Biogeographic and cultural adaptations of early humans during the first intercontinental dispersals

Project Information

BICAEHFID

Grant agreement ID: 832980

DOI

10.3030/832980

Project closed

EC signature date 17 July 2019

Start date 1 October 2019

End date 31 March 2026

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 2 499 996,00

EU contribution

€ 2 499 996,00

Coordinated by

AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS
Spain

CORDIS provides links to public deliverables and publications of HORIZON projects.

Links to deliverables and publications from FP7 projects, as well as links to some specific result types such as dataset and software, are dynamically retrieved from OpenAIRE .

Publications

Peer reviewed articles (25)

Causal explanations for the evolution of ‘low gear’ locomotion in insular ruminants

Author(s): Roberto Rozzi, Sara Varela, Pere Bover, Jeff M. Martin
Published in: Journal of Biogeography, Issue 47/10, 2020, Page(s) 2274-2285, ISSN 0305-0270
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Inc.
DOI: 10.1111/jbi.13942

Bone tools from Beds II–IV, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, and implications for the origins and evolution of bone technology

Author(s): Michael Pante, Ignacio de la Torre, Francesco d’Errico, Jackson Njau, Robert Blumenschine
Published in: Journal of Human Evolution, Issue 148, 2020, Page(s) 102885, ISSN 0047-2484
Publisher: Academic Press
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102885

Site formation processes at Cenjiawan (Nihewan Basin, North China): a case study on the structure of the Early Pleistocene archaeological record in lakeshore environments

Author(s): null DONGDONG, SHUWEN PEI, FEI XIE, IGNACIO DE LA TORRE, XIN DING, ZHI YE
Published in: Journal of Quaternary Science, Issue 38, 2024, Page(s) 488-504, ISSN 0267-8179
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
DOI: 10.1002/jqs.3487

Revisiting lithic edge characterization with microCT: multiscale study of edge curvature, re-entrant features, and profile geometry on Olduvai Gorge quartzite flakes

Author(s): D. A. Macdonald, T. Bartkowiak, M. , Mendak, W.J. Stemp, A. Key, I. de la Torre, M. Wieczorowski
Published in: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, Issue 14, 2022, Page(s) 33, ISSN 1866-9565
Publisher: Springer
DOI: 10.1007/s12520-022-01504-7

Material matters: raw material influences stone tool performance in capuchin monkeys

Author(s): Theo D.R. O’Malley, Jonathan S. Reeves, Nora E. Slania, Tiago Falótico, Tomos Proffitt, Ignacio de la Torre, Lydia V. Luncz
Published in: Animal Behaviour, Issue 227, 2025, Page(s) 123254, ISSN 0003-3472
Publisher: Academic Press
DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123254

Systematic bone tool production at 1.5 million years ago

Author(s): Ignacio de la Torre, Luc Doyon, Alfonso Benito-Calvo, Rafael Mora, Ipyana Mwakyoma, Jackson K. Njau, Renata F. Peters, Angeliki Theodoropoulou, Francesco d’Errico
Published in: Nature, Issue 640, 2025, Page(s) 130-134, ISSN 0028-0836
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08652-5

Ecological shifts and hominin adaptations during the Mid-Pleistocene Climate Transition in Northeast Asia as evidenced by isotopic analysis (δ13C, δ18O) of mammalian enamel from Early Paleolithic sites in the Nihewan Basin, China

Author(s): Zhe Xu, Shuwen Pei, Yaowu Hu, Ignacio de la Torre, Dongdong Ma, Zhi Ye, Chenglong Deng
Published in: Quaternary Science Reviews, Issue 308, 2025, Page(s) 108072, ISSN 0277-3791
Publisher: Pergamon Press Ltd.
DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108072

New excavations in the MNK Skull site, and the last appearance of the Oldowan and Homo habilis at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

Author(s): Ignacio de la Torre, Benito-Calvo, A., Martín-Ramos, C., McHenry, L.J., Mora, R., Njau, J.K., Pante, M.C., Stanistreet, I.G., Stollhofen, H.
Published in: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Issue 61, 2021, Page(s) 101255, ISSN 0278-4165
Publisher: Academic Press

No evidence that hominin dispersal across Eurasia was part of a wider turnover in mammal distributions

