Staff

Arilla Osuna, Maite

Researcher

E-mail: marilla@iphes.cat

Sponsor: ERC Advanced Grant “SCAVENGERS” ERC-2022-ADG-101097511 - EUROPEAN RESEARCH COUNCIL EXECUTIVE AGENCY (ERCEA)

PhD in Archaeology of the Quaternary and Human Evolution from the University Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona) in 2020. My study focuses on the hominin-carnivore interactions during the Pleistocene by using the taphonomic and zooarchaeologic disciplines. I developed a framework based on neo-taphonomic studies with carnivores in the Catalan Pyrenees (Lleida) in order to use the results for a better understanding of the taphonomic processes at the archaeological sites. The main goal of my research is to characterize taphonomically these predators and to obtain data so as to establish analogies with Pleistocene faunal assemblages. This neo-taphonomic approach implies long-term studies with wild animals based mainly on the recovery of carcasses eaten by those carnivores and also experimental and actualistic reproductions such as simulated short-term hominin campsites and burials that are set up to determine their potential capacities of alteration/disruption. The combination of those studies is used to create models to explain the formation of terrestrial vertebrate fossil faunas and to solve taphonomic conundrums. Eventually, I’m applying the results of the research to some archaeological sites such as Teixoneres and Toll Caves (Barcelona) and, Llenes and Tritons Caves (Lleida) as a part of the research team of the project Neanderthals and carnivores: a shared story.