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Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution

@hcelab.bsky.social
331 followers 322 following 20 posts

▪️Paleolithic archaeology ⛏️ Excavations ▪️Population interactions & human behaviors during the early/middle paleolithic 📍Levant and Central Asia ▪️Head; Prof. Yossi Zaidner 🏛️ Hebrew University of Jerusalem www.hcelabhuji.com www.tinshemetcave.com

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Erella Hovers @ehovers.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Kudos to y Giuseppe Briatico for leading our paper about environment and climate during the early Pleistocene at Melka Wakena and Gadeb, as part of his 2-year stint as a Lady Davis Fellow at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. doi.org/10.1038/s415...
doi.org
Seasonal-to-interannual hydroclimatic variability in Afromontane environments during the late Early Pleistocene hominin occupations on the Southeastern Ethiopian Highlands - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Seasonal-to-interannual hydroclimatic variability in Afromontane environments during the late Early Pleistocene hominin occupations on the Southeastern Ethiopian Highlands
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Marion Prévost @marionprevost.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Enjoying being in Dushanbe to study the beautiful lithics from the Middle Paleolithic site of Soii Havzak, Tajikistan @hcelab.bsky.social @gerda-henkel-stiftung.de #CentralAsia #Paleolithic #lithics
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Laurent Davin @laurent-davin.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
📢🔬New #PaperAlert! on the cover of @ScienceAdvances : Emergence of clay personal ornaments in Southwest Asia A butterfly clay bead from #Natufian Eynan-Mallaha, colored red with ochre and marked with the fingerprints of the child (≈10 y/o) who modeled it 12,000 years ago doi.org/10.1126/scia...
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Dr. Alice Rodriguez @alicerodtor.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
New paper out! Does fire erase use-wear? Using experimental burning and 3D confocal analysis, we show that heating modifies surfaces but does not erase use-wear signals. @hcelab.bsky.social
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humendylab.bsky.social @humendylab.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
@humendylab.bsky.social & #TransCause Project invite you to our symposium on Middle Pleistocene behavioral variability with special focus on Dalarik-1 Cave (Armenia)! 📍Room 520, Mt. Scopus Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 💻Also online (via zoom)! See you all there!
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Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution @hcelab.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
🚨We are thrilled to have received the VolkswagenStiftung grant for our project "In Search of Paleolithic Hominins in Central Asia". This grant will allow us to establish research labs and facilities in Tajikistan and will strengthen and further develop our collaborations with our Tajik colleagues.
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Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution @hcelab.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Paper alert! 🚨 New research on the hunting strategies at the Middle Paleolithic site of Nesher Ramla! 🐂🦴 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Archaic humans in the Middle Palaeolithic Levant conducted planned and selective intercepts of aurochs, but not mass hunting - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Archaic humans in the Middle Palaeolithic Levant conducted planned and selective intercepts of aurochs, but not mass hunting
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Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution @hcelab.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
The excavation at Soii Havzak rockshelter, in Western Tajikistan just ended. It was a fruitful season! New in situ layers, large amount of lithic artefacts and faunal remains, and many samples for OSL datings, stay tuned for some results ! Thanks to all the team members this year and to our hosts!
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Roberto Sáez @robertosaezm.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
"The results yield a finite age suggesting that the Petralona cranium has a minimum age of 286 ± 9 ka" New U-series dates on the Petralona cranium, a key fossil in European human evolution www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
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Dr. Roman Garba @romangarba.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
Very sad news today. Anthony E. Marks has passed away. He conducted pioneering prehistoric research in the Nile Valley, the southern Levant and Arabia, producing seminal works on the Palaeolithic. In 2023, aged 85, he still joined the @arduq.bsky.social excavations in Dhofar, Oman. Rest in peace.
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Dr Lucy H. Timbrell @lucytimbrell96.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Join us at the MPI-GEA or online for a free symposium on Quantifying Complexity in Stone Tools on the 21st of October! 🪨 With a keynote lecture by Charles Perreault. Full speaker list will be released soon! Secure your spot here: shh-cloud.gnz.mpg.de/index.php/ap...
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MU-Peter Shimon 🀄 @mu-peter.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
How Women Shaped Human Evolution Through Food Processing 🏺🧪 www.sapiens.org/biology/huma... An anthropologist highlights the revolutionary role of food processing and dietary diversity—practices often led by women—that were just as crucial to humans surviving and thriving as hunting.


