On May 15, 2026, the international academic conference "Human Evolutionary History of Eastern Asia During the Past 300,000 Years" was successfully held in Beijing. The conference was hosted by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Attendees included invited experts from China, the United States, India, Australia, and Sri Lanka, as well as postdoctoral researchers and graduate students from IVPP.

Group photo of the participants at the opening of the conference

The opening ceremony of the conference was presided over by Professor Shixia Yang. Professors Xing Xu and Xing Gao from IVPP delivered opening remarks respectively, and all the experts in attendance took a group photo. In the keynote speech section, Professors Michael Petraglia, Qiaomei Fu, Wu Liu and Qingzhen Hao gave speeches on archaeology, genetics, physical anthropology and monsoon climatology respectively. After that, speeches concerning frontier issues, innovative methods and research progress under four themes, namely "New Explorations in Chinese Paleolithic Archaeology", "Archaeological Progress in East Asia and Its Neighboring Regions", and "Paleoenvironment, Chronology, Adaptation and Diffusion", were given by scholars from the IVPP CAS, Griffith University, IGG CAS (Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Peking University, Max Planck Institute and University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

Opening remarks and keynote speeches

During the coffee break and after the conference, the scholars in attendance had in-depth exchanges on key issues in human evolution research in East Asia and its neighboring regions, interdisciplinary cooperation, cross-regional comparison, and the cultivation of students. Key stone tool assemblages from several sites related to the speeches were exhibited in the conference room, and was observed and discussed the specimens by experts in attendance.

At the end of the conference, Professors Richard Potts, Michael Petraglia, Chenglong Deng and Shixia Yang chaired the summary and discussion session of the conference, and exchanged views on important research progress and future development directions that was widely concerned about.

Summary and Discussion of the Conference

The successful convening of this conference not only showcased key research achievements on human evolution in China and its surrounding regions in recent years, but also provided a platform for face-to-face communication among researchers from different countries and disciplinary backgrounds, thus laying an important foundation for future collaborative research.