PALEOANTHROPOLOGY (HUMAN PALEONTOLOGY). - It is the science that studies the human skeletal remains found as fossils in prehistoric sites, in the open air or in caves, and in Quaternary alluvial deposits. The earliest known human fossil remains date back to the Early Pleistocene (v. MAN, AGE of).
The fossil representatives of humanity are divided into various systematic genera and species, according to their morphological characteristics and their probable genealogical relationships. The oldest and most primitive are called protanthropi and all date back to the Early Paleolithic; their skeleton presents a mixture of pithecoid and human characteristics, with a more or less accentuated prevalence of the latter.
Among these, mention should be made of the Pithecanthropi (Pithecanthropus robustus, P. erectus) of Java, represented by 4 more or less complete skulls and perhaps by some femurs; the Sinanthropus (Sinanthropus Pechinensis), of which remains referable to about forty individuals have been found in the caves of Choukoutien near Beijing; the Mauer Man (Palaeanthropus [?] Heidelbergensis) represented by an extraordinarily robust mandible found in the vicinity of Heidelberg in Germany, and the Africanthropus (Africantropus Njarasensis) to which belongs a skull found in central-eastern Africa, which represents an intermediate stage between protanthropi and paleanthropi.
Some authors also consider the Gigantopithecines (Gigantopithecus blachi, Meyanthropus paleojasanicus) as protanthropi, gigantic beings whose teeth, recently discovered in southern China and Java, show both pithecoid and human characteristics. These protanthropi, still very poorly known, present on the one hand affinities with the pithecanthropi and on the other with the australopithecines (Australopithecus Africanus, Plesianthropus Transvaalensis, Paranthropus robustus and P. crassidens), a curious group of South African anthropomorphic apes that present some strikingly human characteristics especially as regards the dentition and the pelvis. To the Middle Paleolithic must be attributed in the majority the Paleanthropi, in whom notable pithecoid characteristics persist, but human ones are decidedly affirmed. The most typical representative of this group is the Neanderthal Man (Palaeanthropus Neandertalensis) to which belong the remains of about eighty individuals, among them the Italian ones of Saccopastore and Circeo. Also to this group belong the Solo Man (Palaeanthropus Soloensis) of the Upper Paleolithic of Ngandong (Java) and the Rhodesian Man (Palaeanthropus Rhodesiensis) of uncertain age, but fairly recent. It is uncertain whether an infant skull, found at Modjokerto (Java) in the layers corresponding to the Early Paleolithic, is referable to the Solo Man, a skull that some authors instead attribute to the pithecanthropi. A somewhat particular position is occupied by certain paleanthropi such as the Steinheim Man (Palaeanthropus [?] Steinheimensis) and the Carmel Man (Palaeanthropus [?] Palestinus) who present a curious mixture of characteristics proper to the Neanderthal group and to Homo sapiens.
Contemporaneously with the paleanthropi there also lived in Europe men who present more or less close affinities with Homo sapiens and are called Proto-phaneranthropi. Among these may be recalled the Piltdown Eoanthropus (Eoanthropus Dawsoni) once referred to the Early Paleolithic, but now, on the basis of the "fluorine method", held to be of more recent age; the Swanscombe man, accompanied by Acheulean industry and therefore referable to the uppermost part of the Lower Paleolithic; the Fontéchevade man (France), whom the accompanying industry, Tayacian, causes to be referred to the boundary between the Early and Middle Paleolithic; the Olmo Man, represented by a skull found in Umbria together with a Mousterian point (Middle Paleolithic) and finally the Quinzano man (Verona), also probably of the Middle Paleolithic. Some authors also attribute other finds to the Early and Middle Paleolithic, such as the Galley Hill skull and that of the Lloyds of London, but by now almost all paleoanthropologists agree in considering this attribution unfounded. Uncertain is the chronological position of the fossil remains of La Denise in France.
At the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, that is during the last glaciation (Würmian) the paleanthropi became extinct in Europe and human races of modern type (Homo sapiens) spread over the entire Old World, but not so differentiated among themselves as today's races, inasmuch as a single individual sometimes presents united characteristics that are currently distributed among different races.
Among the European races of the Upper Paleolithic may be recalled those of Brno, of Predmost and of La Barma, which possess very pronounced supraorbital arches: the negroid peoples of Grimaldi; the Cro-Magnon race of tall stature (up to 1.89 m), which according to some authors would still be represented in some present-day population; and the Combe Capelle race, variously interpreted (Eskimoid, Australoid, proto-Mediterranean, etc.). All these races belong to the Aurignacian. Somewhat more recent are the Chancellade Man, interpreted as Eskimoid, and that of Oberkassel, Magdalenian. The skeletons of the cave of S. Teodoro (Messina) and perhaps that of the Maiella represent the first Mediterraneans, referable to the Upper Paleolithic. To the Mesolithic are referable the skulls of Ofnet (Bavaria), among which figure the oldest brachycephalic skulls known so far, and the skeletons of Téviec (Brittany), Muge (Portugal) and of the cave of the Arene Candide in Liguria. In Asia the oldest representatives of Homo sapiens are the skeletons of Shuqba and 'Ajiš (Palestine) accompanied by Natufian industry (Upper Paleolithic or Mesolithic) and the skulls of Wadjak (Java) considered as proto-Australian and referred, with reservation, to the Upper Paleolithic. Also proto-Australian are considered the skulls and skeletons of Talgai and Cohuna in Australia. Africa has furnished numerous skeletal remains referable with greater or lesser certainty to the Upper Paleolithic. Great sensation was produced some time ago by the discovery of some skeletons at Oldoway, Kanam and Kanjera in eastern Africa (Kenya and Tanganyika). According to their discoverers these remains of Homo sapiens would date back to the Middle Paleolithic or even to the Lower and would belong to the oldest representatives of humanity. But by now almost all authors consider them referable to the Upper Paleolithic or even to the Neolithic and buried in pre-existing deposits. To the Upper Paleolithic are referred the skeletal remains of Homo sapiens discovered at Asselar (southern Sahara), Mechta-el-Arbi and Alalu-bu-Rummel (Algeria). Uncertain is the age of the skeletons of Elmenteita, Gamble, Boskop, Springbok, Florisbad and Cape Flats, all localities of Southern Africa, which are attributed to the Upper Paleolithic or to more recent ages. All belong to Homo sapiens and often already present the characteristics of present-day African races.
In America man appeared relatively late, and the most ancient human traces (Falson Industry) are referable to the Upper Paleolithic. Truly fossil skeletal remains are so far quite rare and all referable to Homo sapiens. Worth remembering are the Australoid skull of Punin (Ecuador) and the heterogeneous complex of the so-called Lagoa Santa race (Brazil). The Argentine paleontologist F. Ameghino believed he had discovered in the alluvial formations of the Pampas a series of human fossils (Tetraprothomo, Triprothomo, Diprothomo, Prothomo) that would have demonstrated the evolutionary origin of Man from a group of small Tertiary American monkeys (Homunculidae). But it was later established that the skeletal remains in question were in part simply simian, in part human with abnormal characters due to artificial deformations of the skull, which are still practiced today by indigenous South American populations.
From the Neolithic onward the earth is completely populated by the human races still living today (with the exception of the Tasmanian race, extinct toward the end of the 19th century), and one therefore leaves the field of human paleontology.
As regards the problem of human origins and evolution, see the entry UOMO, ORIGINE dell'.