Project description DEENESFRITPL Investigating variants of Nubian technology in South Africa The Middle Stone Age (MSA) was a critical period for early human anatomical and behavioural development. The EU-funded TANKwA project aims to study human technological adaptations to arid regions during the MSA. In particular, it will focus its research on a late-MSA technological variant based on Nubian technology observed in the Karoo region of South Africa. The project will test the hypothesis that this technology was an adaptive response to the challenges facing hunter-gatherers in an arid environment. To this end, it will use advanced digital geometric morphometric techniques to establish a novel method for studying Nubian technology and lithic points. This work will provide greater insight into early modern human adaptations and dispersals within and outside of Africa. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective The project ‘TANKWA, Technological Adaptations of Nubian cores in the Karoo: new geometric morphometric Approaches’ uses innovative digital archaeological methods to investigate human technological adaptations to arid regions during the Middle Stone Age (MSA), a critical period of early human anatomical and behavioural development. Specifically, this will focus on a new late MSA technological variant observed in the arid Karoo region of interior South Africa which uses Nubian technology, a distinctive Levallois method of stone point production more commonly seen in MSA contexts in North Africa, the Levant and Arabia. Using cutting-edge digital Geometric Morphometric techniques, this research will establish a novel method for studying Nubian technology and lithic points, testing the hypothesis that this technology was an adaptive response to the challenges facing hunter-gatherers in an arid environment. The recently discovered open-air site of Tweefontein has a large artefact assemblage offering the ideal opportunity to characterise this technology, complemented by museum study of other South African Karoo sites. The novel approach applied will generate replicable quantitative data that allows the contextualisation of Nubian technology both in the southern African archaeological record and globally, establishing the first inter-regional comparison between Nubian technology in the Levant and South Africa. The training from experts at two international research institutions in Portugal and Israel, together with the applicant’s existing expertise in this under-studied region, culminates in a unique project which advances methods in lithic analysis and contributes to our understanding of early modern human adaptations and dispersals within and outside of Africa from a new perspective. Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2019 - Individual Fellowships Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2019 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF Coordinator UNIVERSIDADE DO ALGARVE Net EU contribution € 147 815,04 Address Campus de penha 8005 139 Faro Portugal See on map Region Continente Algarve Algarve Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00
