Decolonizing academic disciplines has been an important trend and focus of scholarly conversations in recent years. Perhaps not surprisingly, attempts to change how we view the paleoanthropological and Paleolithic archaeological records through the lens of decolonization are receiving increasing attention (Mirjana Roksandic et al., “Resolving the ‘Muddle in the Middle’: The Case for Homo bodoensis sp. nov,” Evolutionary Anthropology 31:20–29, 2022; “Homo bodoensis and Why It Matters,” Evolutionary Anthropology, in press). For this reason, Interrogating Human Origins, which focuses specifically on decolonizing modern human origins (and everything related to these discussions), is a very timely contribution to the field. Although the book has its beginnings in a session organized at the 2014 conference of the Theoretical Archaeology Group and then a follow-up workshop at the University of Western Australia in 2015 that was funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the book did not appear until several years later (2020), as often happens with edited volumes. Although it took some six years for the book to get from start to finish, it is good to see that the coeditors and contributors began looking at this question of decolonizing modern human origins relatively early on.

Interrogating Human Origins is composed of 14 stand-alone chapters, and it includes a detailed introduction by Martin Porr and Jacqueline M. Matthews. There is a lot to like about the individual chapters, but one of the aspects of the edited volume that I find particularly pleasing is that Porr and Matthews appear to have approached the question of decolonizing modern human origins research from an interdisciplinary perspective. Indeed, contributions come from not only archaeologists but biological anthropologists, historians, and even a cultural geographer. Furthermore, and perhaps because Porr and Matthews are based in Australia, there is not just a Western Old World / North American vibe to the volume; contributions come from researchers based in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and North America. Not surprisingly, a number of the contributors come from very diverse backgrounds (e.g., Native American [Paulette Steeves], Asian [Sheela Athreya, Parth Chauhan]), and there is about an even representation of male and female authors. There is also wide coverage of the different geographic regions. For instance, Sheela Athreya and Rebecca Ackermann, Robin Dennell, Parth Chauhan, Amanda Esterhuysen, and Allison Mickel nicely cover these important decolonizing discussions as seen in Asia and Africa. Given the number of contributors based in Australia and their familiarity with the Australian prehistoric record (e.g., Iain Davidson, Ian McNiven, Craig Muller, and Joe Dortch), it is nice to see such detailed coverage in this region of the world as well. The chapter by Muller and Dortch nicely outlines how to develop and run a successful DNA project that includes ethically collecting samples from indigenous populations—in their case, Australian Aborigines. There is much that could be learned from such case studies and applied more broadly elsewhere.

One underlying theme through the chapters of Interrogating Human Origins is that all discussions of modern human origins appear to have stemmed from a Eurocentric perspective. For instance, Steeves writes, “Stories of hominid evolution that have been taught throughout all levels of education are written from a Eurocentric view of the past, without a focus on politics, power and control in the present” (p. 258). This is perhaps not altogether surprising, given that paleoanthropology and Paleolithic archaeology (and archaeology more generally for that matter) have their roots in Western Europe. Consequently, the late Paul Mellars's trait list of so-called modern human behaviors originates in southwestern France. As numerous contributors (e.g., Davidson, McNiven, Dennell) here point out, many questions have been raised when attempting to apply this trait list to other geographic regions of the world. In fact, it is quite evident to many researchers working outside of Western Europe that the Mellars trait list for modern human behavior, developed for southwestern France, does not work in places such as Africa, South Asia, East Asia, and Australia. The hominins (early humans?) in these other regions of the Old World were clearly dancing to their own beats.

Decolonizing scientific fields is an important topic that must be addressed head on. Interrogating Human Origins contributes nicely to these discussions, and it should find a place in every university library. It can be used as a primary or supplemental text in upper-division and graduate-level university courses. Importantly, Interrogating Human Origins should be of interest to researchers not only in paleoanthropology and Paleolithic archaeology but also more broadly across fields that are undergoing self-reflection in decolonizing academic disciplines.