Aris Poulianos

Aris Poulianos (; 24 July 1924 – 21 March 2021) was a Greek anthropologist and archaeologist.

Early life and career Aris Poulianos was born on 24 July 1924. In 1971, Poulianos founded the Anthropological Association of Greece, which is now run by his son, Nikos. This organization has had a long-standing dispute with the Greek Ministry of Culture, after the latter's attempts to evict the association from the excavation site in the Petralona Cave, which was conceded to them after a 1981 contract. In 1976, Poulianos founded the Department of Paleoanthropology-Spelaeology, which functions within the Greek Ministry of Culture. Poulianos would ultimately study the remains, name the hominid Archanthropus europeaus petraloniensis, and estimate its age to be around 700,000 years old.

During the 1980s, the age of the Petralona hominid estimated by Poulianos was challenged by an article in Nature. The scientists involved used electron spin resonance measurements and dated the age of the skull to between 160,000 and 240,000 years old. However, Poulianos states that his excavations in the cave since 1968 provide evidence of human occupation from the Pleistocene era.

Today, most academics who have analyzed the Petralona remains classify the hominid as Homo erectus.

Homo erectus trilliensis In September 1995, Poulianos presented a calcified tibia found in Triglia, Chalkidiki, which he claimed belonged to a Homo erectus form he termed Homo erectus trilliensis, and which he dated to 11 million years before the present. Poulianos believed that his discovery may challenge the Out of Africa theory regarding human evolution.

Death Aris Poulianos died on 21 March 2021, at the age of 96. However, news of his death was not widely publicised until 2023.

Published works 1960 - "The Origin of Greeks"; Ph.D. thesis at Moscow Institute of Anthropology; Reprinted in Athens in 1962, 1965, 1968, and 1988. 1961 - "Discovery of a Skull of Palaeolithic Man in Greece"; Voprossi Anthropologhii, 8:162. 1963 - "New Palaeolithic Finds of Greece"; Sov. Arheologhia, 2: 227-229. 1965 - "On the Position of the Petralona Man within Palaeoanthropi"; Sov. Ethnografia, 2: 91-99. 1967 - "The Place of the Petralonian Man among Palaeoanthropi"; Anthropos C 19, (N.S.11): 216-221. in Akten Anthropologischen Kongresses Brno. 1971 - "Petralona: A Middle Pleistocene Cave in Greece"; Archaeology, 24: 6-11. 1975 - "Palaeoanthropological excavations at Petralona. Prakt. Archaeol.; Et.: 131-136. Athens. 1977 - "Stratigraphy and Age of the Petralonian Archanthropus"; Anthropos, 4: 37-46. Athens. 1980 - "The Petralona Finds"; Thessaloniki. Yearbook of the Society of Macedonian Studies: 65-76. 1981 - "Pre-sapiens Man in Greece"; Current Anthropology, 22 (3): 287 - 288. 1981 - "Climatic Fluctuations at Petralona Cave"; Terra Cognita.