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Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins

Left Handers Day & Lefties: how can we identify handedness (or hand preference)?

Today is (apparently) International Left Handers Day.... There are few lefties among the Archaeology staff... Prof Jon Adams (our UG admissions tutor) for one - he is usually recognizable when diving as the only left handed underwater archaeologist (just see the films of the excavation and lifting of the Mary Rose). More famously (?) Leonardo da Vinci was a leftie. So why is this? Population-level right-handedness is a defining characteristic of being human. Continue reading →

Postcard from South Africa #4

Today we make the long drive from the border down to the south of Kruger and sadly neither Clare nor I are able to share in the driving so it is all on poor Johan, but he is very laid back about it all. As you’ll expect from me by now, the prospect of a long drive across South Africa is something I am looking forward to. But first a real treat. A bush walk with Brigitta who showed us Koaxa’s Shelter yesterday. Continue reading →

Clive Gamble interviewed by Matt Pope on BBC Radio Four

Clive Gamble was interviewed by Matt Pope for the BBC Radio Four "History of Ideas". Matt is a member of the AHRC Project: Crossing the Threshold: Dynamic transformation in human societies of the Late Middle Pleistocene project. The audio is available on the BBC Radio Four website. It was broadcast on Friday 30 Jan 2015. Clive's section begins at around 2 minutes 40s in, where he talks about the evolutionary trade off between larger brains and smaller intestines. Continue reading →

Postcard #4 from the CAHO trip to France

Sadly we didn’t get into Font-de-Gaume, the beautiful painted cave at one end of the village of Les Eyzies. They limit the numbers in order to protect the paintings, and we couldn’t really argue with that. So it was over to Cap Blanc and the amazing sculpted frieze of horses dated to the Magdalenian. Some thirteen metres of white limestone wall have been sculpted into a magnificent procession of horses. Continue reading →

Postcard #3 from the CAHO trip to France – John McNabb

This morning we visited the famous site of La Ferrassie. Like Le Moustier, it is one of those names to conjour with, it takes you back to undergraduate essays and assignment deadlines just made by the skin of your teeth. New work is going on there at the moment under a joint French and American team. They certainly have their work cut-out for them as they try to get to grips with conflicting stratigraphies and a sequence that is meters deep – actually sounds like great fun. Continue reading →

Postcard from France

  This year's C.A.H.O. Palaeolithic field trip to France, with the Captain William S. Davies (C.A.H.O.'s new director!!) at the helm. Today was our first full day in France. We caught the boat from Portsmouth yesterday for a mid-afternoon sailing and were in Caen by late evening. An early start (ish) saw us on the road heading southwards for north central France. Continue reading →

Palaeolithic Fieldtrip to France by Dr John McNabb – Postcard #1

 This year’s CAHO Palaeolithic field trip to France, with the Captain William S. Davies (CAHO’s new director!!) at the helm. Today was our first full day in France. We caught the boat from Portsmouth yesterday for a mid-afternoon sailing and were in Caen by late evening. An early start (ish) saw us on the road heading southwards for north central France. Continue reading →

Update from Tanzania by Dr. John McNabb: A postcard from Africa 4

Sadly this is my last postcard from Africa. We had a quiet weekend reading and discussing various plans for the future. Today (Monday 5th) on the other hand was a busy one. Pastory, James and I had a productive meeting this morning with colleagues and collaborators from the National Museum. @JamesColeArch with a Large LCT at the National Museum in Dar. This afternoon was another memorable one. Continue reading →