Towards Homo sapiens in East Africa: biological and cultural transitions in Danakil Eritrea over the last million years.
| Componente | Categoria |
|---|---|
| Cristina Lemorini | Componenti strutturati del gruppo di ricerca / Structured participants in the research project |
| Donatella Magri | Componenti strutturati del gruppo di ricerca / Structured participants in the research project |
| Beniamino Trombetta | Componenti strutturati del gruppo di ricerca / Structured participants in the research project |
| Alessandra Celant | Componenti strutturati del gruppo di ricerca / Structured participants in the research project |
| Componente | Qualifica | Struttura | Categoria |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alfredo Coppa | Professor | Sapienza University of Rome | Altro personale aggregato Sapienza o esterni, titolari di borse di studio di ricerca / Other aggregate personnel Sapienza or other institution, holders of research scholarships |
| Marianna Fusco | Collaboratore esterno | Sapienza University of Rome | Altro personale aggregato Sapienza o esterni, titolari di borse di studio di ricerca / Other aggregate personnel Sapienza or other institution, holders of research scholarships |
| Carmine Collina | Collaboratore Esterno | Sapienza University of Rome | Altro personale aggregato Sapienza o esterni, titolari di borse di studio di ricerca / Other aggregate personnel Sapienza or other institution, holders of research scholarships |
| Luca Bondioli | DIRECTOR LABORATORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY | Museo della Civlità, Roma | Altro personale aggregato Sapienza o esterni, titolari di borse di studio di ricerca / Other aggregate personnel Sapienza or other institution, holders of research scholarships |
| Alessia Nava | PhD, DANTE Laboratory for the study of Diet and Ancient Technology | Sapienza University of Rome | Altro personale aggregato Sapienza o esterni, titolari di borse di studio di ricerca / Other aggregate personnel Sapienza or other institution, holders of research scholarships |
| Lorenzo Rook | Professor | Firenze University | Altro personale aggregato Sapienza o esterni, titolari di borse di studio di ricerca / Other aggregate personnel Sapienza or other institution, holders of research scholarships |
| Massimo Delfino | Professor | University of Turin | Altro personale aggregato Sapienza o esterni, titolari di borse di studio di ricerca / Other aggregate personnel Sapienza or other institution, holders of research scholarships |
| Massimo Ghinassi | Professor | University of Padua | Altro personale aggregato Sapienza o esterni, titolari di borse di studio di ricerca / Other aggregate personnel Sapienza or other institution, holders of research scholarships |
The Buia sedimentary basin, in the Eritrean Danakil Depression, yielded over the past years a number of rich fossil outcrops dated to the final phases of the Early Pleistocene.
In 2020 we have the double goal to continue the exploration of Mulhuli Amo in order to widen the behavioural understanding of this early phase of the Early Pleistocene, and to start systematic exploration of more recent phases of the history of the humankind. In fact, Eritrea, and the Buia area in particular, is located in a pivotal area for the emergence and first expansion of Homo sapiens. The Eritrea is in fact between the Ethiopia and the Sudan, and faces the Saudi Arabia: an ideal country where to test all the models for the Homo sapiens birth and expansion in and out of Est Africa. A cognitive aspect will also be introduced in the project, adding experimental and behavioural data from primatology and experimental archaeology. Archaeological evidence consists in Middle Stone Age lithics and possibly, fossils.
Field season 2020 will take place in November- December. The work will be articulated in tasks. The mai focus will be survey of the Buia area basin with particular focus on geological, paleontological, archeaeological and paleo-anthropological aspects linked to the Middle and Upper Pleistocene in order to map the Middle Stone Age evidence.
Excavation will take place in Mulhuli Amo and eventually in newly discovered MSA sites, followed by the analysis of the lithic industries and comparison with other MSA and Acheulean assemblages from East Africa.
The team includes specialists who will allow ancient DNA analyses, the sampling and analysis of palaeobotanical evidence, the experimental analyses to widely asses the cognitive and behavioural aspects of Early Homo.