Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution

Congrats to Prof. Yossi Zaidner and thanks to the Volkswagen Foundation for this fantastic opportunity!

🚨We are thrilled to have received the VolkswagenStiftung grant for our project "In Search of Paleolithic Hominins in Central Asia". This grant will allow us to establish research labs and facilities in Tajikistan and will strengthen and further develop our collaborations with our Tajik colleagues.

Paper alert! 🚨
New research on the hunting strategies at the Middle Paleolithic site of Nesher Ramla!
🐂🦴

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The excavation at Soii Havzak rockshelter, in Western Tajikistan just ended. It was a fruitful season! New in situ layers, large amount of lithic artefacts and faunal remains, and many samples for OSL datings, stay tuned for some results !
Thanks to all the team members this year and to our hosts!

"The results yield a finite age suggesting that the Petralona cranium has a minimum age of 286 ± 9 ka"
New U-series dates on the Petralona cranium, a key fossil in European human evolution www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Very sad news today. Anthony E. Marks has passed away. He conducted pioneering prehistoric research in the Nile Valley, the southern Levant and Arabia, producing seminal works on the Palaeolithic. In 2023, aged 85, he still joined the @arduq.bsky.social excavations in Dhofar, Oman. Rest in peace.

Join us at the MPI-GEA or online for a free symposium on Quantifying Complexity in Stone Tools on the 21st of October! 🪨

With a keynote lecture by Charles Perreault. Full speaker list will be released soon!

Secure your spot here: shh-cloud.gnz.mpg.de/index.php/ap...

A Pumé man and woman hunt and gather foods on the Venezuelan savanna. Russell D. Greaves

How Women Shaped Human Evolution Through Food Processing 🏺🧪
www.sapiens.org/biology/huma...

An anthropologist highlights the revolutionary role of food processing and dietary diversity—practices often led by women—that were just as crucial to humans surviving and thriving as hunting.

Occupational Dynamics at Unit III of the Middle Paleolithic Site of Nesher Ramla, Israel - Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology This paper presents the results of spatial analyses of Unit III in Nesher Ramla, Israel, an open-air mid-Middle Paleolithic site. Featuring numerous anthropogenic features (e.g., hearths and artifact ...

Check out my latest paper! 🪨

Occupational Dynamics at Unit III of the Middle Paleolithic Site of Nesher Ramla, Israel | Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology share.google/MmooyB6iFqs6...

A 100,000-year-old burial site in Israel is changing what we know... SHOHAM, Israel (AP) - Archaeologists believe they have found one of the oldest burial sites in the world at a cave in Israel, where the well-preserved...

We made it to the news this week;)

"A 100,000-year-old burial site in Israel "
www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/art...

#prehistory #archaeology #funerary #paleolithic

YouTube video by AP Archive Human bones from 100,000 years ago in Israel offer clues about the origins of burial rites

A glimpse into our excavation at Tinshemet Cave!
Slow process but amazing finds!
One more month to go this season with hopefully nice results coming! 🦴⛏️💀

youtu.be/etGVHIBDHIw?...

⛏️The 10th season of excavations at Tinshemet Cave has started !!

#fieldworkfriday
#MiddlePaleolithic
#burial
#Levallois

New international Master degree in prehistoric archaeology!

🧵1/5
📢 New paper out in Journal of Archaeological Science!
We present a regional analysis of fallow deer in Middle Paleolithic Levant and propose a methodological refinement for aging that has major implications for understanding human hunting behavior.
Open Access: doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...

Unveiling the multifunctional use of ochre in the Middle Stone Age: Specialized ochre retouchers from Blombos Cave Seven ochre artifacts from Blombos Cave show evidence of lithic retouching and pressure flaking, revealing specialized MSA tools.

www.science.org/doi/full/10....

Excavating the Traces of Ice Age Foragers A filmmaker showcases archaeologists unearthing tiny lithics that evidence hunters from 13,000 years ago in what is today Michigan.

A filmmaker showcases archaeologists unearthing tiny lithics that evidence the presence of hunters from 13,000 years ago in what is today Michigan www.sapiens.org/archaeology/...

