Published in PLOS ONE: paper on Egyptian Late Palaeolithic
This paper, published this week in the open access online journal PLOS ONE, presents the detailed analysis of two lithic assemblages attributed to the Late Palaeolithic of Egypt: E71K18C and E71K20. Both assemblages are part of the Wendorf Collection, stored at the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum.
The paper can be read here:
http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188824
ESHE meeting in Leiden - 20-24 September 2017
The 7th annual meeting of the European Society for the Study of Human Evolution took place in Leiden, in the beautiful Staadsgehoorzaal, from September 20th until September 24th.
Three full days of excellent podium, pecha kucha and poster presentations and a fantastic opportunity to learn more about recent research in all fields of the study of human evolution on all continents.
The conference was the opportunity for Clément Ménard and I to present an update of our work on the backed pieces in the Horn of Africa.
The conference excursion this year was a visit of the Dubois/Trinil collection housed at Naturalis Biodiversity Center, including the Pithecanthropus erectus remains, the engraved Pseudodon vondembuschianus trinilensis shell, the original manuscript describing the remains and some of the fauna from Trinil.
Published: summary of the workshop on lithic variability
This short paper, published in Evolutionary Anthropology, summarises the main points of discussion of the workshop "Current approaches and new directions in lithic analysis: defining, identifying and interpreting variability" organised in the frame of PleisTechnoVar in Cambridge last October.
A busy summer: research visits in Jerusalem, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi and Addis Ababa
I am just back from a six-week travel to Jerusalem (Israel), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Nairobi (Kenya) and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) in the frame of PleisTechnoVar. The programme included data collection, discussion and collaboration with colleagues and participation in an international conference.
Another research visit in Addis Ababa at the National Museum of Ethiopia
I am back in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) for a two-week research visit at the National Museum of Ethiopia (NME) and Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH). On the programme, finishing the study of the artefacts from Porc-Epic Cave! Many thanks to the staff at the NME for their warm welcome and help in accessing the collections.
Cambridge Science Festival
Lots of fun at the Cambridge Festival of Science last Sunday (18 March 2017)!
Thanks to the 1000+ visitors and thanks to Laure Bonner for organising the Cambridge Archaeology events. For more information on Cambridge archaeology, follow them on twitter and Facebook!
We also would like to thank Gilles Tosello for kindly allowing us to use his illustrations in the frame of the Festival.
New Paper on Goda Buticha in PLOS ONE!
This team paper, published in PLOS ONE last Friday, presents recent sedimentological and dating results from the sequence of Goda Buticha, southeastern Ethiopia, which yield new data on human occupation of the region during the period 65,000 to 1,000 years ago.
The recent paper (Tribolo et al., 2017), written by an international team of researchers from Ethiopia, France, Israel and the USA presents new sedimentological analyses and dating results, relying on a combination of dating methods: Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of the sediments and radiocarbon dating of charcoal. This allowed to document a securely-dated archaeological sequence with ages ranging from ca. 65,000 to 1,000 years ago. In addition, a long hiatus in sedimentation and human activity is present between 25,000 and 8,000 years ago, which corresponds to a generally dry period in the area. Continuity of human occupation may not have been possible in this area during that time.
Update: 02/02/2017. More information here, on the website of the Department of Archaeology of the University of Cambridge.
30 Oct - Marie Sklodowska-Curie Ambassador Event at the Festival of Ideas in Cambridge
Lively Discussions during the Lithic Workshop!
Almost 30 lithic analysts from different institutions were present at the international workshop "Current approaches and new directions in lithic analysis: defining, identifying and interpreting variability" organised from Sept 29 to Oct 1 at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research in Cambridge in the frame of the PleisTechnoVar MSCA project. More information on the programme here!
Workshop "Current Approaches and New Directions in Lithic Analysis: Defining, Identifying and Interpreting Variability"
I am delighted to announce that the workshop "Current approaches and new directions in lithic analysis: defining, identifying and interpreting variability", organised in the frame of my Marie Sklodowska-Curie project and funded by a McDonald Institute grant is taking place this week at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
Great Talks at the 6th ESHE Meeting in Madrid!
The 6th annual meeting of the European Society for the Study of Human Evolution took place in Madrid, Alcala de Henares, from September 14th until September 18th.
