ESHE 2018 Program
Bus Schedule
We are pleased to offer a shuttle service between Faro Bus Central Station and the ESHE 2018 Meeting venue (University of the Algarve - Grande Auditorio). Buses are clearly marked with “ESHE Meeting” signs in the front window.
Thursday
8:00 Shuttles will leave Faro Bus Central Station
20:00 Shuttles will leave the conference
Friday
8:45 Shuttles will leave Faro Bus Central Station
20:00 Shuttles will leave the conference
Saturday
8:45 Shuttles will leave Faro Bus Central Station
19:00 Shuttles will leave the conference
Wednesday, September 12th
15:00 Pre-Registration : Museu Municipal de Faro, Praça Dom Afonso III 14
18:00 Welcome Drink : Museu Municipal de Faro, Praça Dom Afonso III 14
19:30 Keynote : Teatro Lethes, R. de Portugal 58
Keynote: The first three million years of human evolution: The ecology of our African ancestors
Presented by René Bobe, Ph.D.
Human ancestors diverged from other apes in the Late Miocene of Africa, sometime between 6 and 8 million years ago. This was a time of major climatic and environmental changes, not only in Africa but also worldwide. In tropical latitudes, these environmental changes included significant expansion of savanna grasslands, but the earliest hominins remained closely tied to woodland habitats similar to those of their ape ancestors. An important adaptive shift in diet and locomotion occurred with the earliest species of Australopithecus, about 4 million years ago, as hominins began to shift their ecological setting toward more open environments. Australopithecus first appeared in eastern Africa, and then expanded its geographic range to the west and south, where it came to occupy a wide range of habitats. In this lecture, I provide new data and analyses on the ecology of Australopithecus relative to that of earlier hominin species, suggest how Australopithecus set the stage for the subsequent evolutionary success of the genus Homo, and discuss the potential of studying modern analogues for the environments of early hominins.
Thursday, September 13th
8:30-9:30 Meeting Registration at the University of the Algarve - Grande Auditorio
9:15-9:30 Official Meeting Opening
Session 1 • Podium
9:30 Viviane Slon - Direct evidence for admixture among Pleistocene hominins: The genome of a Neandertal/Denisovan offspring
9:50 Philipp Gunz - Neanderthal introgression sheds light on modern human brain globularity
10:10 Dirk L. Hoffmann - Speleothems associated with archaeological artefacts - how U-Th dating can be used to constrain the age of cave art
10:30 Gerd-Christian Weniger - The archaeological context of early rock art in Cueva Ardales (Spain)
10:50 Tomos Proffitt - Revisiting Panda 100: Reanalysis of the first archaeological chimpanzee nut cracking lithic assemblage and its relevance to understanding the emergence of hominin technology
11:10-11:35 Coffee Break
Session 2 • Pecha Kucha
11:35-11:55 Martin Hora - Water loss during persistence hunting in recent Kalahari hunters and Homo ergaster
Lucía Cobo-Sánchez - New evidence for early hominin hunting at Olduvai Gorge (Bed I): Analysis of the bone surface modifications of the DS archaeofaunal assemblage
Questions
11:55-12:20 Eve Boyle - Identifying correlates of diet in the primate torso: A case study in iliac flare
Julia Stuhlträger - Season’s Eatings! Establishing reference data for revealing seasonality from tooth wear in chimpanzee molars
Alastair Key - Predicting stone tool functional performance: a case study in handaxe loading
Questions
12:20-12:45 Naomi L. Martisius - A non-destructive ZooMS methodology applied to Neandertal bone tools shows raw material selection
Marion Prévost - Incised aurochs bone shaft dated to 130 kys at the Middle Paleolithic open-air site of Nesher Ramla (Unit III), Israel
Thomas Terberger - The double pointed wooden stick of the palaeolithic site of Schöningen and its context