A Pumé man and woman hunt and gather foods on the Venezuelan savanna.

Russell D. Greaves
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Marion Prévost @marionprevost.bsky.social · 02/08/2025
Check out my latest paper! 🪨 Occupational Dynamics at Unit III of the Middle Paleolithic Site of Nesher Ramla, Israel | Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology share.google/MmooyB6iFqs6...
share.google
Occupational Dynamics at Unit III of the Middle Paleolithic Site of Nesher Ramla, Israel - Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology
This paper presents the results of spatial analyses of Unit III in Nesher Ramla, Israel, an open-air mid-Middle Paleolithic site. Featuring numerous anthropogenic features (e.g., hearths and artifact ...
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Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution @hcelab.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
We made it to the news this week;) "A 100,000-year-old burial site in Israel " www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/art... #prehistory #archaeology #funerary #paleolithic
dailymail.co.uk
A 100,000-year-old burial site in Israel is changing what we know...
SHOHAM, Israel (AP) - Archaeologists believe they have found one of the oldest burial sites in the world at a cave in Israel, where the well-preserved...
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Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution @hcelab.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
A glimpse into our excavation at Tinshemet Cave! Slow process but amazing finds! One more month to go this season with hopefully nice results coming! 🦴⛏️💀 youtu.be/etGVHIBDHIw?...
youtu.be
Human bones from 100,000 years ago in Israel offer clues about the origins of burial rites
YouTube video by AP Archive
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Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution @hcelab.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
⛏️The 10th season of excavations at Tinshemet Cave has started !! #fieldworkfriday #MiddlePaleolithic #burial #Levallois
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Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution @hcelab.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
New international Master degree in prehistoric archaeology!
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Meir Orbach @meirzooarch.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
🧵1/5 📢 New paper out in Journal of Archaeological Science! We present a regional analysis of fallow deer in Middle Paleolithic Levant and propose a methodological refinement for aging that has major implications for understanding human hunting behavior. Open Access: doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...
doi.org
Redirecting
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fderrico.bsky.social @fderrico.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
www.science.org/doi/full/10....
science.org
Unveiling the multifunctional use of ochre in the Middle Stone Age: Specialized ochre retouchers from Blombos Cave
Seven ochre artifacts from Blombos Cave show evidence of lithic retouching and pressure flaking, revealing specialized MSA tools.
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Chris Stringer @chrisbstringer.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
A filmmaker showcases archaeologists unearthing tiny lithics that evidence the presence of hunters from 13,000 years ago in what is today Michigan www.sapiens.org/archaeology/...
sapiens.org
Excavating the Traces of Ice Age Foragers
A filmmaker showcases archaeologists unearthing tiny lithics that evidence hunters from 13,000 years ago in what is today Michigan.
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Yannis Oikonomou @yannismicrooikon.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Happy to be sharing my 1st PhD paper, result of our group research in the Armenian Highlands #TransCause Project! The article explores the formation processes of Ararat-1 Cave (Armenia) under multiproxy geoarchaeology! It is published on QSR (open-access): www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Unravelling the formation processes and depositional histories of the Middle Palaeolithic Ararat-1 Cave, Armenia: A multiscalar and multiproxy geoarchaeological approach
The sedimentary sequence of Ararat-1 Cave encapsulates an intricate depositional archive (Marine Isotope Stage 3), crucial for our understanding of th…
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Professor Amy Roberts @profamyroberts.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Our latest research with the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation is now available.
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Marion Prévost @marionprevost.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
Congrats @anispringflower.bsky.social !!
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Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution @hcelab.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
Last day in Denver! Some of our lab members presented their research at the Paleoanthropology Society annual meeting and at the #SAA2025Denver ! @marionprevost.bsky.social @davidofagun.bsky.social #YossiZaidner
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Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution @hcelab.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Our project “Soii Havzak Rockshelter: A New Middle-Upper Paleolithic Sequence in Central Asia” has been awarded a research grant from the Gerda Henkel Foundation! The grant, awarded to Y. Zaidner, J-P. Buylaert, and S. Kurbanov, will support postdoctoral research by M. Prévost.
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TraceoLab @traceolab.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
We’re deeply concerned about the disappearance of our colleague Pierre Noiret. Please share and help us spread the word. For more information please check: www.police.be/avis-de-rech...
