Origin and cultural evolution of Homo erectus in East Africa (Human Paleontology)

RESULTS

The African Rift 
Valley has the longest and most continuous archaeological sequence of the entire Lower and Middle Pleistocene in the world. The research that the PI has conducted in Ethiopia and Tanzania (de la Torre et al., eds, 2018) in recent years has established the empirical, methodological and logistical basis for developing a long-term research project focused on the ecological, cultural and adaptive dynamics of the hominids that occupied the region between 1.7 and 0.2 million years.

• To continue the consolidation of this line of research in a paleoecological and archaeological sequence for the Lower Pleistocene that serves as a reference to compare the world record belonging to this period.
• Multidisciplinary approach to the archaeological record, which includes from the regional to the microscopic scale, the systematic use of GIS tools, the detailed analysis of the formation processes of the sites and the integral study of the associated geological and paleoecological contexts.
• Innovative character in field and laboratory methodologies. This element of methodological innovation has become an international reference in recent years, and it is hoped that in the future we will continue to explore the digital and spatial tools that are currently being promoted in our lines of research.

Together with these components of methodological innovation, the originality of our proposal includes a transversal perspective in the study of the societies of the Lower Palaeolithic.