Dr. Kumar Akhilesh*
Corresponding PI
Dr. Kumar Akhilesh currently holds the position of Director, Sharma Centre for Heritage Education (SCHE), India. He completed his Ph.D. on the prehistory of parts of Jharkhand, North India, from the Deccan College Post-graduate and Research Institute, Pune, under the guidance of Professor V.N. Misra, Director, Deccan College, and has worked independently at Upper Palaeolithic and microlithic sites in this region. His area of expertise is in the field of prehistoric archaeology with a special focus on lithic studies and experimental stone tool replication. He is jointly directing major research projects in Tamil Nadu, as part of the program “Prehistory and Palaeoenvironments along the southeast coast of India” involving multidisciplinary studies, excavations at Attirampakkam, Sendrayanpalayam and neighbouring Palaeolithic sites, microlithic Teri sites and other prehistoric sites in southern and central Tamil Nadu. He has numerous research papers in peer-reviewed high-impact factor journals including both Science and Nature including those as lead author or corresponding author, and is currently working on 3 volumes on research in Tamil Nadu. He was awarded the Homi Bhabha Fellowship (2014-2016) for a project entitled ‘Experimental Archaeology in Investigating Prehistoric Behaviour: Case Studies from the Site of Attirampakkam, India’, and was also trained at CENIEH, Spain for microwear analysis and new technologies in lithic studies. In collaboration with the Regional Remote Sensing Centre-South, NRSA, he was involved in GIS and applications of satellite remote sensing for research and heritage management of prehistoric sites in Tamil Nadu. He is a member of several archaeological associations in India and on the board of two Indian/International journals. He has presented his research at conferences and workshops in India, France, Korea, Sri Lanka, Australia and Israel. He is deeply involved in community heritage education and has organized workshops and training programs on prehistory in Chennai, Mahabalipuram, Walajapet, Udaipur, Bhopal, Nagaland, Mysore, Delhi, and abroad (Sri Lanka, S.Korea). He was also honorary consultant to the State Department of Archaeology, Tamil Nadu and presented papers for the Planning Commission meetings, Government of Tamil Nadu, India.
5 selected most relevant publications:
[1] Akhilesh, K., P. Bose, S. Bhattacharya, P. Joshi, S. Paranthamam, R. Sivanantham, K. Bakialakshmi, K. Rajan and Shanti Pappu. 2022. Celts, Slabs, and Space: Organisation of Lithic Reduction Strategies in Tamil Nadu, Journal of Anthropological Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 68, 2022,
[2] Akhilesh, Kumar, Shanti Pappu, Haresh M. Rajapara, Yanni Gunnell, Anil D. Shukla and Ashok K. Singhvi 2018. Early Middle Palaeolithic Culture in India around 385-172 ka reframes Out of Africa models, Nature 554, 97-102. doi:10.1038/nature25444.
[3] Kumar Akhilesh and Shanti Pappu. 2015. Bits and pieces: Lithic waste products as indicators of Acheulean behaviour at Attirampakkam, India, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 4 (2015) 226–241.
[4] Pappu, Shanti, Yanni Gunnell, Kumar Akhilesh, Régis Braucher, Maurice Taieb, François Demory, Nicolas Thouveny, 2011, Early Pleistocene Presence of Acheulian Hominins in South India, Science, 331(6024):1596-1599.
[5] Pappu, Shanti and Kumar Akhilesh, 2019. Tools, Time and Trails: Debating Acheulian group size at Attirampakkam, India, Journal of Human Evolution, 130 (2019) 109-125.
Professor Yanni Gunnell
Yanni Gunnell is Professor of Physical Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Lyon, France. He is also an acting chair of the 2017–2028 nationwide Graduate Schools of Excellence implementation programme (Ecoles Universitaires de Recherche), Direction Générale des Programmes d’Investissement de l’Etat, Agence Nationale de la Recherche (Paris, France). He has a PhD in Geomorphology (1996) (Thesis title: Long-term evolution of the Western Ghats and Deccan Plateau, India: relief, biophysical gradients, and human adaptations), from univ. Blaise-Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand (summa cum laude). He studies the archives of environmental change and the timescales of continental denudation and material transfer across continental landscapes. His multidisciplinary focus on geochronology and landscape evolution scenarios adopts a comparative approach (which mainly deals with the erosion rates from catchment to continent; sediments from source to sink; landscape evolution at nested time scales; ecosystem and fluvial system response to natural and human disturbance; feedbacks between tectonics, continental erosion, and climate; geoarchaeology; landscape ecology; environmental studies; sustainability science; political ecology; and epistemology), which ranges from cratonic environments to mountain belts and covers different climatic settings. He has worked in parts of India, Africa, Brazil, Peru, North America, Oman, Madagascar and Europe, and has published widely in peer-reviewed journals that cover geomorphology, Quaternary geology, geodynamics, geoarchaeology, environmental history, and the social sciences.
He has been Subject Editor for journals such as the Journal of the Geological Society (London), Lithosphere, and Land, and has edited a number of books and journal special issues for Springer, Elsevier, Cambridge University Press, and the Geological Society of India. He has received many awards such as Chevalier des Palmes académiques (2016); Geographical Society of Paris medalist (2010) for textbook Ecologie et Societé (publ. 2009, Armand Colin Publ., Paris); Ministry allocated bonus for scientific achievements (continuously since 2004);Institut Universitaire de France (2002–2007), Junior medalist.
5 selected most relevant publications:
[1] Akhilesh, K., Pappu, S., Rajapara, H., Gunnell, Y., Shukla, A.D., Singhvi, A.K. (2018). Early Middle Palaeolithic culture in India around 385–172 ka reframes Out of Africa models. Nature, 554, 97–101;
[2] Premathilake, R., Akhilesh, K.,Anupama, K., Prasad, S., Gunnell, Y., Orukaimani, G., Pappu, S. (2022). Issues of phytolith taphonomy at Palaeolithic sites:Investigation and results from Attirampakkam, India. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 42, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103357;
[3] Shanmugasundaram, J., Gunnell, Y., Lee, E., Hessl, A. (2017). Societal response to monsoon variability in Medieval South India: lessons from the past for adapting to climate change. The Anthropocene Review, 4, 1–26;
[4] Durand, N., Hamelin, B., Deschamps, P., Gunnell, Y., Curmi, P. (2016). Systematics of U Th disequilibria in calcrete profiles: lessons from southwest India. Chemical Geology, 446, 54 69;
[5] Pappu, S. Gunnell, Y., Akhilesh, K., Braucher, R., Taieb, M., Demory, F., Thouveny, N. (2011). Early Pleistocene presence of Acheulian hominins in South India. Science, 331, 1596–1599.
Dr. Mohamed Sahnouni
Mohamed Sahnouni is currently Research Professor and Coordinator of the Archaeology Program at the National Center for Research on Human Evolution (CENIEH) (Burgos, Spain). He received doctoral degrees in Quaternary Geology from the University Pierre & Marie Curie (Paris, France) and in Anthropology from Indiana University Bloomington (Indiana, USA). His academic and research interests include Paleoanthropology with focus on early hominid technological and subsistence behavior in relation to Paleoecology. He was faculty member at the University of Algiers (Algeria), University Rovira I Virgili (Tarragona, Spain), and Indiana University (Bloomington, USA). Sahnouni is currently directing paleoanthropological research projects in Africa involving a multidisciplinary international team of scientists to investigate: 1) the timing and character of earliest human occupation in North Africa; and 2)Homo erectus behavior and adaptation in arid environment. He is also collaborating with Indian colleagues to investigate early human dispersal in the Indian Subcontinent. In addition, he has been involved in major European Science Heritage projects including the European Research Infrastructure project for Heritage Sciences (E-RIHS) and European Digital Archaeology (ARIADNEplus). He is the recipient of numerous academic scholarships and research grants awarded by renowned international institutions such as National Science Foundation (Washington, USA), The Leakey Foundation (San Francisco, USA); Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (New York, USA); Indiana University (Bloomington, USA);National Geographic (Washington, USA); European Research Council (Brussels, Belgium); Ministry of Science and Innovation (Madrid, Spain) and the Palarq Foundation (Barcelona, Spain). He extensively published his research in high impact journals including Science, Journal of Human Evolution, Journal of Archaeological Science, Quaternary Science Reviews, Geobios, French Academy of Sciences, L’Anthropologie, Palevol, etc. It is relevant to underline that Professor M. Sahnouni led the discovery at Ain Boucherit of lithic tools dated 2.44 and 1.92 million years ago, which are the oldest in North Africa and are second in the world after those of the Gona site in Ethiopia. Given its global impact and relevance in world archaeological studies, the discovery was announced in the prestigious American journal Science and received worldwide media coverage.
5 selected most relevant publications:
[1] Sahnouni M., Parés J.M., Duval M., Cáceres I., Harichane Z., Van der Made J., Pérez González A., Abdessadok S., Kandi N., Derradji A., Medig M., Boulaghraif K. 1.9-2.4 million-year-old artefacts and stone tool cutmarked bones from Ain Boucherit, Algeria. Science, 2018, 362:1297-1301. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau0008
[2] Sahnouni M., J. van der Made, M. Everett. Ecological background to Plio-Pleistocene hominin occupation in North Africa: The vertebrate faunas from Ain Boucherit, Ain Hanech and El-Kherba, and paleosol stable carbon isotope studies from El-Kherba, Algeria. Quaternary Science Reviews, 2011, 30 (11-12): 1303-1317.
[3] Sahnouni M., D. Hadjouis, Derradji A., A. Canals, J. Ver der Made, M. Medig, H. Belahrech, Z. Harichane, & M. Rabhi. Further research at the Oldowan site of Ain Hanech, northeastern Algeria. Journal of Human Evolution, 2002, 43: 925-937.
[4] Sahnouni M., J. de Heinzelin. The site of Ain Hanech revisited: New investigations at this Lower Pleistocene archaeological site in northeastern Algeria. Journal of Archaeological Science, 1998, 25 (11): 1083-1101.
[5] Duval M., Sahnouni M., Parés J.M., Van der Made J., Abdessadok S., Harichane Z., Chelli Cheheb R., Boulaghraif K., Pérez-González A. The Plio-Pleistocene sequence of Oued Boucherit (Algeria): A unique chronologically constrained archaeological and palaeontological record in North Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107106
Prof. Sileshi Semaw
Dr Sileshi Semaw is the Co-Director of the Gona Project, Afar Ethiopia, and a Senior Research Scientist at CENIEH, Spain. He has a PhD (1997) in Anthropology, from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA. He has completed M.A. (1989) in Anthropology, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA and B.A. (1982) in History, Department of History, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. From 1997-2023, he has published with the Gona research team (as a lead and co-author) numerous articles in peer-reviewed science journals including Nature, Science, Science Advances, and PNAS; and in prominent science journals including the Journal of Human Evolution, Journal of Archaeological Science, Geological Society of America Bulletin, Earth and Planetary Sciences, American Journal of Biological Anthropology, etc. he has co-edited a book and co-authored numerous chapters in several edited volumes including Springer, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and Chicago University Press. With the Gona Project Co-Director and the Gona archaeology team, they have excavated numerous Oldowan, Acheulian, and younger Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene sites. Gona preserves fossil-rich materials dated from 6.3 Ma up to the Holocene (~7,000 yrs ago), and archaeological materials from the earliest Oldowan dated to 2.6 Ma up to the Holocene (~7,000 yrs ago). The Oldowan and Acheulian, and associated fauna and hominins have been published extensively. The Gona hominin publications are based on materials excavated from deposits that have yielded crucial information within key time intervals (6.3 Ma, 4.5 Ma, and 1.5-1.0 Ma), and they are currently analyzing further new discoveries made within the younger deposits. In order to disseminate the Gona discoveries, he has delivered the talks (and invited lectures) at numerous international meetings including at the Paleoanthropology Society Annual Meetings, East African Association of Palaeoanthropology and Paleontology (EAAPP), the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA), European Society for the Study of Human Evolution (ESHE), etc. The talks were delivered at fora held in Africa (Ethiopia, Algeria, Kenya, Morocco, Chad), Europe (Spain, Austria, France,Italy), USA, Canada, Japan, Georgia, China.
5 selected most relevant publications:
[1] 2020 Semaw, S., Rogers, M.J., Simpson, S.W., Levin, N., Quade, J., Dunbar, N, McIntosh, W. Caceres, I, Stinchcomb, G.E., Holloway, R.L., Brown, F.H., Butler, R., Stout, D., and Everett, M. Co-occurrence of Acheulian and Oldowan artifacts with Homo erectus cranial fossils from Gona, Afar, Ethiopia. Science Advances, 6, 10. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw4694
[2] 2018 Semaw, S., Rogers, M.J., Caceres, I., Stout, S., Leiss, A. The Early Acheulian ~1.6-1.2 Ma from Gona, Ethiopia. In R. Gallotti, M. Mussi (Eds.), The Emergence of the Acheulean in East Africa and Beyond: contributions in honor of Jean Chavaillon, Springer, pp.115-128.
[3] 2005 Semaw, S., Simpson, S.W., Quade, J., Renne, P.R., Butler, R.F., et al. Early Pliocene Hominids from Gona, Ethiopia. Nature, 433:301-305.
[4] 2000 Semaw, S. The World’s oldest stone artifacts from Gona, Ethiopia: Their implications for understanding stone technology and patterns of human evolution between 2.6-2.5 million years ago. Journal of Archaeological Science, 27:1197-1214.
[5] 1997 Semaw, S., Renne, P., Harris, J.W.K., Feibel, C., Bernor, R., Fesseha, N. and Mowbray, K. 2. 5 million-year-old Stone tools from Gona, Ethiopia. Nature, 385:333 338.
Dr. Anupama Krishnamurthy
Dr. K. Anupama is a Palynologist and Palaeoecologist at the French Institute of Pondicherry, Puducherry. Since more than 30 years she has been carrying out research in the fields of Palaeovegetation reconstruction, Pollination Ecology and Aerobiology employing pollen grains and phytoliths as key tools. She has guided/co-guided several doctoral and Masters Students on various aspects of Quaternary Palynology, melisso – & entomo - palynology and in diverse topics linked to palynology. She has been actively involved with Humans and Biosphere Commission of INQUA and is a member of PAGES Landcover6K Working group.
5 selected most relevant publications:
[1] Managave, S., Huang, Y., Sutra, J.P., Anupama, K. and Prasad, S., 2023. Holocene precipitation hydrogen isotopic values on Nilgiri Plateau (southern India) suggest a combined effect of precipitation amount and transport paths. The Holocene.
[2] Jean Lazar, Srinivasan Prasad, Doris Barboni, Lipi Das, Vadivelu Kumaresan & Krish namurthy Anupama (2023) Diversity matters: Diet of Apis cerana in Southeast India includes one consistently occurring and several seasonally available floral sources, Palynology, DOI: 10.1080/01916122.2023.2255990
[3] Zorzi, C., Desprat, S., Clément, C., Thirumalai, K., Oliviera, D., Anupama, K., Prasad, S. and Martinez, P., 2022.When Eastern India Oscillated Between Desert Versus Savannah‐Dominated p.e2022GL099417. Vegetation. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(16),
[4] Premathilake, R., Akhilesh, K., Anupama, K., Prasad, S., Gunnell, Y., Orukaimani, G. and Pappu, S., 2022. Issues of phytolith taphonomy at Palaeolithic sites: Investigation and results from Attirampakkam, India. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 42, p.103357.
[5] Tripathi, S., Srivastava, J., Garg, A., Khan, S., Farooqui, A., Quamar, M.F., Thakur, B., Ranhotra, P.S Basumatary, S.K., Trivedi, A. and Pandey, S., 2022. Surface pollen quantification and floristic survey at Shaheed Chandra Shekhar Azad (SCSA) Bird Sanctuary, Central Ganga Plain, India: a pilot study for the palaeoecological implications. Journal of Palaeosciences, 71(2), pp.159-176
Dr.Doris Barboni
Dr Doris Barboni studies the pollen grains and biogenic silica bodies (phytoliths) as micro-botanical markers to reconstruct past vegetation associated to early hominins of the Pliocene and Pleistocene of Central and East Africa. She is interested in understanding of the interactions between plants, vegetation, and climate in the tropics, and in the potentials and limitations of plant micro-fossils to reproduce the vegetation composition and structure, and/or characteristics of the environment and climate. For the past 5 years, she has been working with her colleagues to develop an automated approach to pollen identification using machine learning, with applications that go beyond paleoecology. She is currently a head of Department of Ecology, French Institute of Pondicherry, India. She is also a Scientist at CNRS, France (from 01/2003 to present). She completed her Post-doctorate from the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, (MPI-BGC, Germany) (01/2001 – 12/2002) under the supervision of Sandy P. Harrison and Colin I. Prentice. She has a PhD (2000) in Geoscience, University Aix-Marseille III, (France) and French Institute of Pondicherry (India) (Thesis : “Pollen signal and monsoon climate of South India”. Supervisor: R. Bonnefille).
She is a Board member of the CNRS national committee for Section 30 (2021-2025); the Groupement de Recherche RIFT (since 2020) – section Natural Ressources and of the International Phytolith Society. She has been awarded many grants such as PI CNRS-INSU project: RAMDAM (Adaptive Responses of African Mammals to the MIS M2 Climate Episode); Co-PI - ANR Project HADoC (Human Ancestors Dispersal: the role of Climate, 2018-2021); Participation in 6 national (ANR, Region) and international (PHC, NSF) projects: ANR OLD (PI A. Delagnes,2017-2020), Mission OGRE (PI J-R. Boisserie, 2007- present), Mission TOPPP (PI M. Dominguez-Rodrigo,Univ. Alcalá, since 2009), DSDP-HSPDP (PI A. Cohen, Univ. Arizona, 2015-2020).
Selected most relevant publications:
[1] Mussi M., Mendez-Quintas E., Barboni D., et al. 2023. A surge in obsidian exploitation more than 1.2 million years ago at Simbiro III (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia). