Vera Aldeias

Enjoyed our @icarehb.bsky.social seminar yesterday diving into the exciting work we have been developing @matrixerc.bsky.social on DNA taphonomy! A real proud PI moment seeing this come together and push our understanding of DNA in sediments & soils forward. #DNATaphonomy #aDNA #TeamScience

Proud of spending this year’s Women in Science Day in the heat of the Afar with these amazing Women ! Happy International Day of Women and Girls in Science 💙💪
#WomenInScience #EveryVoiceInScience #11February @icarehb.bsky.social

MatrixERC StG works across archaeological sites from all over Europe, following the microscopic traces of late Neandertals and the first modern humans. We study intact sediment samples, checking whether the archaeological layers are truly preserved and looking for ancient DNA, proteins, and lipids.

We worked hard in 2025, will be super busy in 2026 and you will hear all about it.

For now, we are ready for a break and wish you all the best of holidays!

#MatrixERC #ICArEHB #Neanderthal #Paleolithic #HumanEvolution #Prehistory #AncientDNA #Biomolecules #SedimentDNA #Geoarchaeology

Starting soon, join us for this months LEXA seminar on the amazing site of White Sands !

Join us on Nov 4 (14:00 GMT) for the next
@icarehb.bsky.social LEXA Seminar! Prof Matthew Bennett explores early human transport tech from White Sands. Were travois-like devices used 22,000 years ago?
Free & online: zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Meet the team behind the ERC Matrix Project!

We introduce Carli Peters, researcher and biomolecular archaeologist at icarehb.bsky.social
Carli studies ancient human–animal interactions using palaeoproteomics and ZooMS to extract and identify ancient proteins from bone fragments.

a group of men are standing on a stage singing into microphones and dancing . ALT: a group of men are standing on a stage singing into microphones and dancing .

😀

🧪🏺🦣 Hugely exciting area for faunal & hominin ID using tiny fragments of bone within sediment sample blocks, allowing attribution to micro-layers: crucial to advance knowledge in Palaeolithc sites, especially those already excavated.
Sites tested: Bacho Kiro Cave, La Ferrassie, and Quinçay

New methods on the block: Taxonomic identification of archaeological bones in resin-embedded sediments through paleoproteomics Abstract. The integration of biomolecular studies of past organisms with geoarchaeological studies can significantly improve our understanding of the relat

📄 New paper 📣 of @matrixerc.bsky.social & @welkergroup.bsky.social! We show that microstratigraphic-scale #paleoproteomics works in intact sediments - opening new ways to explore ancient ecosystems & hominin behaviour 🌍🦴
@erc.europa.eu @icarehb.bsky.social 🔗 academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

This is neat science!

👥 Meet the team behind the ERC Matrix Project!

We introduce Hussein Kanbar, postdoc researcher and experimental geochemist at @icarehb.bsky.social
Hussein explores how DNA moves, binds, and survives in soils and sediments.
His work builds bridges between archaeology, geochemistry, and genetics.

Join us for another 🔥 #LEXA @icarehb.bsky.social experimental geoarchaeology talk with Dr. Chase Murphree

👥 Meet the team behind the ERC Matrix Project!
🔬 Today: Vera Aldeias, PI of Matrix and a geoarchaeologist decoding past human behaviour through sediments.
🧬 Vera’s team uses ancient DNA & proteins in soils to trace modern humans’ arrival in Europe & Neanderthals’ disappearance.

Imagem with the 6 team members altogether. There is also the name of the porject and its logo and institutional logos. The color is light red.

The ERC Project MATRIX explores one of the big questions in our past: how Neanderthals disappeared as modern humans spread across Europe. Meet the team behind it and learn more about our research on sediments, ancient DNA, proteins, lipids & human evolution
👉 matrix.icarehb.com

Don’t miss our next ICArEHB Experimental Archaeology Seminar. We will welcome Dr William Chase Murphree to talk about new geoarchaeological experiments investigating Upper Palaeolithic fire use.
14:00 (GMT) on the 7th of October. Free for all, join here
icarehb.com/lexa/

🎧 #Podcast: #ICArEHB’s @godefroyy.bsky.social on archaeology, #HumanEvolution & the #HEIRS project.
Listen: Spotify open.spotify.com/episode/4mVR...
Radio www.radio.pt/podcast/lets...

