaqah features Acheulean technology, characterized by large flakes, handaxes and cleavers, similar to Acheulean assemblages in Africa. These findings reveal a climatically mediated later Acheulean expansion into a poorly known region, amplifying the documented diversity of Middle Pleistocene hominin behaviour across the Old World and elaborating the terminal archaic landscape encountered by our species as they dispersed out of Africa.

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We challenge the view that our species, Homo sapiens, evolved within a single population and/or r... more We challenge the view that our species, Homo sapiens, evolved within a single population and/or region of Africa. The chronology and physical diversity of Pleistocene human fossils suggest that morphologically varied populations pertaining to the H. sapiens clade lived throughout Africa. Similarly, the African archaeological record demonstrates the polycentric origin and persistence of regionally distinct Pleistocene material culture in a variety of paleoecological settings. Genetic studies also indicate that present-day population structure within Africa extends to deep times, paralleling a paleoenvironmental record of shifting and fractured habitable zones. We argue that these fields support an emerging view of a highly structured African prehistory that should be considered in human evolutionary inferences, prompting new interpretations, questions , and interdisciplinary research directions.

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Most of the world's presently hyper-arid desert regions have experienced previous periods of sign... more Most of the world's presently hyper-arid desert regions have experienced previous periods of significantly higher humidity and milder environmental conditions. The timing of these 'greening events' is critical to research upon global climatic fluctuations and for studies of hominin palaeodemography and range expansion, contraction, and extinction, but dating these climatic shifts via terrestrial sedimentary records can be difficult. Here, we outline the challenges inherent in the radiometric dating of carbonate-and evaporite-rich sediments preserved in the Jubbah basin (Nefud Desert, northern Saudi Arabia), a critical area for reconstructing the evolution of local hydrological regimes across long timescales. The Jubbah basin is surrounded by sandstone jebels (bedrock outcrops), which have prevented significant leeward dune accumulation for at least 400,000 years. The sedimentary sequences in the basin indicate repeated fluctuations between arid and humid climatic conditions, and provide key hydroclimatic records for northern Arabia. Quartz OSL and feldspar pIRIR 290 luminescence measurements and radio-carbon dating efforts are reported from four palaeoenvironmental sections in the Jubbah basin. Dates from sand-rich levels are relatively unproblematic, but significant difficulties were encountered when calculating luminescence ages from carbonate and evaporite-rich sediments. Examination of the age-depth profiles, elemental composition, and sedimentological characteristics of these sections indicates that both secular disequilibrium and post-depositional alteration of the sediments has resulted in inaccurate dose rate assessment for multiple samples. In particular, we suggest that multiple groundwater pulses in the Jubbah basin have caused carbonate re-precipitation and concurrent uranium enrichment in subsurface deposits, whereas 'perched' sections (such as the carbonate-topped remnants reported elsewhere across the Nefud) seem to be free from such alteration. These difficulties highlight important considerations for the production of chronologies from comparable settings elsewhere. Careful evaluation of all results, however, yields a robust chronology indicating the presence of varying levels of groundwater from the Holocene, MIS 3, 5, and probably older sediments from MIS 7 through to 9 or 11. We therefore provide a detailed discussion of the production of a reliable chronological framework for the Jubbah basin as an exemplar of the challenges to be overcome in such settings, and the amount of information that can be derived in so doing.

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Understanding the timing and character of Homo sapiens expansion out of Africa is critical for in... more Understanding the timing and character of Homo sapiens expansion out of Africa is critical for inferring the colonisation and admixture processes that underpin global population history. It has been argued that dispersal out of Africa had an early phase, particularly ~130-90 thousand years ago (ka), that only reached the East Mediterranean Levant, and a later phase, ~60-50 ka, that extended across the diverse environments of Eurasia to Sahul. However, recent findings from East Asia and Sahul challenge this model. Here we show that H. sapiens was in the Arabian Peninsula before 85 ka. We describe the Al Wusta-1 (AW-1) intermediate phalanx from the site of Al Wusta in the Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia. AW-1 is the oldest directly dated fossil of our species outside Africa and the Levant. The palaeoenvironmental context of Al Wusta demonstrates that H. sapiens using Middle Palaeolithic stone tools dispersed into Arabia during a phase of increased precipitation driven by orbital forcing, in association with a primarily African fauna. A Bayesian model incorporating independent chronometric age estimates indicates a chronology for Al Wusta of ~95-86 ka, which we correlate with a humid episode in the later part of Marine Isotope Stage 5 known from various regional records. Al Wusta shows that early dispersals were more spatially and temporally extensive than previously thought. Early H. sapiens dispersals out of Africa were not limited to winter rainfall-fed Levantine Mediterranean woodlands immediately adjacent to Africa, but extended deep into the semi-arid grasslands of Arabia, facilitated by periods of enhanced monsoonal rainfall.