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ICArEHB @icarehb.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
📢 New publication: "New Insights on an Old Excavation: Re-visiting the Late Middle Palaeolithic Site of Far’ah II, North-western Negev, Israel" by Goder-Goldberger, M., Gilead, I., Paixão, E., et al., in J Paleo Arch (2025, Vol. 8, Article 13). 🔗 More info: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
New Insights on an Old Excavation: Re-visiting the Late Middle Palaeolithic Site of Far’ah II, North-western Negev, Israel - Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology
Revisiting collections from old excavations with new research objectives and analytical tools brings them to life and integrates them into evolving models of human-landscape interactions. This paper e...
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Laura Sánchez-Romero @lausanrom.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
‼️Check out our latest publication on the old excavations at the Late Middle Paleolithic open-air site of Far’ah II (northwestern Negev) link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
New Insights on an Old Excavation: Re-visiting the Late Middle Palaeolithic Site of Far’ah II, North-western Negev, Israel - Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology
Revisiting collections from old excavations with new research objectives and analytical tools brings them to life and integrates them into evolving models of human-landscape interactions. This paper e...
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Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution @hcelab.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
@marionprevost.bsky.social postdoc in our lab presented our research on Nesher Ramla and Tinshemet Cave at Texas A&M University !
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Emily Hallinan @eshallinan.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Our new paper on 3D GM has all the models and script available for others to apply our method. We use it to demonstrate interregional variability of Nubian Levallois cores but it has broader potential for lithic studies #openscience #archaeology #3DGM @icarehb.bsky.social @jmcascalheira.bsky.social
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Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 24/03/2025
Soii Havzak rockshelter, Tajikistan, is one of the only multilayered, stratified Palaeolithic sites in Central Asia. Excavation provides a rare opportunity to explore the understudied region's prehistoric chronology. 🏺 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
A rocky landscape with a gorge running through it, labelled Soii Havzak. In the background, a river labelled Zeravshan River runs parallel to the gorge.
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Erella Hovers @ehovers.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
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Nature Portfolio @natureportfolio.nature.com · 14/03/2025
The Middle Palaeolithic of southwest Asia witnessed interactions and knowledge sharing between archaic and modern humans 130,000–80,000 years ago, which led to behavioural uniformity in groups across the region, according to a paper in Nature Human Behaviour. go.nature.com/4iqytnj 🏺 🧪
This is figure 4, which shows different types of ochre from Tinshemet Cave and their association with human and animal bones.
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David Gaitero Santos @davidofagun.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Estem també a l'edició del National Geographic a Espanya! #Tinshemet #ochre #middlePaleolithic #Levallois #culturalEvolution @hcelab.bsky.social historia.nationalgeographic.com.es/a/humanos-y-...
historia.nationalgeographic.com.es
Humanos y neandertales, ¿rivales o colaboradores? Su relación fue más compleja de lo que se creía
Un estudio de restos hallados en la cueva de Tinshemet, en el actual Israel, sugiere que Homo sapiens y neandertales compartieron aspectos de su tecnología y su vida cotidiana.
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Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution @hcelab.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
📢 After many years of hard work at Tinshemet Cave, here is the first general publication discussing the stratigraphy, dates, lithics, fauna, ochre, etc Thanks to all the co-authors and excavators who joined us during the past 9 seasons! 🤩 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Evidence from Tinshemet Cave in Israel suggests behavioural uniformity across Homo groups in the Levantine mid-Middle Palaeolithic circa 130,000–80,000 years ago - Nature Human Behaviour
The Middle Palaeolithic of southwest Asia witnessed interactions and knowledge sharing between archaic and modern humans ~130,000–80,000 years ago. These interactions led to increased behavioural comp...
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David Gaitero Santos @davidofagun.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Fresh from the oven, #PaperAlert ⚠️!! FIRST main PUBLICATION on our TINSHEMET CAVE site! - and my first short contribution to a research paper. #tinshemet #prehistory #archaeology #middlePaleolithic #MP #Levallois #ochre #humanEvolution #evolution @hcelab.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Evidence from Tinshemet Cave in Israel suggests behavioural uniformity across Homo groups in the Levantine mid-Middle Palaeolithic circa 130,000–80,000 years ago - Nature Human Behaviour
The Middle Palaeolithic of southwest Asia witnessed interactions and knowledge sharing between archaic and modern humans ~130,000–80,000 years ago. These interactions led to increased behavioural comp...