Questions
12:45-14:15 Lunch
Session 3 • Podium
14:20 Marianne Brasil - Early Homo sapiens postcranial fossils from Middle Awash, Ethiopia
14:40 Marta Mirazón Lahr - Recent palaeoanthropological investigations in West Turkana, Kenya: implications for the evolution of Homo sapiens
15:00 Pontus Skoglund - Genomic models of early modern human populations in Africa
15:20 Gerhard W. Weber - Early modern humans in the Levant
15:40 Paul Bons - Pitfalls and opportunities in pinpointing the origin of modern humans - a numerical study
16:00-16:30 Coffee Break
16:30 Thibaut Deviese - Redating Palaeolithic human bones using a compound specific approach: Implications for understanding the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Eurasia
16:50 Rachel Hopkins - Testing the Danube-corridor hypothesis – New results from chronometric modelling
17:10 Helen Fewlass - New high-resolution 14C chronology for Bacho Kiro cave, Bulgaria spanning the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition
17:30 Kévin Di Modica - Reconsidering the Late Middle Palaeolithic in North-West Europe: Cultural variability, chronology, and implications for the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition
17:50 Armando Falcucci - The chrono-cultural narrative of the Fumanian Aurignacian supports the inapplicability of the Aquitaine Model on a supra-regional scale
18:15 Poster Session 1
Friday, September 14th
Session 5 • Podium
9:30 Silindokuhle Mavuso - The sedimentology of the Jacovec Cavern, Sterkfontein, South Africa: contextualising fossil deposits with high resolution sedimentological analyses
9:50 Robin Crompton - Ecomorphology of the Australopithecus prometheus skeleton, StW573 ~3.67 Ma, from Sterkfontein Caves, South Africa
10:10 Amélie Beaudet - Exploring the inner cranial anatomy of “Little Foot”: a comparative study of the endocast, and of the bony labyrinth.
10:30 Cinzia Fornai - Unexpectedly high morphological variability in the Australopithecus sacrum. Implications for sexual and taxonomic diversity
10:50 Clément Zanolli - What is South African early Homo? New insights from the molar endostructural signature
11:10-11:35 Coffee Break
Session 6 • Pecha Kucha
11:35-11:55 Mareike J Brenner - Early MIS 5 lithic technology at Klasies River, South Africa
Ron Shimelmitz - Back to Skhul Cave, Israel
Questions
11:55-12:20 Jonathan Reeves - Using time-averaged cave deposits and geospatial statistics to demonstrate spatial structure in Neandertal behavior
Andrew Sorensen - Simulating fire-affected archaeological lithic assemblages using the computer-based model ‘fiReproxies’
Wei Chu - Hi-tech rocks and rivers: An artifact transport experiment using RFID tags
Questions
12:20-12:45 Leonardo Carmignani - Exploring the Middle Paleolithic blade and bladelet evolution: new evidence from the Bau de l’Aubesier rock shelter (France)
Camille Lesage - New data on the Altai Middle Palaeolithic variability: The Levallois perspective
Niccolò Castellani - Refining detection of adaptive introgression from Denisovan to Tibetan and Sherpa genomes. *Presented by Marco Sazzini
Questions
12:45-14:15 Workshop: How to Get Published in the JHE - Anfiteatro D
Session 7 • Podium
14:20 João Zilhão - Neandertal fire
14:40 Andrey Krivoshapkin - Sel’Ungurian: A new variant of the Middle Paleolithic in Central Asia
15:00 Kseniya Kolobova - The Easternmost Neanderthals in Altay Mountains
15:20 Mike Morley - Site Formation at Denisova Cave, Siberia: preliminary micromorphology results
15:40 Tom Higham - Chronology of the Initial Upper Palaeolithic of eastern Eurasia
16:00-16:30 Coffee Break
Session 8 • Podium
16:30 Enrico Cappellini - Dental enamel proteome sequences from Dmanisi (Georgia) enable molecular phylogeny of fauna remains beyond the limits of ancient DNA preservation
16:50 Frido Welker - Palaeoproteomic analysis of Early Pleistocene Gigantopithecus blacki.