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Headland and Bailey (1991) argued in Human Ecology that tropical forests could not support long-t... more Headland and Bailey (1991) argued in Human Ecology that tropical forests could not support long-term human foraging in the absence of agriculture. Part of their thesis was based on the fact that supposedly isolated 'forest' foragers, such as the Wanniyalaeto (or Vedda) peoples of Sri Lanka, could be demonstrated to be enmeshed within historical trade networks and rely on crops as part of their overall subsistence. Yet, in the same volume and in the years that followed scholars have presented ethnographic and archaeological evidence, including from Sri Lanka, that counter this proposition, demonstrating the occupation and exploitation of tropical rainforest environments back to 38,000 years ago (ka) in this part of the world. However, archaeological and ethnohistorical research has yet to quantify the overall reliance of human foragers on tropical forest resources through time. Here, we report stable carbon and oxygen isotope data from historical Wanniyalaeto individuals from Sri Lanka, in full collaboration with the present-day members of this group, that suggest that while a number of individuals made use of agricultural resources in the recent past, others subsisted primarily on tropical forest resources as late as the 1800s.

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Lithic Technological Organization and Paleoenvironmental Change: Global and Diachronic Perspectives, 2018

The question of the origins of the microlithic in South Asia has been one that is hotly debated i... more The question of the origins of the microlithic in South Asia has been one that is
hotly debated in the last decade and a prominent topic within the scientific and public
domain (Balter 2010; Appenzeller 2012). Two opposed models have invoked
different mechanisms to explain the origins of the microlithic in India. These see the
microlithic as either the signature of the arrival of Homo sapiens with essentially
African Later Stone Age technology (Mellars 2006; Mellars et al. 2013; Mishra
et al. 2013; Bar Yosef and Belfer Cohen 2013;) or the indigenous development of
technologies suited to coping with increasing risk and uncertainty during periods of
climatic variability and change (Clarkson et al. 2009; Petraglia et al. 2009a; Hiscock
et al. 2011; Clarkson 2014).

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The Levantine sites of Skhul and Qafzeh have been interpreted as indicating an early, short and u... more The Levantine sites of Skhul and Qafzeh have been interpreted as indicating an early, short and unsuccessful expansion of Homo sapiens out of Africa. Chronometric age estimates, however, indicate a history of prolonged occupation, and suggest that Skhul (~130e100 thousand years ago [ka]) may have been occupied earlier than Qafzeh (beginning ~110e90 ka). Morphologically, the Skhul individuals can be described as somewhat more primitive in comparison to the Qafzeh fossils. Though the lithic assemblages of sites such as Skhul and Qafzeh are often described as being technologically similar, as part of the 'Tabun C' phase/industry, limited detailed information on the Skhul lithic assemblage has been published, and little comparative work has been conducted. Here, we present an analysis of the Skhul stone tool assemblage to describe its characteristics, to evaluate the lithic results against the fossil and chronological data, and for inter-site regional comparison. Our findings indicate that the Skhul lithic assemblage differs from other Levantine Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 sites, such as Qafzeh. For example, there was more of an emphasis on diverse methods of point production at Skhul, and the available samples indicate a greater emphasis on preferential rather than recurrent Levallois reduction at Skhul. The current findings suggest that neither the Levantine Middle Palaeolithic in general, nor MIS 5 assemblages in particular, were technologically homogeneous. These data are consistent with either a long occupation of the Levant by Homo sapiens in MIS 5, or at least two phases of occupation (early MIS 5 and mid to late MIS). Whatever the fate of the Skhul and Qafzeh population(s), their occupation of the Levant was neither short nor culturally uniform. Our findings add to the growing pool of evidence that the dispersal of our species 'Out of Africa' was more complex than hitherto thought. Further work on MIS 5e contexts in the Levant and elsewhere in Southwest Asia should be a research priority.