Join us on August 5th at 14:00 for another @icarehb.bsky.social LEXA seminar! This month, we're welcoming Dr. Alastair Key from the University of Cambridge to discuss experiments in Lower Palaeolithic technology.

Register here: [https://www.icarehb.com/lexa/](www.icarehb.com/lexa/)

ANNOUNCEMENT INTERNATIONAL TENDER FOR THE RECRUITMENT OF A POST-DOCTORAL ASSOCIATE RESEARCHER recruit one (1) ) post-doctoral assistant researcherresearcher to perform duties in the scientific area of Geochronology / Plio-Pleistocene Geology or related areas, under the research project “

Very happy to announce that a new postdoctoral position on the New ERC funded Western Rift Archaeology and Palaeoenvironment Project is open - if you're a geologist or geochronologist come and join us at @icarehb.bsky.social euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/358068 Feel free to share it around.

Evolução Humana e Ciência Integrativa: o HEIRS Hub, com Godefroy Devevey Let's Rock - Um podcast da Idade da Pedra · Episode

I had the chance of explaining a little more about HEIRS to Sara Cura in her podcast Let's Rock - Um Podcast da Idade da Pedra. Introduction is in Portuguese, my interview is in English (with a lot of pause for my slow brain). Please let me know your suggestions: open.spotify.com/episode/4mVR...

Fantastic piece by our wonderful @icarehb.bsky.social PhD student Osman Khaleel. Finding ways in difficult times. Osman is quite an inspiration to us all

🌍 New call for #synthesis projects!
#HEIRS & #FRB_CESAB seek proposals on #humanevolution + #biodiversity 🌱
🔹 IdeaShare: interdisciplinary ideas
🔹 DataShare: data harmonisation
🗓️ Deadline: 8 Sept 2025
📩 Apply: www.fondationbiodiversite.fr/en/calls/cal...

Don't forget tomorrow's @icarehb.bsky.social Experimental Archaeology seminar at 2pm (GMT). Dr Carolina Mallol will be discussing Neanderthal Fire Technology. Register for free here www.icarehb.com/lexa/ and join us online.

Our next LEXA seminar will be a hot one🔥! With the wonderful @caromallol.bsky.social. Join us at 2pm (Lisbon time!) on Tuesday the 6th of May. Register here: www.icarehb.com/lexa/

The evolution of pyrotechnology in the Upper Palaeolithic of Europe - Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences Pyrotechnology, the ability for hominins to use fire as a tool, is considered to be one of the most important behavioural adaptations in human evolution. While several studies have focused on identify...

As our previous review showed, we need more geoarchaeological data on fire use during LGM! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Fire Use During the Last Glacial Maximum: Evidence From the Epigravettian at Korman' 9, Middle Dniester Valley, Ukraine The Last Glacial maximum (LGM), spanning from 26.5 to 19 thousand years before present (ka bp), is a period of extreme climatic degradation associated with reduced biomass production and resource str...

Tracing the elusive fire use during the LGM: check out our paper lead by @wcmurph.bsky.social on fire features at Korman' 9 in Ukraine. @philipnigst.bsky.social @marjolein-bosch.bsky.social @oeai.bsky.social with open access provided by @icarehb.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Neanderthals may have eaten maggots as part of their diet High nitrogen in Neanderthal bones doesn’t mean they were uber-carnivores

Cool--or ew?--story by @evoscribe.bsky.social for @science.org!

ahahah completely on the spot for us Zandra!😜

Check out some of the already published work link.springer.com/article/10.1... and more to come soon