Title: Social, cultural and biological Evolution during the Pleistocene (StEP)
Coordinator: Dr Andreu Ollé
Call: Ajuts per donar suport a les activitats dels grups de recerca de Catalunya (SGR 2017-2019)
Funder: Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR)
Period: 01/01/2018 - 31/12/2020
Reference Code: 2017 SGR 1040
Researchers: Dr. Eudald Carbonell, Dr. Isabel Cáceres, Dr. Rosa Huguet, Dr. Miquel Llorente, Dr. Carlos Lorenzo, Dr. Marina Lozano, Dr. Marina Mosquera, Dr. David Riba, Dr. Xosé Pedro Rodríguez, Dr. Palmira Saladié, Dr. Josep Maria Vergès, Dr. John Charles Willman
PhD students: Ana Mª Bucchi, Diego Lombao, Esther López, Antonio Pineda, Gizéh Rangel de Lázaro, Laxmi Tumung
Support to research staff: Dr. Lucía López-Polín
Collaborations: Dr. Lena Asryan, Dr. Amèlia Bargalló, Dr. Behrouz Bazgir, Dr. Paula García, Dr. Patricia Martín, Dr. Antonella Pedergnana, Dr. Antonio Rodríguez, Dr. Boris Santander, Dr. Marcos Terradillos, Dr. Meltem Cemre Ustunkaya, Andión Arteaga, Arturo Cueva, Arturo de Lombera, Juan Luis Fernández, Miquel Guardiola, Raquel Hernando, Andrés Jurado, Juan Marín, Juan Ignacio Martín Viveros, Paula Mateo, Sandra Val, Riccardo Zappon
Summary: The research group is aimed at studying human evolution in its biological, cultural and social aspects during the Pleistocene, from specific areas such as paleoanthropology, lithic technology, zooarcheology and tafonomy and human cognition.
The scientific strategy is based on a strong investment in fieldwork, in the systematic preparation and analysis of archaeological materials to obtain original and reliable empirical data, and actualism and experimentation as methods for setting and contrasting explanatory hypotheses. All this allow a critical discussion and innovative contributions to the interpretative approaches.
A major interest is posed on the paleoecological relationships between biological and cultural evolution, especially in the context of the early stages of the human settlement of Europe. The approach is interdisciplinary in nature, from the fieldwork to the publication of results, and combines research, teaching and knowledge socialization.
Objectives and research lines:
The shared objective of the present group is the study of the human evolution during the Pleistocene, for which special focus is posed on biological, social, technological, cognitive, and cultural issues. The individualised domains of research are in agreement with this multiple approach, and the scientific challenges can be individualised as follows:
1. Lithic technology
2. Zooarchaeology and taphonomy
3. Cognition. This domain has been split into two clear parts:
3.1. Etoprimatology: research line focused in the study of the hand laterality, learning and social learning, cultural diffusion and technological behaviour of wild and captive chimpanzees, through observational, non-invasive methodologies as a basal model to human evolutionary studies.
3.2. Cognitive technology: research line focused in the cognitive aspects of Pleistocene lithic technology, such as the emergence, management and evolution of the concepts of symmetry and volume in the tools and knapping processes of the Oldowan, the Acheulean and the Mousterian, and the manual gestures involved in knapping. Cognitive technology develops mainly from experimental and archaeological analyses, where it is intended to find traces of the
individuals, such as novice and expert knappers, and schools and traditions.
4. Palaeoanthropology
5. Conservation of archaeological materials