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Current Anthropology, 2017

The Indian subcontinent lies on a key east-west corridor for hominin expansions across Asia, whic... more The Indian subcontinent lies on a key east-west corridor for hominin expansions across Asia, which has led to it playing a prominent role in debate surrounding the dispersal of modern humans. The current geography and ecology of the region consists of a diverse array of habitats. An examination of changes in monsoonal intensity indicates that geographic reconfiguration of ecological diversity occurred, but at a regional level, South Asia is shown to provide suitable environments for hominin occupations throughout the Late Pleistocene. Unfortunately, the fossil record of South Asia remains poor, preventing decisive resolution of modern human dispersal debates. However, in the past decade new interdisciplinary approaches to the archaeological record have overhauled the framework for understanding behavioral change during the Late Pleistocene. While the nature of the Late Acheulean to Middle Paleolithic transition remains to be resolved, it is now clear that it appears significantly later than in other Old World regions and may coincide with the expansion of modern humans across Asia. Mounting evidence supports a gradual rather than abrupt transition from Middle to Late Paleolithic technologies, which does not easily reconcile with arguments for the introduction of microlithic tool kits by the earliest expansions of modern humans.

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Climate change is frequently highlighted as a key driver of biological evolution and cultural inn... more Climate change is frequently highlighted as a key driver of biological evolution and cultural innovation in our species. It is often seen as influencing behavioural plasticity and the development of buffering mechanisms, for example in the form of more efficient technology and subsistence strategies. However, such hypotheses are yet to be studied in detail in South Asia, despite improving Late Pleistocene palaeoenvironmental records in this region and its crucial position in human dispersals beyond Africa. Here, we review evidence for technological and behavioural innovation across three regions of South Asia: the Thar Desert (northwest India), the Jurreru River Valley (southeast India), and the lowland Wet Zone of Sri Lanka. Together these areas form an ecotone from hyper-arid desert to humid rainforest that show different dynamics in the Late Pleistocene, and particularly during the Last Glacial Maximum. The archaeological records from each of these areas demonstrate a distinct nature and tempo of cultural change, probably reflecting, to some extent, the influence of climate change on forming heterogeneous local environments. Overall, however, the mosaic environments of South Asia made it an attractive region for the persistence of our species and their gradual uptake of cultural innovations during the Late Pleistocene.

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High-coverage whole-genome sequence studies have so far focused on a limited number 1 of geograph... more High-coverage whole-genome sequence studies have so far focused on a limited number 1 of geographically restricted populations 2–5 , or been targeted at specific diseases, such as cancer 6. Nevertheless, the availability of high-resolution genomic data has led to the development of new methodologies for inferring population history 7–9 and refuelled the debate on the mutation rate in humans 10. Here we present the Estonian Biocentre Human Genome Diversity Panel (EGDP), a dataset of 483 high-coverage human genomes from 148 populations worldwide, including 379 new genomes from 125 populations, which we group into diversity and selection sets. We analyse this dataset to refine estimates of continent-wide patterns of heterozygosity, long-and short-distance gene flow, archaic admixture, and changes in effective population size through time as well as for signals of positive or balancing selection. We find a genetic signature in present-day Papuans that suggests that at least 2% of their genome originates from an early and largely extinct expansion of anatomically modern humans (AMHs) out of Africa. Together with evidence from the western Asian fossil record 11 , and admixture between AMHs and Neanderthals predating the main Eurasian expansion 12 , our results contribute to the mounting evidence for the presence of AMHs out of Africa earlier than 75,000 years ago.