Author(s): Jijia Sun, Ignacio de la Torre, Faysal Bibi
Published in: Nature Communications, Issue 17, 2026, ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-71648-w

Identifying intentional flake production at the dawn of technology: A technological and 3D geometric morphometric study

Author(s): Tomos Proffitt, Jonathan S. Reeves, Tiago Falótico, Adrián Arroyo, Ignacio de la Torre, Eduardo B. Ottoni, Lydia V. Luncz
Published in: Journal of Archaeological Science, Issue 152, 2025, Page(s) 105740, ISSN 0305-4403
Publisher: Academic Press
DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2023.105740

A methodological protocol for the analysis of Early Stone Age lithic assemblages

Author(s): de la Torre, I.; Mora, R., Pei, S.; Ma, D.
Published in: Acta Anthropologica Sinica, Issue 40, 2021, Page(s) 1-22, ISSN 1000-3193
Publisher: Chinese Academy of Sciences
DOI: 10.16359/j.1000-3193/aas.2021.0046

26Al/10Be burial dating and technological strategies of hominins at the Jijiazhuang Paleolithic site, Nihewan Basin, China: Implications for understanding Middle Pleistocene human adaptations in east Asia

Author(s): Zhi Ye, Shuwen Pei, Hua Tu, Yuwei Du, Dongdong Ma, Hao Li, Jingyue Xu, Lan Luo, Zhongping Lai, Darryl Granger, Ignacio de le Torre
Published in: Quaternary Science Reviews, Issue 339, 2024, Page(s) 108837, ISSN 0277-3791
Publisher: Pergamon Press Ltd.
DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108837

Raw material optimization and stone tool engineering in the Early Stone Age of Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania)

Author(s): Alastair Key, Tomos Proffitt, Ignacio de la Torre
Published in: Journal of The Royal Society Interface, Issue 17/162, 2020, Page(s) 20190377, ISSN 1742-5689
Publisher: The Royal Society
DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2019.0377

Tool skill impacts the archaeological evidence across technological primates

Author(s): Lydia V. Luncz, Nora E. Slania, Katarina Almeida-Warren, Susana Carvalho, Tiago Falótico, Suchinda Malaivijitnond, Adrián Arroyo, Ignacio de la Torre, Tomos Proffitt
Published in: Scientific Reports, Issue 14, 2024, ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-67048-z

Pitted stones in the Acheulean from Olduvai Gorge Beds III and IV (Tanzania): A use-wear and 3D approach

Author(s): Adrián Arroyo, Ignacio de la Torre
Published in: Journal of Human Evolution, Issue 145, 2020, Page(s) 102837, ISSN 0047-2484
Publisher: Academic Press
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102837

Who made the Oldowan? Reviewing African hominin fossils and archaeological sites from 3.5 million years ago

Author(s): Eleanor M. Williams, Alastair Key, Ignacio de la Torre, Bernard Wood
Published in: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Issue 79, 2025, Page(s) 101704, ISSN 0278-4165
Publisher: Academic Press
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101704

A continuous record of early human stone tool production

Author(s): Alastair Key, Eleanor M. Williams
Published in: Cambridge Prisms: Extinction, Issue 4, 2026, ISSN 2755-0958
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
DOI: 10.1017/ext.2025.10009

Technological adaptations of early humans at the Lower Pleistocene Nihewan Basin, North China: the case of the bipolar technique

Author(s): Dongdong Ma, Shuwen Pei, Ignacio de la Torre, Zhe Xu, Hao Li
Published in: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, Issue 12/12, 2020, ISSN 1866-9557
Publisher: Springer Verlag
DOI: 10.1007/s12520-020-01238-4

Direct cosmogenic nuclide isochron burial dating of early Acheulian stone tools at the T69 Complex (FLK West, Olduvai Bed II, Tanzania)

Author(s): Toshiyuki Fujioka, Alfonso Benito-Calvo, Rafael Mora, Lindsay McHenry, Jackson Njau, Ignacio de la Torre
Published in: Journal of Human Evolution, Issue 165, 2022, Page(s) 103155, ISSN 0047-2484
Publisher: Academic Press
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103155

