Rethinking the Evolutionary History of Hominin Populations in South Asia

In thepast several decades, there have been profound changes in our understanding ofthe evolutionary history of hominin populations, with new insights on a rangeof topics, such as on the relationship between environmental variability andhominin demographic changes and the timing and routes of dispersals from Africato Asia, The Indian subcontinent plays a key role in contributing to generaltheories about our evolutionary history given the range of ecosystems and theunique blend of behavoural information. The author has been involved in developinga number of working hypotheses about the evolution of hominin populations inSouth Asia from primary examination and study of the environmental, fossil andarchaeological record. The aim of this presentation is to evaluate the overallrecord of South Asia and to examine how well a series of hypotheses have heldup given recent controversies, debates and new knowledge. New and freshpropositions are needed to situate the splendid evolutionary record of SouthAsia into our wider evolutionary story.