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The Lesser Khingan Mountains of northeastern China are heavily forested, making archaeological si... more The Lesser Khingan Mountains of northeastern China are heavily forested, making archaeological site identification difficult owing to poor ground surface visibility. Nevertheless, several prehistoric archaeological site discoveries have been made in recent years and a limited number of excavations have been initiated. One of the most important sites to emerge is Taoshan, which has yielded stratified stone tool assemblages dating from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the mid-Holocene. Pollen profiles indicate significant changes in vegetation, fluctuating from steppe conditions during the LGM to forested conditions in the Bølling–Allerød interstadial (B–A) and the mid-Holocene. The stone tool assemblages from Taoshan were primarily produced from varieties of volcanic tuff, rhyolite, hornfels and agate. Geological prospecting and petrological analyses were performed to document procurement sources and changes in raw material exploitation strategies. During the LGM, the predominant raw material was vitric tuff, available from a source ca. 5–10 km from Taoshan. In the B–A and mid-Holocene layers, emphasis was on the exploitation of raw materials in gravel bars, although stone tool reduction techniques and raw material preferences changed considerably during this time interval. Diachronic changes in raw materials and exploitation strategies correspond to changes in vegetation and human adaptations.

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Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, 2004

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Quaternary International, 2021

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Human Dispersal and Species Movement, 2017

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Scientific Reports, 2018

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Lithic Technological Organization and Paleoenvironmental Change: Global and Diachronic Perspectives, 2018

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Current Anthropology, 2017

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Most of the world's presently hyper-arid desert regions have experienced previous periods of sign... more Most of the world's presently hyper-arid desert regions have experienced previous periods of significantly higher humidity and milder environmental conditions. The timing of these 'greening events' is critical to research upon global climatic fluctuations and for studies of hominin palaeodemography and range expansion, contraction, and extinction, but dating these climatic shifts via terrestrial sedimentary records can be difficult. Here, we outline the challenges inherent in the radiometric dating of carbonate- and evaporite-rich sediments preserved in the Jubbah basin (Nefud Desert, northern Saudi Arabia), a critical area for reconstructing the evolution of local hydrological regimes across long timescales. The Jubbah basin is surrounded by sandstone jebels (bedrock outcrops), which have prevented significant leeward dune accumulation for at least 400,000 years. The sedimentary sequences in the basin indicate repeated fluctuations between arid and humid climatic conditions, and provide key hydroclimatic records for northern Arabia. Quartz OSL and feldspar pIRIR290 luminescence measurements and radiocarbon dating efforts are reported from four palaeoenvironmental sections in the Jubbah basin. Dates from sand-rich levels are relatively unproblematic, but significant difficulties were encountered when calculating luminescence ages from carbonate and evaporite-rich sediments. Examination of the age-depth profiles, elemental composition, and sedimentological characteristics of these sections indicates that both secular disequilibrium and post-depositional alteration of the sediments has resulted in inaccurate dose rate assessment for multiple samples. In particular, we suggest that multiple groundwater pulses in the Jubbah basin have caused carbonate re-precipitation and concurrent uranium enrichment in subsurface deposits, whereas ‘perched’ sections (such as the carbonate-topped remnants reported elsewhere across the Nefud) seem to be free from such alteration. These difficulties highlight important considerations for the production of chronologies from comparable settings elsewhere. Careful evaluation of all results, however, yields a robust chronology indicating the presence of varying levels of groundwater from the Holocene, MIS 3, 5, and probably older sediments from MIS 7 through 9 or 11. We therefore provide a detailed discussion of the production of a reliable chronological framework for the Jubbah basin as an exemplar of the challenges to be overcome in such settings, and the amount of information that can be derived in so doing.

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Proceedings of the …, Jan 1, 2009

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Antiquity, Jan 1, 2009

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A 10–30 m wide dolerite dyke on the northernmost of the complex of granite hills in the Sanganaka... more A 10–30 m wide dolerite dyke on the northernmost of the complex of
granite hills in the Sanganakallu-Kupgal area became one of the main
sources of raw material for the production of stone axes in southern
India during the late prehistoric period. At least three large hill
settlements (several hectares each) were established in the hill
complex, and one of them appears to have gradually developed into
a large scale production centre. Quarrying and axe flaking started
around 1900 cal BCE, during the so-called Ash-mound period, and
reached its maximum development between 1400–1200 cal BCE, when
a large region of the south Deccan plateau might have been supplied
with finished and half-finished products from Sanganakallu.
Systematic archaeological excavation and survey carried out since
1997 in the Sanganakallu-Kupgal area, including the dyke quarry
itself, has yielded tens of thousands of production flakes, blanks and
macro-lithic tools related to the flaking, pecking and polishing of the
axes. The ongoing study of these materials permits us to gain insight
into the organisation of production in this area from a temporal
and spatial perspective.
In view of the social and economic transformations taking place
in the Deccan during the second half of the 2nd millennium BC,
some key questions concern the relationship between intensification
of production and the social division of labour between different
working areas and settlements.