On the programme, more than 220 Podium, Pecha Kucha and Poster presentations for a very rich conference! It was the opportunity for me to try the Pecha Kucha format (20 slides in 20 seconds) and to present the results of the analysis of the Enkapune Ya Muto assemblages.
Fantastic month in West Turkana with the In-Africa Project!
It was with great pleasure that I participated in the 2016 field season in West Turkana of the In Africa Project, led by Dr Marta Mirazon Lahr.
More on the great discoveries of this project on their webpage, Facebook page or twitter account (see below)!
Meeting of the Society of Africanists archaeologists (SAfA) in Toulouse
I presented the preliminary results of the study of the material from Enkapune Ya Muto (Kenya) in the session 27 organised by Joséphine Lesur, Isabelle Crévecoeur and David Pleurdeau: Ruptures and continuity of cultures and environments in the Late Pleistocene settlements of Africa: Paleoanthropology, palaeoenvironment and archaeology. The abstract of my paper can be downloaded here, p. 288. Many thanks to the organisers of the session as well as to the organisers of the conference!
Parting the Red Sea: An International Workshop on Late Pleistocene Human Dispersals and Stone Artefact Variability in the Horn of Africa and Arabia
Steve Brandt, Huw Groucutt and Yonatan Sahle kindly invited me to participate in an international workshop at the University of Florida (Gainesville, FL) and in a session at the Society for American Archaeologists (SAA) meeting organised in Orlando (FL).
Seminar at the British Institute in Eastern Africa, Nairobi
On Monday 14 March, I participated in the seminar series organised by the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA), in Nairobi:
"Variability in the Late Middle Stone Age and Late Stone Age of Eastern Africa: a view from Porc-Epic, Goda Buticha (Southeastern Ethiopia) and Enkapune Ya Muto (west of Lake Naivasha, Kenya)".
Data Collection At the National Museums of Kenya (Nairobi)
After three weeks in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), direction Nairobi (Kenya) to study the lithic assemblages from the site of Enkapune Ya Muto (EYM) at the Archaeology Section of the National Museums of Kenya.
This very rich site has yielded a lot of material and I will focus on the lower levels, which include Late Middle Stone Age but also one of the earliest Late Stone Age assemblage from East Africa! I would like to thank Prof. Ambrose who excavated EYM for kindly providing data on the site. Many thanks to the National Museums of Kenya and the staff from the archaeology section for their welcome and help in accessing the collections!
Conference at the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (Addis Ababa)
The conference "The Middle and Late Stone Age of Southeastern Ethiopia: new data from Porc-Epic and Goda Buticha cave sites" was given on 19 February 2016 at the ARCCH, Amist Kilo (Addis Ababa).
It was part of the scientific seminar "Evolution: an international research seminar in eastern Africa: Paleobiodiversity, paleobiology, prehistory, paleoenvironments" co-organised by the French Center for Ethiopian Studies (CFEE) and the Authority for Research and Conservation of the Cultural Heritage (ARCCH, Heritage Collection & Laboratory Service Directorate, Heritage Training Unit).
Data Collection at the National Museum of Ethiopia (Addis Ababa)
From the end of January until 20 February 2016, data collection took place at the National Museum of Ethiopia/Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH) in Addis Ababa.
The attributes of almost 2000 stone artefacts, coming from Goda Buticha and Porc-Epic, were recorded during these three weeks. Many thanks to the NME / ARCCH and to the curators of the collections for their warm welcome and help in accessing the collections! I would also like to thank the French Center for Ethiopian Studies (CFEE) for their advice and support during my stay in Addis Ababa.
Article in the "Bulletin de la Societe des Amis du Museum"
Following a conference at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris (France), I have written a small article on the Middle and Late Stone Age of Ethiopia. It has been recently published in the "Bulletin de la Société des Amis du Muséum" (no 264, Dec 2015). It is written in French and presents the stone tools from Porc-Epic and Goda Buticha, two cave sites from Southeastern Ethiopia. It is available online here!
A. Leplongeon "Homo sapiens et ses outils au Middle et Later Stone Age en Ethiopie". Bulletin de la Société des Amis du Muséum, no 264, Dec 2015, pp. 54-57
Cambridge Festival of Ideas 2015
On Sunday 25 October, a special event took place at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research in Cambridge in frame of the Festival of Ideas!
PleisTechnoVar (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014) has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 655459.