17:10 Markus Bastir - Thoracic vertebral morphology of KNM-WT 15000
17:30 Daniel García-Martínez - Estimation of total lung capacity (TLC) in Neanderthals with physiological implications
17:50 Rita Sorrentino - Evolutionary timing and relationships of the talar facets: Implication for hominin talus.
18:15 Poster Session 2
Saturday, September 15th
Session 9 • Podium
9:30 Sam Nicholson - A 1.1 million-year palaeoclimate record of Arabia and Human Evolution
9:50 Henry Lamb - Regional differentiation in Late Pleistocene climate records from Ethiopia, and their implications for human origins
10:10 Oliver Paine - The effects of season and habitat on the nutritional properties of potential hominin plant foods in an eastern and southern African savanna
10:30 Flavio Altamura - Fossil footprints in the Gombore gully (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia): A rare snapshot of Pleistocene life and environments
10:50 Federico Lugli - Mothers from the past: Gravettian vs. Epigravettian human mobility strategies at Grotta Paglicci inferred by Sr isotopes of deciduous tooth enamel
11:10-11:30 Coffee Break
Session 10 • Pecha Kucha
11:30-11:55 Sarah Freidline - Modern human facial and mandibular growth at the micro and macroscopic levels: marrying bone modeling and geometric morphometric techniques
Aurélien Mounier - Deciphering African Late Middle Pleistocene hominin diversity and the origin of our species
Michael Hanks - A test of model predictions for the hominin occupation of Europe using dental non-metric data
Questions
11:55-12:20 Alexander Stoessel - First experimental analysis of the bonobo and common chimpanzee middle ear function
Alessandro Urciuoli - Analysis of the primate vestibular apparatus: a comparison of landmark-based and deformation-based 3D geometric morphometric approaches
Ashleigh L. A. Wiseman - Assessing 3D kinematics across various substrates and speeds in modern humans and the implications for human evolution
Questions
12:20-12:45 William Sellers - Analysing Primate Grip Shapes Using Geometric Morphometrics
Tracy Kivell - Trabecular bone structure of the Australopithecus afarensis A.L. 438-1 metacarpals and implications for skeletal age and hand use
Kimberleigh Tommy - Trabecular structure in the distal tibia of Australopithecus africanus from Sterkfontein Member 4
Questions
12:45-14:15 Lunch
Session 11 • Podium
14:20 Nohemi Sala - The Sima de los Huesos origin of hominin accumulation: The state of the art
14:40 Alessio Veneziano - Of teeth and algorithms: Machine learning reveals the taxonomy of Sima de los Huesos
15:00 Suzanna White - Quantifying Supraorbital Variation in the Middle Pleistocene Hominins
15:20 Federica Landi - Maxillary sinus growth and development in Neanderthals and Sapiens
15:40 Nicole D. S. Grunstra - Global or local: Where do we find phylogenetic signal in cranial shape?
Session 12 • Podium
16:30 Collard Mark - Rethinking demography’s role in shaping the Palaeolithic archaeological record
16:50 Matt Pope - A New Interpretation of Short Term Group Behaviour at the GTP17 Horse Butchery Site, Boxgrove.
17:10 Annemieke Milks - Assessing hand-delivered wooden spears as effective hunting weapons using experimental, archaeological, and ethnographic evidence
17:30 Geoff M. Smith - Subsistence strategies throughout the African Middle Pleistocene: Zooarchaeological evidence for behavioural change and continuity across the Earlier to Middle Stone Age transition
17:50 Fotios Alexandros Karakostis - Neanderthals habitually performed precise manual activities
18:10 General Assembly
19:30 Closing Dinner : Tertúlia Algarvia, Praça do Afonso III 13-15
Sunday, September 16th
Excursion
Participants should wear comfortable clothing and shoes. Furthermore, as both
archaeological sites are open-air, you are encouraged to bring a hat.
