HEAD OF TRACEOLAB
RESEARCHERS
FNRS researcher
Veerle ROTS
Veerle Rots obtained her PhD at Leuven University (Belgium, 2002) and subsequently became a postdoctoral research fellow of the Research Fund (2002-2009) and the Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders (FWO) (2009-2011). She was appointed guest lecturer at the Department of Archaeology of the University of Leuven in 2005 (until 2012). In 2011, she obtained a permanent position as Research Associate of the Fund for Scientific Research (Chercheur Qualifié du FNRS-FRS) at the University of Liège (Belgium). In 2019, she was appointed as Senior Research Associate (Maître des Recherches du FNRS-FRS). She was awarded a prestigious ERC starting grant in 2012 with the project “Evolution of Stone Tool Hafting in the Palaeolithic”. Since her arrival at the University of Liège, she has developed TraceoLab, a research centre in prehistory devoted to use-wear and residue studies of prehistoric stone tools and experimentation. Her personal expertise mainly concerns integrated techno-functional approaches with a particular focus on microscopic use-wear and hafting wear traces on stone tools, associated with systematic experimentation, and with a particular interest in Palaeolithic assemblages. In 2022, she received the prestigious Francqui prize.
Over the years, she has been involved in many field projects in Belgium and abroad (e.g., Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Turkey, Poland, South Africa), and she has on-going collaborations to examine the archaeological material of different Palaeolithic sites (Belgium, Germany, France, Ethiopia, South Africa, Zambia, Israel).
Teaching
HAAR0071-1 Questions spéciales d’archéologie préhistorique
HAAR0107-1 Séminaire spécialisé de Préhistoire
PSTG0050-1 Stage spécialisé de Préhistoire
Publications
Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow
4000 Liège
BELGIQUE
Lena ASRYAN
Career
Lena Asryan obtained her PhD at the University of Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona, Spain) in 2015, and currently works at TraceoLab as a MSCA postdoctoral fellow.
She is a Quaternary researcher with more than a decade of experience in Palaeolithic archaeology. She has been involved actively in archaeological excavations since 2003, initially at the Azokh Cave international multidisciplinary project in Artsakh (Southern Caucasus) and has further developed her professional skills at other Middle to Late Pleistocene sites in Europe. Since 2019 she is co-directing an international project in South Caucasus assigned to the Atapuerca Foundation and funded by the Palarq Foundation.
Her Master’s research was focused particularly on the technological and typological description of lithic assemblages recovered from the Azokh Cave-site. The aim was to characterise this assemblage and based on the results contextualise them in the Caucasus region.
PhD project
Lena’s PhD research was funded by Wenner-Gren foundation and supervised by Dr Andreu Ollé (IPHES) and Dr Norah Moloney (UCL). The thesis entitled “Azokh Cave lithic assemblages and their contextualization in the Middle and Upper Pleistocene of Southwest Asia” in addition to the lithic techno-typology was focused also on a detailed macro- and microscopic description of raw materials used in stone tool manufacture (raw material survey, sourcing, characteristics, and preferences). Her PhD addressed, for the first time, also the function of the Azokh Cave’s lithic artefacts through microscopic studies of use wear traces on archaeological flakes and experimental studies aimed at understanding and interpreting such traces. It was in that period when she started to develop a rising interest in micro-wear studies of volcanic rocks. Finally, post-depositional surface modifications [PDSM] of different origin (i.e. mechanical, chemical) affecting lithic artefacts were studied by designing and implementing different experimental programs and applying microscopic studies. The results of these studies allowed understanding the cave occupation patterns, and the behavioural and socio-economic capacities of hominins occupying the site. Finally, the study results enabled to place the occupation of Azokh Cave and its lithic assemblages in the context of the Middle and Upper Pleistocene of South-west Asia.
Postdoc project
After obtaining her PhD, Lena had several short-term post-doctoral contacts at the Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES) and was involved in the techno-typological and microscopic studies of the lithic artefacts of Barranc de la Boella (Units II-IV, Lower Pleistocene to Middle Pleistocene) and Atapuerca (Gran Dolina site, layer TD10.2, Middle Pleistocene) sites.
Her current (MSCA) research project led by Dr Veerle Rots (TraceoLab ULiège) is focused on the study of functional and post-depositional surface modifications of basalt tools that is very little developed in her research area. The goal of the project is to fill in an existing gap in micro-wear studies of basalt artefacts by providing the necessary methodological framework to permit the functional analysis of basalt tools and by understanding past exploitation strategies of basalt, its functional significance and its interaction with other raw materials at specific archaeological sites in Africa, Europe and Asia where basalt is important. For this, she will design and implement a number of experimental studies mostly on function but also on post-depositional surface modifications on basalt tools adapting standardized wear analytical methods for basalt and combining different microscopic studies. She will work also on setting up a methodology for quantification of macro and micro-wear traces using 3D and 2.5D surface morphometry. During this project Lena will get full-training in systematic traceological studies experimental collection management and the acquirement of new skills in tool use, hafting and prehistoric projectile technology.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dries CNUTS
Dries Cnuts obtained his PhD at the University of Liège in 2021. His PhD focused on exploring the potential of optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy in addressing three crucial aspects of residue analysis: the identification of different residues, the attribution of the residues to different anthropogenic and natural processes, and the recognition of the impact of various taphonomic processes on residue preservation. Extensive experimentation and large-scale analysis of Late Pleistocene lithic material from six sites in Africa and Europe (Bushman Rock Shelter, Caours, Fumane Cave, Ifri n’Ammar, Les Cottés and Les Prés de Laure) were undertaken to reach these goals. The doctoral research was part an ERC starting grant on the evolution of hafting during the Palaeolithic (EVO-HAFT 2013 – 2017), led by Dr. Veerle Rots.
Prior to obtaining his PhD, Dries Cnuts graduated from the University of Leuven in 2007 with a Master’s thesis entitled “A critical study on the diet of Neanderthals” under the supervision of Philip Van Peer. As a student he participated in several excavations in Belgium and abroad (e.g., France, Sudan). After his studies, he worked for the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and he returned to archaeology in 2012. From 2012 until the end of 2013, he worked as an archaeologist for the Prehistoric Archaeology unit of the University of Leuven. During this period, he was involved in several prehistoric field projects in Belgium. In 2013, he started a PhD under the supervision of Dr. Veerle Rots on the methodological problems related to residue analysis of stone tools.
After obtaining his PhD, Dries has been involved in various projects:
- The project “Investigating the Deep Roots of Human Behaviour” as a postdoctoral fellow. Led by Prof. Lawrence Barham (University of Liverpool, UK), Dr. Veerle Rots (TraceoLab, ULiège), and their co-investigators, this research project looks into the very beginnings of hafted stone tool technologies and aims at understanding their evolutionary significance. Dries will be responsible for carrying the residue analysis on the lithic artefacts from Kalambo Falls (Zambia).
- Co-investigator on the interdisciplinary research project entitled ‘From micro to macro. Understanding the presence of Mesolithic hunter-gatherer groups in the lower Scheldt region through techno-functional research’, which has a strong emphasis on reconstructing past plant processing activities within the Lower Scheldt basin during the early Holocene. The project is led by Dr. Veerle Rots and subsidised by the Flemish government within the framework of archaeological synthesis research in Flanders.
- Postdoctoral research fellow within the framework of the interdisciplinary ARC project entitled ‘Glue’, a collaboration between the TraceoLab and OBiAChem (Organic and Biological Analytical Chemistry Laboratory, directed by Prof. J.-F. Focant) of the University of Liège. The project is led by Veerle Rots (PI), J.-F. Focant (co-PI) and P-H Stefanuto (co-PI) and financed by the University of Liège within the framework of the Collaborative Research Actions (ARC).
Publications
Postdoctoral Fellow
Justin COPPE
Career
Justin Coppe, graduated in 2013 from the University of Liège, with a Master’s thesis on the technological analysis of the recent Mousterian industry of Scladina cave (Belgium). Through a large corpus of refitting, he searched to prove the contemporaneity of the series studied (level 1A) and to understand the “chaine opératoire” used by Neanderthals. For his PhD, he focuses on the identification of projectiles and projection systems in the Palaeolithic. This research is based on a large experimental program and a detailed microscopic analysis. He aims to contribute to a better understanding of Palaeolithic hunting techniques. Justin Coppe has been involved in several field projects, notably on Belgian, French and Romanian Palaeolithic sites. He is also involved in experimental knapping in collaboration with the “Chercheurs de la Wallonie” at the Préhistomuséum de Ramioul (Liège).
Project
Projectile points have always attracted a lot of attention, but the last few years, efforts have been intensified to recognize them in assemblages and to understand the details of their functioning (propulsion mode, hafting method,…). These elements take an important place in discussions about the changes of human behaviour during the Palaeolithic. Especially the development of long-range hunting weapons must have significantly impacted human subsistence strategies. However, in most cases, the key elements of hunting equipment have disappeared, as they were manufactured out of organic material, and the stone points are the only evidence that is left. Therefore, an improved comprehension of their operational details, for example, the appearance and development of new weapon projecting techniques needs to rely on these stone points. The goal of my PhD is to refine the methodologies associated with the identification of projectile points, hafting arrangements and modes of propulsion. The project is based on a large reference collection. This method will be tested on a selection of European Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sites. Ultimately, this study should contribute to a better understanding of projectile technologies and their development. My project is part of a broader program on the evolution of hafting in the Palaeolithic, led by Dr. Veerle Rots (ERC starting grant).
PhD Student
4000 Liège
BELGIQUE
Tél. +32 (0)4 366 53 04
qgoffette@naturalsciences.be
Quentin GOFFETTE
Career
Quentin Goffette graduated from the University of Brussels (ULB) in 2009. As a student he participated in several excavations in Belgium and abroad (e.g., Cyprus, Syria, Italy). Since 2009, he works as an archaeozoologist at the Belgian Institute of Naturals Sciences (Brussels), within the scientific programme ‘Quaternary Environments & Humans’. During this period, he was involved in the study of faunal remains coming from the excavation of Sagalassos (Turkey, Interuniversity attraction poles), from Brussels and, since 2011, from the Walloon region.
In 2017, he started a PhD under the supervision of Dr. Veerle Rots and Dr. Christine Lefèvre (MNHN), on the exploitation of birds from Prehistory to Modern Times on the territory of modern Belgium, by the analysis of archaeozoological data. The evolution of the frequency of bird remains through time will be evaluated, as well as the purposes birds were used for (economic, symbolic, etc.).
PhD Student
4000 Liège
BELGIQUE
Ronè OBERHOLZER
En construction.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Noora TAIPALE
Career
Noora Taipale obtained her PhD at the University of Liège in 2020, and currently works at TraceoLab as a postdoctoral fellow. With a Master’s degree from the University of Helsinki (Finland), she was initially trained in use-wear analysis at Uppsala University (Sweden) under the supervision of Prof. Kjel Knutsson. During her year there, she prepared her master’s thesis that involved the functional study of quartz artefacts from two Mesolithic sites. Through her work in Liège, she has gained experience in the analysis of flint and flint-like rocks from Europe as well as African raw materials, particularly quartzite. These projects have also allowed her to expand the scope of her research first to the European Upper Palaeolithic and then to the Middle Stone Age and Early Stone Age of Africa. Her main interest is to use lithic functional analysis as a way to address general questions about technological strategies, their development through time, and their links to human evolution.
PhD project
Framed in the context of the ERC-funded project “Evolution of stone tool hafting in the Palaeolithic” led by Dr. Veerle Rots, Noora’s PhD project focused on the variability in stone tool hafting and use in the Gravettian and Magdalenian of Central and Western Europe. Her thesis, entitled « Hafting as a flexible strategy: variability in stone tool hafting and use at three European Upper Palaeolithic sites », represents the first large-scale application of the hafting wear method developed by Dr. Rots on Upper Palaeolithic assemblages. Noora’s work entailed the analysis of large samples of lithic artefacts, particularly domestic tools, from three archaeological sites, namely the cave site Hohle Fels (SW Germany), the open-air site Maisières-Canal (Belgium), and the rock shelter Abri Pataud (SW France). By applying low and high magnification use-wear analysis, she could identify several categories of hafted tools within these assemblages. The comparative analysis of the datasets from different sites and different time periods allowed her to establish that while simple task mechanics explain some of the patterning in stone tool hafting, the remaining part requires more complex explanations. By contextualising the use-wear results with the help of data on subsistence, seasonality, and mobility, she could propose initial hypotheses about the links between stone tool hafting and social division of work in the Upper Palaeolithic.
Postdoc project
After obtaining her PhD, Noora has been working as a postdoctoral fellow in the project “Investigating the Deep Roots of Human Behaviour”. Led by Prof. Lawrence Barham (University of Liverpool, UK), Dr. Veerle Rots (TraceoLab, ULiège), and their co-investigators, this research project looks into the very beginnings of hafted stone tool technologies and aims at understanding their evolutionary significance. As a member of an international and interdisciplinary team composed of researchers from several institutes in Zambia and Europe, Noora focuses on lithic material from the site of Kalambo Falls. This famous site has been subject to new excavations since 2019, and contains both Early Stone Age and Middle Stone Age layers that are currently being dated. Noora’s aim is to understand tool use and hafting at the site with the help of extensive experimentation carried out in collaboration with experimental archaeologists at TraceoLab and in the UK. By doing this, she wishes to contribute to an improved understanding of the origins of hafting and the changes in technological strategies across the ESA/MSA transition. In addition, Noora’s work will help adjust the existing functional analysis methods to the local raw material situation in Zambia.
Publications
Postdoctoral Fellow
Sonja TOMASSO
Career
Sonja Tomasso obtained her PhD at the University of Liège in 2021. The main objective of her PhD research was to improve the understanding of long term technological changes during the Middle and Late Pleistocene in North Africa. For this purpose she performed a functional study on the lithic assemblage from Ifri n’Ammar, a rockshelter located in Northeast Morocco, which has been occupied periodically since ~170 ka. This assemblage provided a great diversity of lithic tools, including the emblematic tanged tools characteristic of the Aterian.
Sonja Tomasso graduated from Liège University in 2008 and subsequently worked as an archaeologist in the city of Aachen (Germany). In 2013, she started the PhD research at the TraceoLab and gained experience in the methods of functional studies. Since 2013, she also worked in cooperation with the German “Kommission für Archäologie Außereuropäischer Kulturen (KAAK) des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts (DAI)” (Bonn, Germany) and the Moroccan „Institut National des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine“ (INSAP). Parallel to her PhD research, she was involved in several research projects which allowed her to gain more experience in use-wear studies and expand her scope of her research (e.g. collaborations with Oxford Archaeology South, BAAC Vlaanderen, National Museum of the Solomon Islands in the framework of a the archaeological project of the KAAK (DAI), the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES), the Flemish Goverment, Belgium, in the framework of synthesis archaeological research).
After obtaining her PhD, Sonja is working in a project of the Flemish subsidy for archaeological synthesis research in Flanders (Onroerend Erfgoed) entitled “From micro to macro: understanding the presence of Mesolithic hunter-gatherer groups in the lower Scheldt region through techno-functional research.” This interdisciplinary research project focuses on understanding the presence of Mesolithic hunter-gatherer groups in the lower Scheldt region through techno-functional research, with a strong emphasis on reconstructing past plant processing activities. The project will be carried in close collaboration with (BAAC Vlaanderen) and (Arkéodidacte).
Excavations
- 07/2003 : Trou Al’Wesse (Belgique), sous la direction de Rebecca Miller (ULg)
- 08/2004 : Trou Al’Wesse (Belgique), sous la direction de Rebecca Miller (ULg)
- 08/2005 : Grotte de Karain (Turquie), sous la direction de Marcel Otte et Ișin Yalçinkaya (ULg, Ankara University)
- 07/2006 : Grotte de Karain (Turquie), sous la direction de Marcel Otte et Ișin Yalçinkaya (ULg, Ankara University)
- 05/2007 : Tell Chagar Bazar (Syrie), sous la direction d’ Önhan Tunca et Jean Marie Cordy (ULg)
- 05/2008 : Tell Chagar Bazar (Syrie), sous la direction d’ Önhan Tunca et Jean Marie Cordy (ULg)
- 05-06/2009 : Tell Chagar Bazar (Syrie), sous la direction d’ Önhan Tunca et Jean Marie Cordy (ULg)
- Depuis 2010 : Ifri n’Ammar (Maroc), sous la direction de Josef Eiwanger (KAAK) (en coopération avec Abdes Mikdad, INSAP)
Publications
FNRS postdoctoral research fellow
4000 Liège
BELGIQUE
Olivier TOUZÉ
Career
Olivier Touzé obtained his PhD at the University Paris 1 – Panthéon-Sorbonne (France) and the University of Liège in 2019, and he now holds a position of postdoctoral fellow at TraceoLab supported by the Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-FNRS). After a Master degree from the Free University of Brussels (ULB) in Art History and Archaeology, he specialized in lithic technology under the supervision of Prof. Nicole Pigeot at the University Paris 1, where he obtained a second Master degree. His research focuses on the European Upper Palaeolithic with a specific interest for Gravettian societies. He is involved in projects on several Palaeolithic sites including Ormesson – Les Bossats (dir. Pierre Bodu) and Laussel (dir. Laurent Klaric) in France, and Maisières-Canal in Belgium. His main interests concern the parameters of variation of UP lithic technical systems, and the mechanisms underlying their evolution through time.
PhD project
The PhD research of Olivier was conducted under the supervision of Prof. Boris Valentin and Nicole Pigeot (Univ. Paris 1) and Prof. Pierre Noiret (Univ. Liège). Its main purpose was to characterize the evolution of lithic technical systems at the beginning of the Gravettian in North-western Europe, in order to enrich the understanding of the development of the Gravettian material culture around 28 000 uncal. BP. His thesis is entitled “D’une tradition à l’autre, les débuts de la période gravettienne: trajectoire technique des sociétés de chasseurs-cueilleurs d’Europe nord-occidentale” (From one tradition to another, the beginnings of the Gravettian period: technical trajectory of hunter-gatherer societies in North-western Europe) relies on the technological analysis of lithic assemblages coming from four sites situated in the Paris basin and Belgium: Ormesson, Maisières-Canal, Flagy – Belle Fontaine, and Station de l’Hermitage. The dataset was completed by complimentary studies of various British, Welsh, Belgian, French and Luxembourgish assemblages. His comparative analysis led to the identification of two distinct technical traditions, whose chronological data indicate that they have succeeded each other in time: the Maisierian, dated around 28 000 uncal. BP, and the Early Gravettian, dated between 27 000 and 26 000 uncal. BP. With the integration of data available on previous Early Upper Palaeolithic industries in North-western Europe, he finally proposed a theoretical model in order to explain how lithic technical systems may have evolved regionally between the end of the Aurignacian and the beginning of the Gravettian.
Postdoc project
Olivier’s current research project aims to develop a method for recognizing individual technical signatures within the productions of flint blades of the UP. This project is based on a traceological and technological approach at different scales of analysis, tightly intertwined with experimentation involving modern flint knappers. Next to understanding the diversity of macro- and microscopic knapping traces created by the use of different prehistoric percussion techniques, the project aims to define the magnitude and characteristics of the individual variation in blade production with particular attention to the psychomotor habits of the knappers. The research is conducted under the direction of Dr Veerle Rots, and involves close collaborations with the CETREP (Centre for the Study of Techniques and Experimental Research in Prehistory) based in the Prehistomuseum (Ramioul, Belgium), and with the UMR 7041 ArScAn (Nanterre, France) for the analysis of several assemblages coming from well-preserved open-air Magdalenian and Gravettian sites, namely Pincevent, Verberie, and Ormesson. The purposes of this research are to address questions related to the place of the individual within prehistoric societies, and to reassess the influence of the individual on the production of prehistoric material cultures.
Assistant – PhD Student
Lola TYDGADT
Career
Lola Tydgadt obtained a Master’s degree in History of Art and Archaeology (Archaeometry), with Highest Honours, from the University of Liège in 2019. As a student, she was involved in several excavations, post-excavation and prospection campaigns, both in Belgium and abroad (France, United Kingdom, Italy). From 2017 to 2019, she was appointed as a student-instructor in Prehistory while working on her master’s dissertation, “Leave no stone unturned. Étude fonctionnelle des assemblages lithiques protohistoriques de Wanze et Harmignies”, under the supervision of Dr. Veerle Rots. In 2019, she was appointed as an academic assistant for the Service de Préhistoire (Dr. Pierre Noiret), the Service TraceoLab (Dr. Veerle Rots) and Service d’Histoire de l’Art et Archéologie de l’Antiquité gréco-romaine (Dr. Thomas Morard) of the University of Liège. In addition to teaching activities, she is working on her PhD research under the supervision of Dr. Veerle Rots.
Fyssen postdoctoral fellow
4000 Liège
BELGIQUE
Erwan VAISSIÉ
Career
Erwan Vaissié defended his thesis at the University of Bordeaux in December 2021 and is now a Fyssen postdoctoral fellow at the University of Liège, affiliated both with TraceoLab (V. Rots) and with the group of P. Noiret. After a degree in geology at the University of Toulouse Paul Sabatier, he obtained a master’s degree in biological Anthropology and Prehistory at the PACEA laboratory of the University of Bordeaux. His research focuses mainly on lithic technical systems of the Middle Palaeolithic and the relationship of their craftsmen to their environment, with a focus on petro-techno-economic and travel modelling. He is a member of the scientific team of several Mousterian contexts in France, including major sites such as Combe-Grenal (dir. Jean-Philippe Faivre), Jonzac (dir. William Rendu) and Roc-en-Pail (dir. Sylvain Soriano), and is involved in several research programmes (co-responsible for the PCR “Réseau de lithothèques en Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes”), including the ERC project “Quina World” (dir. Guillaume Guérin).
PhD project
Erwan’s PhD research was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Jean-Philippe Faivre and Dr. Paul Fernandes at the University of Bordeaux. Its main objective was to characterise the specificities of contemporary Mousterian lithic technical systems of the late OIS 5 and early OIS 4 in order to contribute to the overall understanding of the evolution of Neanderthal societies. The title of the thesis was “Cultural geography of the late Middle Palaeolithic in the Massif Central and its margins: Territories, mobilities and lithic technical systems” (Géographie culturelle du Paléolithique moyen récent dans le Massif central et ses marges : Territoires, mobilités et systèmes techniques lithiques) and included the study of several Mousterian archaeosequences from the end of the isotopic stage 5 in the Massif Central and its periphery, the two main ones being Baume-Vallée (Haute-Loire) and Le Rescondudou (Aveyron). Other contexts have also been studied to broaden the reflection both geographically and chronologically. Their study focused on the characterisation of lithic technical systems as well as the description of mobility systems and supply strategies of the groups via the petroarchaeological characterisation of raw materials, their circulation and transfer modalities. The synthesis and integration of these approaches, coupled with the use of mobility modelling methodology, allowed to highlight an unsuspected diversity in the modalities and amplitudes of circulation for Middle Palaeolithic groups. In conclusion, this thesis proposed to reexamine the forms of spatial organisation of Mousterian groups from the end of Stage 5 / beginning of Stage 4, and in particular the potential articulation at the scale of France of different entities assimilated to cultural groups whose dynamics partly explain the regional evolutions that occurred at Isotopic Stage 4.
Postdoc Project
Erwan’s current research is in line with these questions and aims to explore the evolutionary dynamics of the different Mousterian techno-complexes of the Late Middle Palaeolithic. Among these, the Mousterian Quina appears to be quite singular, due to its relatively tight chronology (MIS 4) but also to its strong technological homogeneity associated with a significant interregional diversity of subsistence strategies attesting to the great adaptability of Neanderthal populations. In this specific context, this project proposes to question the existence of Quina behaviours within contexts located in Belgium, chronologically prior or posterior to the equivalents of south-western France, following a combined approach in petro-techno-economics and GIS modeling. The aim is to question the strategies developed by Neanderthals in the face of a territory with variable environmental constraints. This research is conducted under the supervision of Pr. Pierre Noiret and Pr. Veerle Rots and will mainly concern the contexts of Scladina (layers 5 and 1A, in collaboration with the Archaeological Centre of the Scladina cave) and the Trou du Diable. The results will be compared with those from contexts in south-western France (“core space” of the Quina Mousterian), in the framework of the ERC project “Quina World” directed by Dr. Guillaume Guérin. The aim of this research is to question the notion of cultural group in the Middle Palaeolithic, the extension and diversity of Quina group behaviours and to understand their adaptive success.
Publications
PhD STUDENTS IN CO-SUPERVISION
PhD Student
University of Liverpool, UK
4000 Liège
BELGIQUE
Christopher SCOTT
PhD student (University of Liverpool).
PhD Student
University of Liverpool, UK
4000 Liège
BELGIQUE
Dylan JONES
PhD student (University of Liverpool).
PhD Student
University of Liège
4000 Liège
BELGIQUE
Florine MARCHAND
Florine Marchand PhD is focused on lithic technology, experimental archeology (pressure technique) and use-wear analyses of the Bronze Age lithic industries from Tell ‘Arqa site (Mission française de Tell ‘Arqa, Akkar Plain, North Lebanon). By combining those three lines of research, the purpose of her study is to show that stone tools had still an important socio-economic status during the metal ages. At Liège University, her work is supervised and co-directed by L. Colonna d’Istra (Department of Antiquity Sciences, Ancient World) and V. Rots (Department of Historical Sciences, TraceoLab).
She is also involved in two other field works. In Iraqi Kurdistan (Mission archéologique du Peramagron, dir. Aline Tenu, ArScan, UMR 7041, team HAROC), she is in charge of the excavations of the Area E and she studies lithic industries of the second half of the third millennium of Kunara since 2015. In Pakistan (Mission archéologique française du Bassin de l’Indus – MAFBI, dir. Aurore Didier, ArScan, UMR 7041, team Archaeology of Central Asia), she is responsible of the lapidary assemblage of Chanhu Daro site since 2017 and she analyzes their involvement in the bead manufacturing complex dating from the first period of the Indus civilization.
Florine MARCHAND, L’industrie Lithique de Tell Arqa (Plaine du Akkar, Liban Nord)
Supervisor: Prof. L. Colonna d’Istria (ULiège)
PhD Student
University of Liège
4000 Liège
BELGIQUE
Anika LOKKER
Anika LOKKER, Chemical analysis of Palaeolithic glues
Supervisor: Prof. J.-F. Focant (ULiège)
PhD Student
University of Tübingen
4000 Liège
BELGIQUE
Benjamin SCHÜRCH
In construction.
EXPERIMENTATIONS
SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATORS & VISITING RESEARCHERS
Experimentation
Christian LEPERS
Career
Christian Lepers is a member of the Chercheurs de la Wallonie and over the years he gained a lot of experience in stone tool knapping and use. He is a regular participant to the European Championship of prehistoric spear-throwing and bow use given his great skill in this field. Within the lab, he is responsible for the experimental program on stone tool use and hafting.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Antonin TOMASSO
Project
As part of a postdoctoral BeIPD-COFUND incoming fellowship on the «Adoption, abandonment, and revival of a technical innovation. Techno-functional study of twisted blade production during the Upper Paleolithic in Europe» I will perform a research on technical innovations in Prehistory within TraceoLab. The goal is to study the causes and implications of the diversity of blade and bladelet production patterns which are a key aspect of the variability of the Upper Paleolithic in Europe. I will particularly focus on the production of twisted blanks, introduced in Europe at the early beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, which disappears and reappears periodically and in different areas throughout the Upper Paleolithic. Based on a techno-functional approach that includes petrographic, functional and technical analyses, I aim to clarify the meaning of these productions anticipating two possible hypotheses: (1) the twisted character is intentionally sought, or (2) it is a byproduct and a consequence of other technical constraints.
This research project is based on the analysis of a new open-air site « Les Prés Laure » (Var, France) which delivers exceptionally well preserved deposits from the Upper Paleolithic dated around the end of the LGM (about 25 000 – 20,000 BP).
FORMER RESEARCHERS
Postdoctoral Fellow
Malvina BAUMANN
Career
Malvina Baumann obtained her PhD degree at the University of Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne, in 2014, with a thesis devoted to the technological and functional analysis of the Solutrean bone equipment, which was not seen as being different from the ones of the preceding and subsequent cultural phases. Once the stratigraphic issues were clarified, the main result has been the identification of an original industry predominately manufactured by percussion and the discovery of tools dedicated to the pressure flaking of flint. This led her to explore more carefully the “unshaped” bone tools with an improved methodology. Thanks to the support of the French-Russian International Associated Laboratory Artemir, a grant from the Centre d’Etude Franco-Russe of Moscow and then, a grant from the Fyssen Foundation, her work expanded (2016-2018) to a comparison of bone production systems of Homo sapiens, Neandertal and Denisovan in the Siberian Altai at the interface of the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic period.
A Marie Sklowdoska-Curie fellowship now gives her the opportunity to explore the question of Neanderthals’ ability to use bone materials. In the TraceoLab laboratory, the challenge will be to establish objective criteria for recognizing manufacture and use markers of the “unshaped” tools. Alongside a classical traceological approach, she will exploit the potential provided by 3D internal and surface imaging. The results will contribute, in terms of the representation of their technical world, to the debate on the cognitive abilities of the fossil human species.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Elspeth HAYES
Career
Elspeth “Ebbe” Hayes completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong, Australia, in 2015, under the supervision of Prof. Richard Fullagar. Her PhD research focussed on the function of Aboriginal grinding tools through a detailed functional analysis of the usewear and residue traces on tools from key archaeological sites in Australia (Madjedbebe and Lake Mungo). During her PhD, Ebbe visited Lakehead University in Canada to study chemical methods of residue analysis, including the newest applications of spectroscopy, gas-chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), biochemical staining and others.
Following the completion of her PhD, Ebbe worked as a Research Fellow in the Centre for Archaeological Science at the University of Wollongong. She has been involved in several collaborative projects to study tool function at early human sites in eastern Asia and Australia, including Denisova Cave (Siberia), Liang Bua (Indonesia) and Madjedbebe (northern Australia).
Qualifications
Doctor of Philosophy (with commendation) 2015
Centre for Archaeological Science,
School of Earth and Environmental Science,
Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health
University of Wollongong
Bachelor of Science (Hons 1) (Geoscience) 2010
School of Earth and Environmental Science,
Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health
University of Wollongong
Publications
Journal articles:
Hayes, E.H., D. Cnuts, C. Lepers, V. Rots. (2017). Learning from blind tests: determining the function of experimental grinding stones through use-wear and residue analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 11: 245–260.
Fullagar, R., B. Stephenson, E.H. Hayes. (2017). Grinding grounds: function and distribution of grinding stones from an open site in the Pilbara, Western Australia. Quaternary International 427: 175–183.
Marwick, B., Hayes, E.H., C, Clarkson, R., Fullagar. (2017). Movement of lithics by trampling: an experiment in Madjedbebe sediments. Journal of Archaeological Science.
Hayes, E.H., R., Fullagar, K. Mulvaney, K. Connell. (2016). Food or fibercraft? Grinding stones and Triodia grass (spinifex). Quaternary International. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.08.010
Rots, V., E.H. Hayes, D. Cnuts, C. Lepers, R. Fullagar. (2016). Making sense of residues on flaked stone artefacts: learning from blind tests. Plos One. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.015043
Fullagar, R., E.H. Hayes, B. Stephenson, J. Field, C. Matheson, N. Stern and K. Fitzsimmons. (2015). The scale of seed grinding at Lake Mungo. Archaeology in Oceania 50: 177–179.
Fullagar, R., E.H. Hayes, B. Stephenson, J. Field, C. Matheson, N. Stern and K. Fitzsimmons (2015). Evidence for Pleistocene seed grinding at Lake Mungo, south-eastern Australia. Archaeology in Oceania 50: 3–19.
Smith, M., E.H. Hayes and B. Stephenson 2015 Mapping a millstone: the dynamics of use-wear and residues on a Central Australian seed-grinding implement. Australian Archaeology: 80: 70–79.
Clarkson, C., M. Smith, B. Marwick, R. Fullagar, L. Wallis, P. Faulkner, T. Manne, E.H. Hayes, R.G. Roberts, Z. Jacobs, X. Carah, K.M. Lowe, J. Matthews and A. Florin (2015). Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II): Archaeology, chronology and stratigraphic integrity revisited. Journal of Human Evolution 83: 46–64.
Hayes, E.H., R. Fullagar, C.J. Clarkson and S. O’Connor (2014). Usewear on the platform: ‘use-flakes’ and ‘retouch-flakes’ from northern Australia and Timor. In S. Nunziante Cesaro and C. Lemori (eds), An Integration of Use-Wear and Residue Analysis for the Identification of the Function of Archaeological Stone Tools: Proceedings of the International Workshop Rome, March 5th–7th, 2012, pp.77–90. British Archaeological Reports: 2649. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Jacobs, Z., E.H. Hayes, R.G. Roberts, R.F. Galbraith and C.S. Henshilwood (2013). An improved OSL chronology for the Still Bay layers at Blombos Cave, South Africa: further tests of single-grain dating procedures and a re-evaluation of the timing of the Still Bay industry across southern Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 40(1): 579–594.
Theses:
Hayes, E.H. (2015). What was ground? A functional analysis of grinding stones from Madjedbebe and Lake Mungo, Australia. PhD thesis, University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
Hayes, E.H. (2010). Extending the chronology for Blombos Cave, South Africa: Further evidence for the origins of modern human behaviour. Honours thesis, University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Carol LENTFER
Career
Carol Lentfer graduated from the University of New England, Armidale, Australia with BSc Hons (Ecology/Zoology/Microbiology) and a BA (Archaeology/Botany). After teaching in New South Wales, Australia and a remote aboriginal settlement in the Northern Territory she resumed studies at the Southern Cross University, Lismore, Australia and graduated with a Masters in Applied Science (Archaeological Science) and a PhD (2004). She has since held research positions at the University of Queensland, Australia (2005-2008), the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA (2009-2010), and Minpaku, the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan (2011-2012). She has worked on several collaborative archaeological projects in Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, Indonesia, East Timor, Borneo and Taiwan.
Project
She has worked on several collaborative archaeological projects focusing her research on the prehistory of human settlement in the Southeast Asian/Pacific region to investigate resource exploitation, subsistence, patterns of economic development and change and environmental change. She specializes in phytolith and starch analyses, plant macro-remain analyses including wood and nutshell/seed identification, and use wear and residue analyses. Currently she is affiliated with the University of Queensland as an Adjunct Fellow and is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Liège University in Belgium, financed by an ERC starting grant initiated and directed by Dr Veerle Rots.
Publications
Postdoctoral Fellow
Jimmy LINTON
Career
J’ai été formé aux principes et méthodes de l’archéologie préhistorique dans le cadre d’une Licence et d’une Maîtrise à l’Université de Toulouse le Mirail, puis d’un DEA d’Anthropologie double sceau à l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales et l’Université du Mirail. Mes deux mémoires ont porté sur l’industrie lithique chasséenne de Roucadour (Thémines, Lot). À travers l’analyse des processus de production, de gestion et d’utilisation de l’outillage en silex, mon travail a contribué à mieux comprendre le statut particulier de ce site des Causses du Quercy au Néolithique moyen.
J’ai ensuite rejoint l’UMR6298 Artehis (Université de Dijon) pour faire une thèse financée par une Allocation de Recherche. Le financement était adossé à un programme de recherche intitulé « Territoire Environnement et Pratiques Agricoles au Néolithique ». Ma thèse de doctorat a porté sur la gestion et l’utilisation des produits en silex du Turonien supérieur de la région du Grand-Pressigny au Néolithique final. Afin de travailler à l’échelle des réseaux de diffusion, je me suis attaché à étudier des ensembles répartis entre l’aire de production des grandes lames en Touraine (France), et les rives du lac de Neuchâtel (Suisse). Ainsi, mon travail s’est fondé sur les résultats de l’analyse techno-fonctionnelle d’une vingtaine d’ensembles échantillonnés.
Après ma soutenance, mon activité s’est partagée entre des expertises et contrats d’étude spécialisée réalisés pour divers prestataires de l’archéologie préventive, et une activité de recherche dans la continuité de mon travail de thèse. Je suis impliqué dans différents programmes de recherche, réseaux de collaborations et groupes de travail à l’échelle nationale ou européenne.
La bourse Marie Curie COFUND me permet depuis octobre 2014 de mener mon travail de recherche au Service de Préhistoire de l’Université de Liège, au sein du Laboratoire de Tracéologie.
Research Theme
Mes recherches s’attachent à appréhender les transformations des systèmes techniques et socio-économiques des sociétés agropastorales néolithiques ouest-européennes entre le Vème et le IIIème millénaire av. J.-C. par le biais de la tracéologie et de la technologie lithique. Mes domaines d’analyse et d’expertise sont les processus de production, de gestion et d’utilisation de l’outillage en silex. Mon travail comporte trois axes principaux : les conditions techniques et sociales de la diversité de l’équipement en silex, la variabilité des agro systèmes et son évolution dans le temps, les transferts de technologies et de traditions techniques dans le temps et l’espace.
Dans le cadre de mon mandat post-doctoral à l’Université de Liège je vais développer des recherches sur l’emmanchement de l’outillage lithique au Néolithique. L’objectif sera de faciliter la restitution des types d’emmanchement des pièces lithiques provenant des sites terrestres en établissant un corpus tracéologique de comparaison (archéologique et expérimental). Le volet archéologique se focalise sur l’étude de pièces encore emmanchées des collections exceptionnelles des villages néolithiques littoraux des lacs nord-alpins. Récemment inscrits au patrimoine mondial par l’UNESCO, les sites lacustres bénéficient de conditions de conservation uniques qui offrent l’accès à des vestiges en matière organique, habituellement dégradés en contexte terrestre.
Publications
Student
Virginie MATTERNE
Career
Virginie Matterne obtained her master’s degree in archaeology at the belgian University of Louvain-la-Neuve in 2014. Her master’s thesis was directed by Nicholas Cauwe and adressed the issue of music in the Upper Palaeolithic under an organological -based on the development of a catalog- and experimental approach. She became more familiar with the technological aspect of musical instruments, their manufacture and specificities, during a brief internship in Ardèche with the french instrument maker Jean-François Barbe, specialised in traditional and archaeological flutes.
In order to acquire skill in the field of education, she continued her studies to obtain secondary school teaching qualifications (Agrégation de l’enseignement secondaire supérieur en Archéologie et histoire de l’art), before joining the TraceoLab team in 2015 to start a doctoral thesis on prehistoric hafting. She hopes to develop a methodology in the recognition of organic hafts from fauna collections and apply it to a series of Palaeolithic sites.
She works in parallel as a tour guide at the Prehistomuseum de Ramioul (Flémalle, Belgique).
Reasearch topics
- Archaelogy
- Prehistory (Paleolithic)
- Archaeomusicology
- Traceology
- Hard animal material industry
- Experimental archaeology
Publications
PhD Student
Giancarlo RUTA
6-month scholarship for specialisation abroad (1/10/2015 – 31/3/2016).
PhD Student
Marine MICHEL
Career
Marine Michel was master graduated from archaeology and art history in 2017 in Liège University. Her master thesis was about “Frost effects on flint tools on different stages of their life cycle”. The taphonomic part of the study was very conclusive. For the first time she manages to reproduce alteration polish from frost/thaw cycles. This one is present on archaeological artefacts and can hinder use-wear good understanding. In 2018 she begins a thesis on the effects of post-depositional phenomena on use-wear. A lot of archaeological artefacts are altered (polishes, patina) because of taphonomic processes. It’s important to be able to understand alteration for a better comprehension of use-wear. Thanks to experimentation and functional analyses, the study aims at improving gravettian sites comprehension and their function.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Antonin TOMASSO
Project
As part of a postdoctoral BeIPD-COFUND incoming fellowship on the «Adoption, abandonment, and revival of a technical innovation. Techno-functional study of twisted blade production during the Upper Paleolithic in Europe» I will perform a research on technical innovations in Prehistory within TraceoLab. The goal is to study the causes and implications of the diversity of blade and bladelet production patterns which are a key aspect of the variability of the Upper Paleolithic in Europe. I will particularly focus on the production of twisted blanks, introduced in Europe at the early beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, which disappears and reappears periodically and in different areas throughout the Upper Paleolithic. Based on a techno-functional approach that includes petrographic, functional and technical analyses, I aim to clarify the meaning of these productions anticipating two possible hypotheses: (1) the twisted character is intentionally sought, or (2) it is a byproduct and a consequence of other technical constraints.
This research project is based on the analysis of a new open-air site « Les Prés Laure » (Var, France) which delivers exceptionally well preserved deposits from the Upper Paleolithic dated around the end of the LGM (about 25 000 – 20,000 BP).