Human Evolution, Paleopathology, and Genetics
A special issue of Genes (ISSN 2073-4425). This special issue belongs to the section "Population and Evolutionary Genetics and Genomics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 November 2026 | Viewed by 170
Special Issue Editor
2. Italian Institute of Human Paleontology, Piazza Ruggero Bonghi 2, 03012 Anagni, Italy
3. Departmental Doctoral Program in Ancient Civilizations, University of Basel, 4051 Basel, Switzerland
Interests: population of the Mediterranean basin; human evolution; infectious diseases
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The history of human settlement in the Mediterranean basin has attracted considerable interest in recent years. Until recently, in the early 1990s, the term "short chronology" was used to indicate human presence in Europe starting approximately 400,000 years ago. The discoveries of important sites such as Dmanisi in Georgia and the Sierra de Atapuerca sinkholes in Spain have revolutionized the "short chronology" theory, pushing the date of the first human settlements in Europe to approximately 1.8 million years ago. During this time span, several human species emerged: Homo erectus, Homo antecessor, Homo heidelbergensis, Neanderthals, Denisovans, and anatomically modern Homo sapiens. "Accompanying" this evolutionary journey was one of humanity's most complex and extraordinary processes: encephalization. Understanding the dispersal of humans across latitudes remains crucial to reconstructing our evolutionary past. Both ancient and modern migrations demonstrate that human movements have always been aimed at improving survival, whether in response to climate change, as in prehistory, or conflict, as seen today. In the course of human evolution, not only genes have evolved, but also the entire complex world of pathogens that have accompanied humanity since the beginning. Furthermore, it must be taken into account that, along with the migration of individuals, not only their genes have moved, but also all the associated pathogens (e.g., infectious diseases or parasitic diseases). All of this strongly highlights the need for interdisciplinary research capable of addressing the multiple aspects of human evolution, and consequently of pathogens, to develop increasingly comprehensive and reliable theories about our shared history.
Prof. Dr. Mauro Rubini
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- human evolution
- paleogenomics
- morphological analysis
- paleopathology
- (A) infectious diseases
- (B) parassitosis
- (C) genetic disorders
- (D) neoplastic diseases
- (E) nutritional deficiencies
- human population
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