The MOVADAPT Project - MOdern human technological Variability in Africa during the last 50,000 years: diffusions, transitions, aDAPtations.

 From their emergence around 300,000 years ago, Homo sapiens developed a wide range of technologies and cultural behaviours which allowed them to spread from Africa into Eurasia and beyond, to overcome global-scale climatic changes and adapt to extreme environments. These are founding qualities of our species, but gaps remain in our understanding of their evolutionary history. Africa is key to understanding the evolution of modern human diversity and adaptive capacity, but little is known about the populations who stayed or came back to Africa after the main dispersals out of Africa. During this timeframe (c. 50,000–1000 years ago), climate was subject to repeated fluctuations. This research project seeks to explore past Homo sapiens adaptability and resilience in eastern and north-eastern Africa during the last 50,000 years. In particular, this project aims to study stone tool (lithic) variability in eastern and northeastern Africa, using cutting-edge methods in the field of lithic analysis in order to understand the main factors driving this variability. In addition, this project will contribute to increase the African archaeological record for this period by conducting new excavations. These data will then be will then be evaluated in relation to the known palaeoenvironmental data to discuss possible links between technological variability, environmental change and regional or macro-regional demographics in eastern and northeastern Africa during the last 50,000 years.