유라시아 연구의 미래

Abstract

It is confirmed that humans began to inhabit the Eurasian region around 2 million years ago, in the early Pleistocene. Since then, the Eurasian continent has continuously been the main stage for the evolution of Homo, and new species of humans have entered and emerged, becoming the stagefor the evolution of modern humans today. Modern humans originated in East Africa around 200,000 years ago and spread to East Asia around 5-60,000 years ago, but based on the results of genetic research today, modern humans have undergone micro-evolution through genetic exchange with existing hominins in the region, not only the Heidelberg Man and the Neanderthals, but also the Denisovans, who are likely to have emerged in East Asia. The Paleolithic cultural evolution of the Eurasian continent appears in various aspects across a vast area. First of all, the Acheulian or Acheulian-type stone tools that correspond to the early period are not seen in Siberia or Southeast Asia, but they appear in various forms in other regions. The Levallois technique is seen in Europe and the Altai-Mongolian Siberia region, but not in the Far East. It can be seen that the blade and microblade technologies are widely spread from Europe to Siberia and evento the Far East including Japan. However, the evolution of stone tool technology is not prominent in Southeast Asia. This phenomenon of the distribution of stone tool technology can be understood as a diversity due to the mixed factors of the diffusion and adaptation processes of mankind. The biggest challenge for Asian archaeology is to interpret the specificity of regional culture within the framework of the universal evolutionary process of mankind by considering the relationship between the ecological environment and humans and the changes in the process.