Unravelling the formation processes and depositional histories of the Middle Palaeolithic Ararat-1 Cave, Armenia: A multiscalar and multiproxy geoarchaeological approach The sedimentary sequence of Ararat-1 Cave encapsulates an intricate depositional archive (Marine Isotope Stage 3), crucial for our understanding of th…

Happy to be sharing my 1st PhD paper, result of our group research in the Armenian Highlands #TransCause Project! The article explores the formation processes of Ararat-1 Cave (Armenia) under multiproxy geoarchaeology! It is published on QSR (open-access): www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Our latest research with the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation is now available.

Congrats @anispringflower.bsky.social !!

Last day in Denver! Some of our lab members presented their research at the Paleoanthropology Society annual meeting and at the #SAA2025Denver !

@marionprevost.bsky.social
@davidofagun.bsky.social
#YossiZaidner

Our project “Soii Havzak Rockshelter: A New Middle-Upper Paleolithic Sequence in Central Asia” has been awarded a research grant from the Gerda Henkel Foundation!
The grant, awarded to Y. Zaidner, J-P. Buylaert, and S. Kurbanov, will support postdoctoral research by M. Prévost.

We’re deeply concerned about the disappearance of our colleague Pierre Noiret. Please share and help us spread the word.
For more information please check: www.police.be/avis-de-rech...

New Insights on an Old Excavation: Re-visiting the Late Middle Palaeolithic Site of Far’ah II, North-western Negev, Israel - Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology Revisiting collections from old excavations with new research objectives and analytical tools brings them to life and integrates them into evolving models of human-landscape interactions. This paper e...

📢 New publication: "New Insights on an Old Excavation: Re-visiting the Late Middle Palaeolithic Site of Far’ah II, North-western Negev, Israel"
by Goder-Goldberger, M., Gilead, I., Paixão, E., et al., in J Paleo Arch (2025, Vol. 8, Article 13).
🔗 More info: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

New Insights on an Old Excavation: Re-visiting the Late Middle Palaeolithic Site of Far’ah II, North-western Negev, Israel - Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology Revisiting collections from old excavations with new research objectives and analytical tools brings them to life and integrates them into evolving models of human-landscape interactions. This paper e...

‼️Check out our latest publication on the old excavations at the Late Middle Paleolithic open-air site of Far’ah II (northwestern Negev) link.springer.com/article/10.1...

@marionprevost.bsky.social postdoc in our lab presented our research on Nesher Ramla and Tinshemet Cave at Texas A&M University !

Our new paper on 3D GM has all the models and script available for others to apply our method. We use it to demonstrate interregional variability of Nubian Levallois cores but it has broader potential for lithic studies #openscience #archaeology #3DGM @icarehb.bsky.social @jmcascalheira.bsky.social

A rocky landscape with a gorge running through it, labelled Soii Havzak. In the background, a river labelled Zeravshan River runs parallel to the gorge.

Soii Havzak rockshelter, Tajikistan, is one of the only multilayered, stratified Palaeolithic sites in Central Asia. Excavation provides a rare opportunity to explore the understudied region's prehistoric chronology. 🏺

🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

This is figure 4, which shows different types of ochre from Tinshemet Cave and their association with human and animal bones.

The Middle Palaeolithic of southwest Asia witnessed interactions and knowledge sharing between archaic and modern humans 130,000–80,000 years ago, which led to behavioural uniformity in groups across the region, according to a paper in Nature Human Behaviour. https://go.nature.com/4iqytnj 🏺 🧪

Humanos y neandertales, ¿rivales o colaboradores? Su relación fue más compleja de lo que se creía Un estudio de restos hallados en la cueva de Tinshemet, en el actual Israel, sugiere que Homo sapiens y neandertales compartieron aspectos de su tecnología y su vida cotidiana.

Estem també a l'edició del National Geographic a Espanya!
#Tinshemet #ochre #middlePaleolithic #Levallois #culturalEvolution
@hcelab.bsky.social

historia.nationalgeographic.com.es/a/humanos-y-...