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The exhibition of increasingly intensive and complex niche construction behaviors through time is... more The exhibition of increasingly intensive and complex niche construction behaviors through time is a key feature of human evolution, culminating in the advanced capacity for ecosystem engineering exhibited by Homo sapiens. A crucial outcome of such behaviors has been the dramatic reshaping of the global bio-sphere, a transformation whose early origins are increasingly apparent from cumulative archaeological and paleoecological datasets. Such data suggest that, by the Late Pleistocene, humans had begun to engage in activities that have led to alterations in the distributions of a vast array of species across most, if not all, taxonomic groups. Changes to biodiversity have included extinctions, extirpations, and shifts in species composition, diversity, and community structure. We outline key examples of these changes, highlighting findings from the study of new datasets, like ancient DNA (aDNA), stable isotopes, and microfossils, as well as the application of new statistical and computational methods to datasets that have accumulated significantly in recent decades. We focus on four major phases that witnessed broad anthropogenic alterations to biodiversity—the Late Pleistocene global human expansion, the Neolithic spread of agriculture , the era of island colonization, and the emergence of early urbanized societies and commercial networks. Archaeological evidence documents millennia of anthropogenic transformations that have created novel ecosystems around the world. This record has implications for ecological and evolutionary research, conservation strategies, and the maintenance of ecosystem services, pointing to a significant need for broader cross-disciplinary engagement between archaeology and the biological and environmental sciences.

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Plio-Pleistocene faunal turnovers and their implications for hominin dispersals have recently rec... more Plio-Pleistocene faunal turnovers and their implications for hominin dispersals have recently received considerable attention. Exploration and palaeontological study of faunal exchanges has traditionally centred on East Africa, North Africa and the Levant in Southwest Asia. Despite this attention, considerable debate surrounding the timings, rates, and directions of hominin dispersals remain. Notwithstanding its close geographical proximity to these regions and a landmass of over 3 million km 2 , the Arabian Peninsula has largely been excluded from these discussions, mostly owing to the paucity of its Pleisto-cene vertebrate record. However, recent palaeoenvironmental studies have demonstrated that Arabia experienced periods of climatic amelioration during the Pleistocene, resulting in the establishment of large, perennial water sources and open-grasslands; conditions vastly different than today. This interpretation is further underpinned by archaeological and palaeontological data, and it is now clear this region is important for understanding faunal and hominin movements between Africa and Eurasia. Examination of the Arabian Middle to Late Pleistocene fossil record in a biogeographical context indicates the composite nature of the Arabian faunal record, with Eurasian and African intrusions present in addition to well-established endemics. Open grassland habitats and taxonomic similarities between Pleistocene Arabia on the one hand, and the Levant and Africa on the other, suggests that hominin dispersal into Arabia did not require significant behavioural and/or technological innovations, while subsequent climatic deterioration likely resulted in hominin retreat/extirpation.

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Science Bulletin, 2020

The study of the dispersal of modern humans beyond Africa is of great importance for assessing th... more The study of the dispersal of modern humans beyond Africa is of
great importance for assessing the adaptive capacities of Homo
sapiens and for addressing why we are the only remaining hominin
species on the planet today. Archaeological and genetic discussions
of this process have tended to focus on the so-called ‘‘southern”
route towards Arabia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Australasia
and associated coastal and terrestrial environments [1]. More
recently, increasing archaeological attention has focused on potential
northern routes of human dispersal through Central Asia,
Siberia, and northern China in light of new discoveries and
research in this part of the world [1,2]. Technological advances
and suitable preservation conditions at sites in northern Asia have
increased our ability to successfully extract ancient DNA from
human fossils and sediments, alongside new finds of archaeological
materials, with increasingly secure dated associations in different
regions. New opportunities therefore now exist to examine the
northern dispersal route(s) of modern humans and their interactions
with archaic hominins in northern Asia (Fig. 1a).

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