ROAD - ROCEEH Out of Africa Database

Since 2008 the ROCEEH research center of Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities based at Senckenberg SF and SHEP as well as Tübingen University systematically collects data relevant to understanding the early expansions of humans.

The “ROCEEH Out of Africa Database” (ROAD) is a comprehensive database about prehistory for studying human expansions across Africa and Eurasia between three million and 20,000 years ago. ROAD is a web-based relational database that integrates archaeological, paleoanthropological, paleobotanical, paleontological and paleogeographical data in a logical and well-structured manner.

ROAD facilitates the study of human evolution by synthesizing evidence gathered from more than 2,300 localities and more than 22,000 associated assemblages (as of Dec. 2022). Most of the data stored in ROAD comes from over 4,800 published scientific literature. A smaller portion stems from ROCEEH’s own research and unpublished results of ROAD users. Along with the scientific details entered into ROAD, the bibliographic source of every dataset is recorded.