1,375 search results for “human origins” in the Public website
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Human Origins
The Human Origins group at Leiden University studies the archaeology of hunter-gatherers, from the earliest stone tools in East Africa, more than three million years old, to the origin of sedentary societies towards the end of the last ice age.
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Studying Human Origins
Disciplinary History and Epistemology
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Fire and Human Origins
Correctly interpreting the patterns of fire evidence in the archaeological record will illuminate the origin of human fire use.
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Fire and Human Evolution
Despite the field’s general agreement that pyrotechnology had a significant impact on the cultural evolution of humankind, our understanding of the origins and development of fire use and its role in humankind’s cultural evolution is very limited, blurred by strong disagreements over its chronology…
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Optically stimulated luminescence dating of Palaeolithic cave sites and their environmental context in the western Mediterranean
The Western Mediterranean is a key region to understand human dispersal events within and out of the African continent as well as for the eventual replacement of Neanderthals by anatomically modern humans during the Pleistocene. Central to any conclusive interpretation of archaeological and palaeoclimatic…
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Fire in Human Evolution
Conference
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Alexander Verpoorte
Faculteit Archeologie
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Neandertal Legacy
The genetic material of currently living Europeans is partly of Neandertal origin. Were our ancestors successful because they were hybridising and interacting with the local populations they encountered when migrating into new places? Reconstructing our evolutionary trajectory is key for rethinking…
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The French-Anglophone divide in lithic research
In this provocative study, Shumon T. Hussain engages with the long-standing issue of French-Anglophone research conflicts in Palaeolithic archaeology.
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Beyond the caves
The central question of this thesis is: What drives late Middle Paleolithic stone artifact variability? In its attempt to answer this question, this thesis is a contribution to understanding variability within and between late Middle Paleolithic assemblages of the European Plain.
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The Deep History of Human Landscape Manipulation
This project studies the roles of prehistoric foragers in past ecosystems to establish the character of past “natural” landscapes and enhance the management of current ones.
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Finding resolution for the Middle to Later Stone Age transition in South Africa
This project investigates the causes of the major archaeological change in the period of 40.000-20.000 BC in South Africa.
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Beyond Prometheus
The research contained in this dissertation explores the origins of fire making in prehistory, focusing primarily on the fire use practices and fire production capacities of Neandertals.
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José Joordens
Faculteit Archeologie
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Morgan Roussel
Faculteit Archeologie
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Amanda Henry
Faculteit Archeologie
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Virtual Neanderthals
This study presents an agent-based simulation model exploring the patterns of presence and absence of Late Pleistocene Neanderthals in western Europe.
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Igor Djakovic
Faculteit Archeologie
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Viola Schmid
Faculteit Archeologie
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Femke Reidsma
Faculteit Archeologie
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Beyond Prometheus: Pursuing the origins of fire production among early humans
When do fire making tools appear in prehistory, and how might the use of these tools manifest in the archaeological record?
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A. Nikulina
Faculteit Archeologie
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Reconstructing adhesives
An experimental approach to organic palaeolithic technology
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cold: The adaptive role of pyrotechnology among the earliest modern humans in Europe, ca. 45,000–20,000 years ago
The routine assumption that Upper Palaeolithic early modern humans in Europe were regular fire users who produced fire at will has never been tested against the archaeological record. Utilizing literature, database and microwear analytical approaches, this project seeks to establish the role and forms…
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"Archaeologists say human-evolution study used stolen bone"
In a letter initiated by Wil Roebroeks, among others, serious concerns were raised about three research papers claiming evidence for one of the earliest human occupations of Europe.
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Wil Roebroeks
Faculteit Archeologie
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Andrew Sorensen
Faculteit Archeologie
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Wei Chu
Faculteit Archeologie
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Jac Aarts
Faculteit Archeologie
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Irini Sifogeorgakis
Faculteit Archeologie
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Jean-Jacques Hublin
Faculteit Archeologie
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Yannick Raczynski-Henk
Faculteit Archeologie
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Fulco Scherjon
Faculteit Archeologie
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Prestigious Gutenberg Research Award for archaeologist Wil Roebroeks
Leiden archaeologist Professor Wil Roebroeks receives the 2021 Gutenberg Research Award of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU).
