**PALEOANTHROPOLOGY** (HUMAN PALEONTOLOGY). - It is the science that studies the skeletal remains of humans found as fossils in prehistoric sites, whether open-air or cave dwellings, and in Quaternary alluvial deposits. The earliest known human fossil remains date back to the Early Pleistocene (see MAN, AGES OF).
The fossil representatives of humanity are divided into various genera and systematic species, according to their morphological characteristics and probable genealogical relationships. The most ancient and primitive are called *proanthropes* and all date back to the Old Paleolithic; their skeletons show a mixture of pithicoid and human traits, with a more or less pronounced prevalence of the latter.
Among these, noteworthy are the *Pithecanthropes* (*Pithecanthropus robustus*, *P. erectus*) of Java, represented by four more or less complete skulls and perhaps some femurs; the *Sinanthropus* (*Sinanthropus pekinensis*), of which remains referable to about forty individuals have been found in the caves of Choukoutien near Peking; the Heidelberg Man (*Palaeoanthropus [?] heidelbergensis*), represented by an extraordinarily robust mandible found near Heidelberg in Germany; and the Africanthropus (*Africanthropus njarasensis*), to which belongs a skull found in East-Central Africa, representing an intermediate stage between proanthropes and paleanthropes.
Some authors also consider the Gigantopithecines (*Gigantopithecus blacki*, *Meganthropus palaeojavanicus*) as proanthropes—gigantic beings whose teeth, recently discovered in southern China and Java, show both pithicoid and human traits. These proanthropes, still little known, show affinities on one hand with the pithecanthropes and on the other with the australopithecines (*Australopithecus africanus*, *Plesianthropus transvaalensis*, *Paranthropus robustus* and *P. crassidens*), a curious group of South African anthropoid apes that display some markedly human traits, especially in their dentition and pelvis.
The **Paleanthropes** belong mostly to the Middle Paleolithic. They retain notable pithicoid traits but human characteristics are decisively affirmed. The most typical representative of this group is the Neanderthal Man (*Palaeanthropus neanderthalensis*), to which belong the remains of about eighty individuals, including the Italian ones from Saccopastore and Monte Circeo. Also belonging to this group are the Solo Man (*Palaeanthropus soloensis*) from the Upper Paleolithic of Ngandong (Java) and the Rhodesian Man (*Palaeanthropus rhodesiensis*) of uncertain but fairly recent age. It is uncertain whether a child’s skull found at Modjokerto (Java) in strata corresponding to the Old Paleolithic—attributed by some authors to the pithecanthropes—should be referred to the Solo Man. A somewhat special position is occupied by some paleanthropes such as the Steinheim Man (*Palaeanthropus [?] steinheimensis*) and the Mount Carmel Man (*Palaeanthropus [?] palestinus*), who display a curious mixture of traits characteristic of the Neanderthal group and of *Homo sapiens*.
Contemporaneous with the paleanthropes in Europe were humans who show more or less close affinities with *Homo sapiens* and are called Protofarensanthropes. Among these may be mentioned the Piltdown Man (*Eoanthropus dawsoni*), once referred to the Old Paleolithic but now, on the basis of fluorine dating, considered more recent; the Swanscombe Man, accompanied by Acheulean industry and thus referable to the upper part of the Lower Paleolithic; the Fontéchevade Man (France), whose accompanying Tayacian industry places him at the boundary between the Old and Middle Paleolithic; the Olmo Man, represented by a skull found in Umbria together with a Mousterian point (Middle Paleolithic); and the Quinzano Man (Verona), also probably from the Middle Paleolithic. Some authors attribute to the Old and Middle Paleolithic other finds such as the Galley Hill skull and that of the Lloyds of London, but almost all paleoanthropologists now agree in considering this attribution unfounded. The chronological position of the fossil remains from Denise in France remains uncertain.
At the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, that is, during the last glaciation (Würm), both paleanthropes and protofarensanthropes became extinct in Europe, and human races of the modern type (*Homo sapiens*) spread across the Old World. These were not as differentiated from one another as modern races, since a single individual sometimes exhibits traits that today are distributed among different races.
Among the European races of the Upper Paleolithic may be mentioned those of Brunn, Predmost, and Brünn, which possess very pronounced supraorbital ridges; the Grimaldi negroids; the Cro-Magnon race, of tall stature (up to 1.89 m), which according to some authors is still represented in some modern populations; and the Combe Capelle race, variously interpreted (Eskimoid, Australoid, Proto-Mediterranean, etc.). All these races belong to the Aurignacian. Somewhat more recent are the Chancelade Man, interpreted as Eskimoid, and the Oberkassel Man, of the Magdalenian. The skeletons from the San Teodoro cave (Messina) and perhaps that from the Maiella represent the earliest Mediterraneans, referable to the Upper Paleolithic. To the Mesolithic are referred the Ofnet skulls (Bavaria), among which are the earliest brachycephals known, and the skeletons from Téviec (Brittany), Mugem (Portugal), and the Arene Candide cave in Liguria.
In Asia, the earliest representatives of *Homo sapiens* are the skeletons from Shukbah and 'Aqlit (Palestine), accompanied by Natufian industry (Upper Paleolithic or Mesolithic), and the Wadjak skulls (Java), considered proto-Australian and referred, with reservations, to the Upper Paleolithic. The skulls and skeletons from Talgai and Cohuna in Australia are also considered proto-Australian. Africa has yielded numerous skeletal remains referable with greater or lesser certainty to the Upper Paleolithic. Some time ago, the discovery of several skeletons at Oldoway, Kanam, and Kanjera in East Africa (Kenya and Tanganyika) caused a great stir. According to their discoverers, these *Homo sapiens* remains dated back to the Middle or even Lower Paleolithic and belonged to the earliest representatives of humanity. But now almost all authors consider them referable to the Upper Paleolithic or even the Neolithic, 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 Afalou-bu-Rhummel (Algeria). The age of the skeletons from Elmenteita, Gamble’s Cave, Boskop, Springbok, Florisbad, and Cape Flats—all localities in South Africa—remains uncertain; they are attributed to the Upper Paleolithic or more recent periods. All belong to *Homo sapiens* and often already display the traits of modern African races.
In America, man appeared relatively late,
and the most ancient human evidence (Industria di Falsoni)
dates back to the Upper Paleolithic. The truly fossilized skeletal remains are thus far quite rare and all referable
to *Homo sapiens*. Worth noting are the Australoid skull from
Punin (Ecuador) and the heterogeneous complex of the femur
known as the 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).
It was later established, however, that the skeletal remains in question were partly merely simian, and partly human with abnormal traits due to artificial cranial deformations, which are still practiced today by indigenous South American populations.
From the Neolithic period onward, the earth was completely populated by the human races still living today (with the exception of the Tasmanian race, which became extinct at the end of the 19th century), thus moving beyond the scope of human paleontology.
Regarding the problem of the origins and evolution of man, see the entry **UOMO, ORIGINE dell'**.