The origins of anatomically and behaviourally modern humans remain key evolutionary questions. The geographic source and timing of this event are broadly understood: sub-Saharan Africa around 200,000 years ago. Yet, there is still much to be learned about the divergence of Homo sapiens and H. neanderthalensis from a common ancestor some 400,000 years ago, the deep-time transformations of archaic to modern H. sapiens, and the colonisation of Eurasia by a small subset of sub-Saharan Africans after 100,000 years ago. Finally, defining modern humans has become increasingly challenging with new research in genetics suggesting the possibility of interbreeding with archaic hominins and discoveries from archaeology blurring the behavioural distinctions between Neanderthals and early modern humans.

This special volume seeks contributions which address issues surrounding the broad questions of: 1) the speciation of H. sapiens, 2) transformation from archaic to modern H. sapiens, 3) migration(s) out of Africa and the colonisation of Eurasia, and 4) possible interactions including interbreeding with Neanderthals and other archaic hominins.

Coverage includes, but is not limited to:

• Studies of the human fossil record
• Cultural materials and the archaeological record
• Genetic data and modelling, particularly genomics and ancient DNA
• Palaeoecological data and environmental forcing
• Theoretical perspectives including evolutionary psychology

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijeb/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: