Research Themes
ICArEHB research focuses on INTERACTIONS
Biological
Interactions
The story of the modern human lineage is a history of interactions among many different groups of people. Between them and among them, how did their biological interactions influence which groups survived and which groups went extinct?
Cultural
Interactions
Culture and technology unifies groups, but it can also be used to exclude. What factors influence cultural and technological transmission and how did this impact past people and societies?
Environmental
Interactions
Humans do not just react to changes in their environments. They shape their environments as much as their environments shape them. How have these interactions influenced the evolution of modern humans, their technologies, and ability to acquire and produce food and other resources?
Research Themes
Prehistoric behavior and dispersals in Africa
Research Theme
Africa is the origin of our species. Following its emergency, human populations started migrating and dispersing, both within and outside of Africa, gradually peopling the rest of the World. Current research indicates that both human inventive and adaptive behavior and its dispersal may have been triggered by climate changes. In addition to climate changes, an increase in the human population density may have promoted technological and social changes. To better understand prehistoric behavior and human dispersal in Africa, our team is developing groundbreaking research on the past social and cultural interactions between human populations, and between humans and the environment and other species that surrounded them.
Coordinator: Ana Gomes
Adaptations to coastal environments
Research Theme
Coastal areas are dynamic zones of cultural interaction and social change. The Prehistoric Coastal Adaptations group at ICArEHB studies the role of coastlines, riverine and lake environments in human cultural and biological evolution, including settlement and dietary strategies. Our overarching goal is to reconstruct how humans have explored and adapted to changing coastal environments through time.
Coordinator: Célia Gonçalves
Dynamics of paleolithic people in Eurasia
Research Theme
From the presence of the earliest Homo species up to the replacement of Neanderthals by Homo sapiens some 40 thousand years ago, Eurasia was a crucial territory to understand many of the details of our evolutionary path. The Dynamics of Paleolithic People in Eurasia group at ICArEHB is particularly interested in exploring the cultural, social, and human-environment interactions that occurred during the Pleistocene across this vast and diverse geography. Our overarching goal is to contribute to a better understanding of the particularities that led us to be the only surviving species on the planet.
Coordinator: João Cascalheira
Emergence and evolution of food producing societies
Research Theme
The transition from hunting-gathering-fishing to agriculture as the main form of obtaining dietary calories was one of the key moments in human evolution. This process occurred at different times in distinct parts of the world, starting in SW Asia ca. 10,000 years ago. In most cases (though not all), this lead to an increase in social complexity, an increase in different forms of inequality and the appearance of state societies. Our group analyses traces of human lives and social relationships left behind in the archaeological, bio-anthropological and palaeobotanical records, while at the same time evaluating the relationship between these records of daily human activities and ecological and climatic changes overtime. We also investigate the origins and spread of farming by analysing genomes of heir-loom varieties. Our aims are to study, characterise and interpret the development of social complexity within human societies, and the consequences of this process on the long-term evolution of human behaviour.
Coordinator: Hugo Rafael Oliveira
History of Archaeological Science
Research Theme
Theory is a guide to interpret the archaeological record. The History of archaeological science research group at ICArEHB studies the history of archeological thought during the 19th and 20th centuries as it was developed around the world. This groups applies a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach, drawing upon all four fields of Anthropology, ethnography, and natural sciences, to better understand how we can make sense of the ecological and cultural co-evolution of Homo sapiens.
Coordinator: Erich Fisher