Stable Isotope Analysis of Mammalian Enamel From the Early Pleistocene Site of Madigou, Nihewan Basin: Implications for Reconstructing Hominin Paleoenvironmental Adaptations in North China

Author(s): Z. Xu, S. Pei, Y. Hu, I. de la Torre, D. Ma
Published in: Frontiers in Earth Science, Issue 9, 2021, Page(s) 1145, ISSN 2296-6463
Publisher: Frontiers
DOI: 10.3389/feart.2021.789781

Quantifying Edge Sharpness on Stone Flakes: Comparing Mechanical and Micro-Geometric Definitions Across Multiple Raw Materials from Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania)

Author(s): Alastair Key, Tomasz Bartkowiak, Danielle A. Macdonald, Patryk Mietlinski, Bartosz Gapinski, Ignacio de la Torre, W. James Stemp
Published in: Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, Issue 31, 2024, Page(s) 51-74, ISSN 1072-5369
Publisher: Plenum Publishers
DOI: 10.1007/s10816-022-09596-0

Thermal alterations in experimentally-flaked stone tools from Olduvai Gorge and their relevance for identification of fire in the Early Stone Age

Author(s): Caitlin Withnell, Ignacio de la Torre
Published in: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Issue 27, 2019, Page(s) 101978, ISSN 2352-409X
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101978

The Effect of Raw Material on the Identification of Knapping Skill: a Case Study from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

Author(s): T. Proffitt, A. Bargalló, I. de la Torre
Published in: Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, Issue 29, 2021, Page(s) 50-82, ISSN 1573-7764
Publisher: Springer
DOI: 10.1007/s10816-021-09511-z

Preliminary analysis on the distribution patterns of early human occupation influenced by environmental factors during Pleistocene in China

Author(s): X. Ding, X., Y. Du, X. Xu, S. Pei, I. de la Torre, X. Gao
Published in: Quaternary Sciences, Issue 41, 2021, Page(s) 1342-1356, ISSN 1001-7410
Publisher: Quaternary Sciences
DOI: 10.11928/j.issn.1001-7410.2021.05.10

Earliest Prepared core technology in Eurasia from Nihewan (China): Implications for early human abilities and dispersals in East Asia

Author(s): Dong-Dong Ma, Shu-Wen Pei, Fei Xie, Zhi Ye, Fa-Gang Wang, Jing-Yue Xu, Cheng-Long Deng, Ignacio de la Torre
Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Issue 121, 2024, Page(s) e2313123121, ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2313123121

Book chapters (4)

How Many Handaxes Make an Acheulean? A Case Study from the SHK-Annexe Site, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

Author(s): Ignacio de la Torre, Mora, R
Published in: Landscapes of Human Evolution. Contributions in honour of John Gowlett, 2020, Page(s) 64-91, ISBN 978-1-78969-379-9
Publisher: Archaeopress

Peninj (West Lake Natron), Tanzania

Author(s): de la Torre, I.
Published in: Handbook of Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa. Hominin behavior, geography, and chronology, 2023, Page(s) 1153-1163, ISBN 978-3-031-20289-6
Publisher: Springer

Orígenes humanos en África oriental: excavaciones arqueológicas en la garganta de Olduvai (Tanzania)

Author(s): de la Torre, I.
Published in: Conociendo nuestro pasado. Proyectos e investigaciones arqueológicas en el CSIC, 2023, Page(s) 245-252, ISBN 978-84-00-11163-2
Publisher: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas

Perspectives on the biogeographic and cultural adaptations of early humans during the first intercontinental dispersals

Author(s): Ignacio de la Torre, Benito-Calvo, A., Bibi, F., Njau, J., Pei, S., Rivals, F., Tong, H., Uno, K., Varela, S., Wu, X.
Published in: The Matter of Prehistory: Papers in Honour of Antonio Gilman Guillén, Issue XXXV, 2020, Page(s) 73-84, ISBN 978-84-00-10721-5
Publisher: Bibliotheca Praehistorica Hispana

Non-peer reviewed articles (1)

Archaeological surveys in Tendaho (Lower Awash, Afar Regional State, Ethiopia)

Author(s): de la Torre, I., Benito-Calvo, A., Mora, R.
Published in: Anejos de Nailos, Issue 6, 2020, Page(s) 229-242, ISSN 2341-3573
Publisher: Nailos