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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). "By granting Wil Roebroeks the 2021 Gutenberg Research Award, we are honoring his extraordinary contributions to paleoanthropology through his field research, his interdisciplinary approach, and his devotion to international collaboration."

Extraordinary contributions

The Gutenberg Research Award is the most eminent research prize awarded by University Mainz. It comes with an endowment of €10,000 and is conferred annually by the Gutenberg Research College (GRC), the university's central strategic instrument to promote cutting-edge research at JGU.

"By granting Wil Roebroeks the 2021 Gutenberg Research Award, we are honoring his extraordinary contributions to paleoanthropology through his field research, his interdisciplinary approach, and his devotion to international collaboration," said Professor Siegfried Waldvogel, Director of the GRC. "We are pleased that he will be accepting the award here in person on May 23rd, 2022, and intends to remain in Mainz to take part in several events."

Research focus

Wil Roebroeks' research focus is on Neanderthals and other (earlier) Eurasian hominins. Among other things, he investigates how these primeval humans used fire, managed to subsist, produced stone tools, and even changed the environment around them. For this he employs data that he has collected during extensive excavations in countries such as the Netherlands, France, Russia, Germany, and the UK.

"Wil Roebroeks is one the world's leading researchers in his field. Through his work, he has been able to provide fundamental insights into the earliest human settlement of Europe and Asia," emphasized Professor Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser of the JGU Department of Ancient Studies, who nominated Roebroeks for the Gutenberg Research Award. "Moreover, he is actively involved in promoting the research community in any number of ways."

Read more on the website of Mainz University.

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