Congres/symposium
Hominin diversity in Eastern Asia
- Datum
- donderdag 22 januari 2026
- Tijd
- Bezoekadres
-
Van Steenis
Einsteinweg 2
2333 CC Leiden - Zaal
- F0.06
Abstract
This symposium is organised in honor of the defence of the PhD dissertation From the Solo to the Madura Strait by Harold Berghuis, on January 22, 16.00 hours, Academy Building.
The hominin fossils from Eastern Asia display an extreme morphological variety. This testifies of a complex interplay of multiple dispersal waves, branching populations, temporary isolation, and interbreeding.
Unravelling this complex past based on scattered fossil remains is a challenge, which asks for new perspectives. Is the currently used formal or informal classification satisfactory? What was the role of regional changes of the land-sea configuration for dispersal and isolation of populations? What does the regional geological and palaeontological record tell us about ancient landscapes and climates? How robust are the available stratigraphic interpretations and numerical ages? What can we expect from paleoproteomics?
For this symposium, we bring leading, international experts together, each with a different expertise and an outspoken vision.
Speakers
- Gert van den Bergh: Reworking old ground and reaching new depths: Pleistocene hominins east of the Wallace Line
- Robin Dennell: The muddle in the middle: Denisovans, archaic Homo sapiens, and late Homo erectus
- Laurent Husson: The journey of Homo erectus across the changing environment of Sundaland
- Harold Berghuis: Make Sundaland Great Again, the ancient populations of a lost continent, a new interpretation