Project description
Homo sapiens in Africa at the onset of the Middle Stone Age
Technological innovations in tool making and increased evidence of symbolic behaviour mark the beginning of the Middle Stone Age. This is when anatomically modern humans emerged in Africa and expanded into a wider range of ecosystems (including deserts, rainforests, and mountains) compared to previous hominins. To survive, early humans had to adapt their subsistence strategies to changing environments. The EU-funded PEOPLE project will focus on South African ecosystems to study human dispersal and adaptation to climate change across southern Africa. A key factor affecting this response is freshwater availability. The project will investigate how and when modern humans settled on the subcontinent by searching for archaeological deposits at rivers, springs, and dry lakes in the interior of South Africa.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based
Coordinator
09002 Burgos
Spain
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