Investigating the Evolution of the Human Brain: from Fossil Material to Virtual Models

The cognitive abilities of the “modern” human brain are at the very heart of our understanding of what makes our humanity, and therefore, so is the suggestion that fossil hominins shared behaviours that we recognise as similar to ours. It is in this perspective, and within the framework of a naturalistic interpretation of the evolutionary history of our species, that paleoanthropologists and archaeologists study the evolution of the brain and the origins of human cognition. This field of research is as difficult as it is fascinating. That is because of the fragmentary nature of the fossil material that we attempt to interpret, but also because of the proximity between the studied object and the scientist who is seeking to understand the evolution of their own species. In this article, we will discuss the methods available to paleoanthropologists in order to piece together and to constantly re-think the evolution of the human brain.