Michael B. Toffolo 🦥

Connecting survey data with targeted test excavations to understand lithic artefacts in the landscape of the southern Kalahari, Botswana Southern African Middle Stone Age research has largely focused on the region’s coastal caves and rock-shelters, while its semi-arid interior remains under-investigated due to the assumption of limi...

Hot off the press📰: Our new paper "Connecting survey data with targeted test excavations to understand lithic artefacts in the landscape of the southern Kalahari, Botswana" led by PhD student Rowena Winterhalder from @uni-kiel.de 🎉🪨🦣🏺 Read it open access here: doi.org/10.1080/0067... #lithics

📄 New publication: "Archaeological survey of the Modder River dongas, Free State, South Africa" #OpenAccess

The semi-arid grasslands of the Free State Province of South Africa have produced the earliest evidence of the presence of (...)

#Archaeology

https://doi.org/10.36615/safa.20.3540.2025

We are accepting applications for the "James Brink Field School in Pleistocene Archaeology and Palaeontology", to be held at the Florisbad Quaternary Research Station (National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa) from 22 June to 3 July 2026. Deadline: 6 February 2026. #archaeology #palaeontology

Last week we attended the UMSAGA Workshop at Florisbad 🇿🇦, organized in collaboration with Dr Viola Schmid and Dr Will Archer to bring together MSA research in the Free State. It was great to see colleagues and learn about the latest results from Rose Cottage Cave!

Winter time is lab time 👩‍🔬 new plant wax biomarker samples for @people-erc-stg.bsky.social project are currently running on the GC - we try to characterise the past environment at donga sites in 🇿🇦

New methods on the block: Taxonomic identification of archaeological bones in resin-embedded sediments through paleoproteomics Abstract. The integration of biomolecular studies of past organisms with geoarchaeological studies can significantly improve our understanding of the relat

📄 New paper 📣 of @matrixerc.bsky.social & @welkergroup.bsky.social! We show that microstratigraphic-scale #paleoproteomics works in intact sediments - opening new ways to explore ancient ecosystems & hominin behaviour 🌍🦴
@erc.europa.eu @icarehb.bsky.social 🔗 academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

This week we attended #ESHE2025 in Paris 🇨🇵, where we presented results from the Modder and Riet rivers, Baden-Baden 2, and Florisbad. Great to see colleagues and learn about their research!

@archeosciences-bordeaux.fr @cnrsaquitaine.bsky.social @cnrsshs.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu

#ESEHE2025
Mailys Richard ‘A revised chronology for the Middle Pleistocene sedimentary sequence of Florisbad, South Africa’
Prev fossil hom (eSapiens): OSL & ESR- 279-228 ka
NEW OSL, TT-OSL & pIRIR290: range of dates – most likely MIS6
But only if prov of cran in Unit M

Lithic analysis of the north African Middle Stone age from the Rhafas cave sequence Rhafas Cave provides one of the rare dated sequences from MIS 5 in northern Morocco, showcasing a wide variety of lithic industries. Initially discove…

Check out a new article by project member Dr @benoitlonget.bsky.social about the MSA lithic assemblage of Rhafas Cave, Morocco, which is part of his PhD research 👇

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This week we attended #SAfA2025 in Faro 🇵🇹 to present results from Baden-Baden 2 and the Modder River. It was great to meet colleagues who conduct exciting research in Africa!

See you at ESHE in Paris!

@erc.europa.eu @cnrsaquitaine.bsky.social @cnrsshs.bsky.social @archeosciences-bordeaux.fr

And it's a wrap! After 7 weeks of fieldwork filled with discoveries and new encounters, the team has returned to Bordeaux.

See you soon at SAfA 2025 in Portugal!

While part of the team works at the Riet River, Dr Benoit Longet conducts the survey of the Vet River to find new archaeological sites. 🔍

@archeosciences.archaeo.social.ap.brid.gy @cnrsaquitaine.bsky.social @cnrsshs.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu

Sample collection continues on the Riet River terraces! ⛏️

@archeosciences.archaeo.social.ap.brid.gy @cnrsaquitaine.bsky.social @cnrsshs.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu

This week the team started the collection of samples to establish the chronology of the Riet River terraces.
@archeosciences.archaeo.social.ap.brid.gy @cnrsaquitaine.bsky.social @cnrsshs.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu

BREATHE BREATHE aims to contribute a new understanding of cultural and behavioral traits of North African early modern humans through the archaeological record of the central and northern Sahara The project'...

