Professor Mirjana Roksandic (paleonathropologist at the Department of Anthropology, University of Winnipeg) joined Dusan Mihailovic‘s (University of Belgrade) team in 2006 to study early human occupation in the Balkan peninsula. Balkans represents the most convenient corridor for human and animal populations to penetrate Europe. At the gates of Europe in Dmanisi Georgia, we have earliest evidence of human populations outside of Africa at 1.7 million years ago. We also know that hominins reached western Europe by 1.2 mya. We also know that anatomically modern humans (an older version of all of us) spread into Europe through Balkan peninsula, but we do not have solid evidence of any Pleistocene developments in this part of the world. Opening a whole new chapter in the study of human evolution porfs. Mihailovic and Roksandic have gathered a team of prominent researchers who are presenting their views on the relevance of these sites and their potential.
