Middle Pleistocene in the context of "Paranthropus"

Neanderthals (/niˈændərˌtɑːl, neɪ-, -ˌθɑːl/ nee-AN-də(r)-TAHL, nay-, -⁠THAHL; Homo neanderthalensis or sometimes Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) are an extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. Neanderthal extinction occurred roughly 40,000 years ago with the immigration of modern humans (Cro-Magnons), but Neanderthals in Gibraltar may have persisted for thousands of years longer.

The first recognised Neanderthal fossil, Neanderthal 1, was discovered in 1856 in the Neander Valley, Germany. At first, Neanderthal 1 was considered to be one of the lower races in accord with historical race concepts. As more fossils were discovered through the early 20th century, Neanderthals were characterised as a unique species of underdeveloped human, in particular by Marcellin Boule. By the mid-twentieth century, it was believed that human evolution progressed from an ape-like ancestor through a "Neanderthal phase" to modern humans. This gave way to the "Out of Africa" theory in the 1970s. With the sequencing of Neanderthal genetics first in 2010, it was discovered that Neanderthals interbred with modern humans.

Homo heidelbergensis is a species of archaic human from the Middle Pleistocene of Europe and Africa, as well as potentially Asia depending on the taxonomic convention used. The species-level classification of Homo during the Middle Pleistocene is controversial, called the "muddle in the middle", owing to the wide anatomical range of variation that populations exhibited during this time. H. heidelbergensis has been regarded as either the last common ancestor of modern humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans; or as a completely separate lineage.

H. heidelbergensis was described by German anthropologist Otto Schoetensack in 1908 based on a jawbone, Mauer 1, from a sand pit near the village of Mauer — 10 km (6.2 mi) southeast of Heidelberg. It was the oldest identified human fossil in Europe, and Schoetensack described it as an antediluvian race (before the Great Flood) which would eventually evolve into living Europeans. By the mid-20th century, all archaic human taxa were lumped as subspecies of either H. erectus or H. sapiens, with the former evolving into the latter without any coexistence. The species was usually lumped as H. e. heidelbergensis. While its utility was complicated by its definition on a jawbone (which is rarely ever found, and otherwise bears few diagnostic features) British physical anthropologist Chris Stringer revived the species in 1983, redefining it as a Euro-African ancestor of modern humans and Neanderthals using namely Kabwe 1, Petralona 1, Bodo, and Arago. These skulls are united mainly by their supraorbital torus (brow ridge) anatomy.

The Denisovans or Denisova hominins (/dəˈniːsəvə/ də-NEE-sə-və) are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic human that ranged across Asia during the Middle to Late Pleistocene, approximately 200,000–32,000 years ago. Most of what is known about Denisovans comes from DNA evidence. While many recent fossils have been found and tentatively identified as Denisovan, the first Denisovans discovered were known from few physical remains. Consequently, no formal species name has been established. However, an analysis of the mitochondrial DNA and endogenous proteins from the Harbin cranium, which had been given the name Homo longi, showed with great certainty that this species represents a Denisovan.In a study published in September 2025, remains from six additional sites in China including the 1 million year old Yunxian man were proposed to be included in the species Homo longi along with the genetically confirmed Denisovans.

The first identification of a Denisovan individual occurred in 2010, based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) extracted from a juvenile finger bone excavated from the Siberian Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains in 2008. Nuclear DNA indicates close affinities with Neanderthals. The cave was also periodically inhabited by Neanderthals. Additional specimens from Denisova Cave were subsequently identified, as were specimens from the Baishiya Karst Cave on the Tibetan Plateau, Tam Ngu Hao 2 Cave in the Annamite Mountains of Laos, the Penghu channel between Taiwan and the mainland, and Harbin in Manchuria.

Peking Man (Homo erectus pekinensis, originally "Sinanthropus pekinensis") is a subspecies of H. erectus which inhabited what is now northern China during the Middle Pleistocene. Its fossils have been found in a cave some 50 km (31 mi) southwest of Beijing (referred to in the West as Peking upon its first discovery), known as the Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site. The first fossil, a tooth, was discovered in 1921, and Zhoukoudian has since become the most productive H. erectus site in the world. Peking Man was instrumental in the foundation of Chinese anthropology, and fostered an important dialogue between Western and Eastern science. Peking Man became the centre of anthropological discussion, and was classified as a direct human ancestor, propping up the Out of Asia theory that humans evolved in Asia.

Peking Man also played a vital role in the restructuring of Chinese identity following the Chinese Communist Revolution, and it was used to introduce the general populace to Marxism and science. Early models of Peking Man society were compared to communist or nationalist ideals, leading to discussions on primitive communism and polygenism (that Peking Man was the direct ancestor of Chinese people). This produced a strong schism between Western and Eastern interpretations of the origin of modern humans, especially as the West adopted the Out of Africa theory in the late 20th century, which described Peking Man as an offshoot in human evolution. Though Out of Africa is now the consensus, Peking Man interbreeding with human ancestors is still discussed.

Tautavel Man refers to the archaic humans which—from approximately 550,000 to 400,000 years ago—inhabited the Caune de l’Arago, a limestone cave in Tautavel, France. They are generally grouped as part of a long and highly variable lineage of transitional morphs which inhabited the Middle Pleistocene of Europe, and would eventually evolve into the Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis or H. sapiens neanderthalensis). They have been variably assigned to either H. (s.?) heidelbergensis, or as a European subspecies of H. erectus as H. e. tautavelensis. The skull is reconstructed based on the specimens Arago 21 and 47 (probably male), and it is, to a degree, more characteristic of what might be considered a typical H. erectus (sensu stricto) morphology than a typical H. heidelbergensis morphology. The brain capacity is 1,166 cc. They seem to have had an overall robust skeleton. Average height may have been 166 cm (5 ft 5 in).

The Caune de l'Arago opens on a cliffside 80 m (260 ft) above a river, overlooking the Tautavel plain, with a plateau above, and mountainous terrain to the sides. During and after human occupation, the area swung from temperate and humid forestland, to cold and dry steppeland. Stratigraphically, humans are present from beds Q–C. Bed G, dating to roughly 455,000 years old during a forested event, has yielded the most remains. They seem to have hunted a variety of animals, including red deer, fallow deer, argali, tahr, horse, reindeer, beaver, and the extinct narrow-nosed rhinoceros, among others. They made Acheulean stone tools, but mainly produced smaller retouched tools such as scrapers, rather than more iconic macro-tools such as bifaces (hand axes). In beds G and F, they may have been practicing ritual cannibalism. Evidence of fire is absent until bed C (400,000 years ago).

The Early Pleistocene is an unofficial sub-epoch in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, representing the earliest division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently estimated to span the time between 2.580 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago) and 0.773 ± 0.005 Ma. The term Early Pleistocene applies to both the Gelasian Age and the Calabrian Age.

While the Gelasian and the Calabrian have officially been defined by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) to effectively constitute the Early Pleistocene, the succeeding Chibanian and Tarantian ages have yet to be ratified. These proposed ages are unofficially termed the Middle Pleistocene and Late Pleistocene respectively. The Chibanian provisionally spans time from 773 ka to 126 ka, and the Tarantian from then until the definitive end of the whole Pleistocene, c. 9700 BC in the 10th millennium BC.