David Lordkipanidze

In 1991, 100 years after the 1891 discovery of Pithecanthropus erectus in Java, an international Senckenberg Conference was held in Frankfurt to review 100 years of Homo erectus research. In 2016, 25 years later, the ‘Homo erectus enigma’ is still one of the most fascinating debate in hominin evolutionary research. At the centennial conference 1991 the first hominin find from Dmanisi had its premier appearance. The Dmanisi hominins are crucial for our understanding of the ‘Homo erectus enigma’ as they demonstrate a morphological diversity, completely unknown before. New finds from other regions of the world over the last 25 years demonstrate the high diversity within Homo erectus hypodigm as well as the presence of regional variants in Africa and Eurasia. This Conference is organized jointly by Georgian National Museum and Senckenberg Research Institute in cooperation with ROCEEH (Heidelberg Academy of Science). It will highlight regional aspects of early hominin evolution in Africa and Eurasia and discuss aspects of Homo erectus evolution and behaviour in a broad perspective. We will look at the origins of Homo erectus and its evolutionary history, including aspects of taxonomy, life history, way of life, dispersal patterns and environmental contexts of expansions.