RESEARCH PROJECT

The study of lithic technology has been traditionally made by visual analysis and morpho-technical descriptions. In the last years, quantification of data, using new statistical tools, has contributed to build up more robust data compilations and interpretation of those. This project will be the result of combining technological analysis with contextual information throughout the use of computational systems of analysis. This will let me to interpret the data from a continental point of view, understanding the territory as an ecological unit where under determinate conditions, the hominins were able to develop their activities and move along the space. In my previous postdoctoral experience, I have integrated traditional visual analysis and technological descriptions into one common method, combined with the 3D scans of tools, and a first approach to the specific statistical treatment of archaeological data. In this second post-doctoral phase, I will complete the sample: 16 MP sites from UK, France and Iberian Peninsula, to create a robust relational data base and, moving from the local perspective to the continental scale, combining traditional analysis with the most up-to-date techniques to analyse the occupation of Western Europe. In addition, the short stages and secondments will open my experience to new complementary skills on statistics (CENIEH, Spain), new applications of 3D models (Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem) and Modelling (Senckenberg Inst., Germany).