Proudly introduce BREATHE, a project investigating late Quaternary human behavior in the Sahara. Funded by #HorizonEurope - ERA Postdoctoral Fellowships, BREATHE is based at the University of Algarve’s fabulous #ICArEHB and partnered with #Sapienza University of Rome.

This week the team started excavations at a new Acheulean/Fauresmith locality in the Free State together with Dr Darya Presnyakova and Dr Will Archer

@archeosciences.archaeo.social.ap.brid.gy @cnrsaquitaine.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu

Southern African Field Archaeology The semi-arid grasslands of the Free State Province of South Africa have produced the earliest evidence of the presence of Homo sapiens in the subcontinent, together with an extensive Pleistocene pala...

📢New publication on the archaeological survey of the Modder River dongas led by Dr Felipe Cuartero, published in Southern African Field Archaeology. Available in open access👇

doi.org/10.36615/saf...

@archeosciences.archaeo.social.ap.brid.gy @cnrsaquitaine.bsky.social

The team is back at Florisbad for the 2025 season! @archeosciences.archaeo.social.ap.brid.gy

A holocene n-alkane stable isotope record from Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa and its implications for the later stone age record Scientific Reports - A holocene n-alkane stable isotope record from Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa and its implications for the later stone age record

It's finally published! My first #biomarker paper combining sediment n-alkane isotopes closely with cultural changes at #WonderwerkCave 🇿🇦 Fantastic work with @ogratsara.bsky.social from @icarehb.bsky.social as well as co-authors from @uni-kiel.de, @uoft.bsky.social & more. Link: rdcu.be/ejq7j

This site has the oldest haematite pigment in the world, from Fauresmith levels probably half a million years old.

Dance and games offer glimpses of life – and death – in ancient Italy A 2 500-year-old Etruscan tomb in the Italian city of Tarquinia has walls covered in paintings of brightly coloured dancers and musicians. A 1st-century funerary urn of a woman who died in nearby…

🎨 On the #InternationalDayOfMonumentsAndSites we look at an old Etruscan tomb that didn’t just honor the dead but celebrated laughter & life

More from Véronique Dasen @uni-freiburg.de 👉 buff.ly/dXp7tLL

#CulturalHeritage @rogueclassicist.bsky.social

Poster collected and it looks great! All ready for the #HugoObermaier meeting next week at @icarehb.bsky.social 🇵🇹. I am excited to present the first biomarker record at a hominin fossil site in #SouthAfrica 🇿🇦, great collaborative work with the @people-erc-stg.bsky.social team.

📣 #AAC
Dans le cadre de sa politique scientifique, #CNRS Sciences humaines & sociales met l’accent sur les sciences partagées. À cette fin, l’institut lance une 3e campagne de soutien à des dispositifs de soutien.

🗓️ 5 mai 2025

www.inshs.cnrs.fr/fr/dispositi...

Revealed: Big tech’s new datacentres will take water from the world’s driest areas Amazon, Google and Microsoft are building datacentres in water-scarce parts of five continents

www.theguardian.com/environment/... AI always comes with an environmental and human cost.

How can Europe become more competitive? 🌍

Join the debate with scientists including Robbert Dijkgraaf, #Nobel laureate Ben Feringa, industry leaders and policymakers. How can frontier science drive innovation?

🗓️10 April 16.30

Livestream & in-person: europa.eu/!WQn96Y 🇪🇺

#Communiqué 🗞️ Selon un modèle prédictif, les microalgues des tourbières pourraient compenser jusqu’à 14 % des émissions futures de CO2 grâce à la photosynthèse. Un potentiel méconnu qui renforce l'importance de ces écosystèmes pour le climat.🌱

👉 www.cnrs.fr/fr/presse/le...

#EnDirectDesLabos🔎 Nouvelles actualités scientifiques 🔬, création de laboratoires 🧑‍🔬, annonce de prix 🥇... Retrouvez toutes les deux semaines les informations issues des laboratoires du CNRS.

👉 www.cnrs.fr/endirectdesl...

Solar storms ahead

#CNRSnews 📰 Increasing solar flare activity and subsequent solar storms have impacted our planet lately, prompting scientists to focus on the emerging discipline of space weather to help predict these events and prevent failure of sensitive facilities.