Thoughts on the Initial Adaptation of Hominids to European Glacial Climates

Abstract

The African continent has afforded a wealth of evidence bearing on the early evolution of Hominidae and the development of capacities for culture. However, until recently there has been scant documentation of the time of dispersal of hominids from tropical into north temperate latitudes. Human populations were certainly well established in Europe by Mindel Glacial times, rather less than 0.7 my ago, to judge from known occupation places in France and Hungary. Recently several localities in southern France and southern Spain have afforded artifactual evidence to suggest the presence of human populations in the preceding Cromerian interglacial, and even very probably in the preceding glacial stage, the “Gunz” (of authors). The identity of these first Europeans still remains unknown.