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New method of determining geographic origin of humans
Leiden researchers have developed a new method of determining the geographic origin of humans. Archaeologist Jason Laffoon and his team used the technique to discover where precolonial pioneers in the Caribbean region came from.
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Prehistoric hunters from the North Sea used human bones as weapons
Over the years, many spectacular archaeological finds have been washed ashore on the Dutch coast. Among these a large assemblage of barbed points made of bone and antler from the Mesolithic (11,000-8000 BC). The species used by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to manufacture their barbed points remained…
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Studies in Human Evolution
Studies in Human Evolution is a series of the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University and The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig.
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African rock shelter sheds light into Middle and Later Stone Age modern human behaviour
In the eighties the Umhlatuzana rock shelter in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, was excavated. Results from this excavation led to an understanding when the Later Stone Age started in this area. This archaeological period is often associated with the structural presence of modern human behavior. Now a…
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Inventing Origins? Aetiological Thinking in Greek and Roman Antiquity
Aetiologies seem to gratify the human desire to understand the origin of a phenomenon. However, as this book demonstrates, aetiologies do not exclusively explore origins.
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Laboratory for Human Osteoarchaeology
The Laboratory for Human Osteoarchaeoloy examines human remains and their burial context to address questions about the human past.
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No humans needed: Neanderthals possibly responsible for their own extinction
Scientists remain puzzled by the sudden extinction of Neanderthals, some 40,000 years ago. New research by scientists from Eindhoven University of Technology, Leiden University and Wageningen University now suggests we might have been too quick in attributing the demise of Neanderthals to invasions…
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Marie Soressi produces documentary on Neandertal Legacy
The genetic material of currently living Europeans is partly of Neandertal origin. Were our ancestors successful because they were hybridising and interacting with the local populations they encountered when migrating into new places? This subject takes centre stage in a beautiful documentary produced…
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Archaeologist Andy Sorensen in National Geographic Magazine about ancient fire use
When and how commenced the use of fire by early humans? Armed with stones, peat moss, and fungi, archaeologist Andy Sorensen tries to answer that question. In the February edition of the Dutch language version of National Geographic Magazine his research features in the section The Discovery.
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Ancient fire expert Femke Reidsma on Tea-Break Time Travel Podcast
In her podcast Tea-Break Time Travel Matilda Siebrecht is joined by fire expert Femke Reidsma, to talk all about how this essential tool was made and used by our ancient human ancestors. How can you recognise an ancient hearth? Why is it so important to study the first use of fire? When was the first…
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'I always like to think prehistory chose me, not the other way around'
Our alumna Victoria van der Haas was interviewed by The Female Scientist. Read her interview on why she chose Archaeology, her biggest achievements and failures, and what her hopes are for the future.
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Dental tartar unfolds Neanderthal secrets
British and Australian researchers have analysed the DNA in the dental tartar of several Spanish Neanderthals. One of the conclusions was that the Neanderthals had a mostly vegetarian diet.
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Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is a very topical social problem, which because of both its social and legal complexity, can only be studied in an interdisciplinary way. Combating human trafficking currently features high on national and international policy agendas.
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Archaeologist Wei Chu explores Carpathian caves with Gerda Henkel grant
Recently, archaeologist Dr Wei Chu received a grant from the Gerda Henkel Stiftung for an excavation in the Carpathian Mountains. Originally planning for an excavation in Ukraine, his plans were disrupted by the war. ‘We had to change plans really quickly.’
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Wei Chu receives SNMAP funding for dating earliest dwelling structures in Ukraine
At some point in the deep past the first known dwelling structures were built out of mammoth bones in a country we now know as Ukraine. Archaeologist Wei Chu would have visited the site in summer 2022, were it not for the war. Now he has received funding from SNMAP with the aim to better establish the…
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Andy Sorensen's Scientific Reports article in top 100 most read
The research article ‘Neanderthal fire-making technology inferred from microwear analysis’ received 7,053 article views in 2018, placing it as one of the top 100 read Scientific Reports articles in that year.