8:30 Departure from Faro Bus Central Station
9:45 Visit the Megalithic Monuments of Alcalar near the city of Portimão with Elena Móran and Rui Parreira as guides
12:15 Buffet lunch offered by Vila do Bispo Municipality at the Beliche Fortress
14:00 Sight Seeing at Cape Saint Vincent, the southwesternmost point of continental Europe
16:00 Visit to the Paleolithic site of Vale Boi, includes observing the main excavation area, viewing some of the most iconic archaeological materials discovered over the last 15 years of excavations, and hearing a brief explanation by Nuno Bicho
17:30 Departure
19:00 Approximate arrival at Faro Bus Central Station
Megalithic Monuments of Alcalar
The monumental funerary temples of Alcalar have been classified as a National Monument since 1916 and constitute one of the important Chalcolithic monumental groups of the Iberian Peninsula. Located in an area geographically well delimited by four small river basins, several types of evidence point to an intense human occupation during most of the Chalcolithic period. Such evidence includes the ruins of a vast settlement, interpreted as a territorial central place and power centre that spreads for about 20 hectares in addition to being directly connected to the two dozen monuments of the Megalithic necropolis.
The Portuguese state owns only a part of the Megalithic necropolis: two sepulchral nuclei, where 6 monuments can be visited.
Monument 7, the best preserved from the necropolis, and where several excavation and conservation actions have taken place over the years, is a funerary temple built in the 3rd millennium BC. It is a construction with a corridor and crypt covered in a false dome by a rock cairn. With a circular plan, the monument reaches a diameter of almost 27m, with a rectilinear facade facing the east, at the center of which opens the only entrance to the building. Access to the crypt was through a long narrow corridor covered by large slabs of limestone and oriented to the rising sun. In a clear effort to inhibit access to the crypt, this passage was segmented into increasingly narrow sections, demarcated by monolithic jambs and cleft sills.
Our visit to the site will be guided by Elena Morán and Rui Parreira, who have primarily been responsible for the Alcalar monuments over the years.
Paleolithic site of Vale Boi
The archaeological site of Vale Boi was discovered in 1998 as the outcome of a survey project entitled “The Paleolithic Human Occupation of the Algarve,” led by Nuno Bicho. The site is located less than 20 kilometers from the southwestern-most point of continental Europe, occupying the eastern slope of a wide limestone valley crossed by a small stream. It is one of the largest sites with Upper Paleolithic occupations in western Iberia, with materials spreading over more than 10 000 square meters. Human occupation levels are packed by two systems of Pleistocene sediments: one consisting of a shelter and the fill of a collapsed cave; the other filling a series of calcareous depressions on the slope, thereby creating several terraces that are interspersed with large limestone blocks.
There is evidence for the entire Upper Paleolithic at Vale Boi, including very important levels of the Gravettian, Proto-Solutrean and Solutrean, and more temporary occupations dating to the Magdalenian. Currently, Vale Boi presents one of the oldest occupations by Anatomically Modern Humans in southwestern Iberia, dated to c. 32 ka cal BP and attributed to the Gravettian techno-complex. However ongoing excavations point to the existence of older deposits at the site.
Organic preservation is very good across all chronologies, allowing for the recovery of hundreds of thousands of mammalogical and malacological remains over the last 15 years of excavations. Land fauna is mostly composed of horse, ass, red deer, aurochs, boar, and rabbit, and less frequently, the remains of lynx, fox, bear, and lion. Aquatic resources are represented by limpets, mussels, clams and scallops, as well as a very rich and diverse set of other species (e.g. Littorina obtusata, Trivia monacha, Antalium sp.) used for the manufacture of adornments. Additionally, Vale Boi presents one of the most numerous assemblage of bone tools as well as portable engraved art in Portugal.
During our visit to Vale Boi you will be able to see not only the main excavation areas, but also a large sample of the most relevant archaeological remains recovered over the years.