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Chris Stringer @chrisbstringer.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
My thoughts on the Tinshemet discoveries in Israel (Nature Human Behaviour)
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Chris Stringer @chrisbstringer.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Isotopic insights into mammalian diets and local vegetation cover during the Oldowan-Acheulean transition at Garba IV and Gombore I (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash Valley, Ethiopia) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Isotopic insights into mammalian diets and local vegetation cover during the Oldowan-Acheulean transition at Garba IV and Gombore I (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash Valley, Ethiopia)
The archaeological assemblage of Melka Kunture (MK) demonstrates that the Ethiopian Highlands in eastern Africa, along with its high-elevation paleoen…
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Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution @hcelab.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
📢 A new master degree program in prehistoric archaeology is opening at the Hebrew university! The program will focus on the Levantine Paleolithic and includes fieldwork at amazing sites! #prehistory #master #diploma #university
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Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution @hcelab.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
A new international Master program in prehistoric archaeology at the Institute of archaeology, the Hebrew university of Jerusalem is opening!
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John Murray @kabweordie.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
Practiced some Levallois while volunteering for ASU’s open door event 🏺 #flintknapping
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Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution @hcelab.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
📣 The next season is on its way! This September we are going back to Tajikistan to excavate the Middle and Upper Paleolithic layers at Soii Havzak rockshelter! We are looking for volunteers! Be in touch with us if you are interested! ⛏️🐾🦴
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Alice Leplongeon @aliceleplongeon.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Last day today to submit your abstract and meet us in Faro to discuss North-Eastern African prehistory and palaeoenvironments (Session #47)! #SAfA2025 #Africa #Archaeology #Geoarchaeology
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Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution @hcelab.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
This month we were honored to Spend time with Prof. April Nowell, at the Department of prehistory @hebrewuniversity.bsky.social She shared with us her ongoing research in Australia, Jordan and about Children in prehistory! Thank you!
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Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Skara Brae is closed thanks to storm Éowyn, so here’s a #FindsFriday object from our museum. It’s an oyster shell in which a Neolithic painter mixed red ochre (from the local sandstone) some 5000 years ago. ca.75mm or 3 inches at its widest. Pots, people, walls, clothing: what did they paint? 🧪🏺🎨
A photo of an upturned large grey oyster shell on a wire stand, with the inner surface stained red and clumps of dried mineral pigment cupped in the shell. A ball of red clay sits beside it. In the background is the word ‘Brae’ in large letters, part of the display at the Skara Brae world heritage site in Orkney.
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Chris Stringer @chrisbstringer.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
Incised stone artefacts from the Levantine Middle Palaeolithic and human behavioural complexity link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Incised stone artefacts from the Levantine Middle Palaeolithic and human behavioural complexity - Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
In recent years, archaeological research has demonstrated the presence of abstract non-utilitarian behaviour amongst palaeolithic hominins, fuelling discussions concerning the origin and implications ...
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Chris Stringer @chrisbstringer.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
Ethiopian Highlands study examines stone tool decision-making process in early human history phys.org/news/2025-01...
phys.org
Ethiopian Highlands study examines stone tool decision-making process in early human history
An international study reveals how early humans, as far back as 1.5 million years ago, deliberately selected specific stones for their tools in the Ethiopian Highlands. The findings, published in the ...
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David Gaitero Santos @davidofagun.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
Presenting my masters results on heating of #ochre from #tinshemet, today at the Prehistoric Society meeting #IPS2024 in Haifa as a member of @hcelab.bsky.social
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ICArEHB @icarehb.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
📢 The Scientific Program for the #HEIRS Opening Symposium is out! Early bird registration closing soon. Join us to explore #ResearchSynthesis & collaboration in #HumanEvolution! 👉 heirs.icarehb.com/symposium-ou...
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Luc Doyon @lucdoyon.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Looking for a postdoc in use-wear analysis of Pleistocene expedient osseous tools? Check out this offer from the #ERCStG ExOsTech project at #universitébordeaux euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/296676
euraxess.ec.europa.eu
Post-doctoral researcher on Western European Expedient Osseous Technology
The Unité Mixte de Recherche 5199 PACEA of the CNRS, Univ.
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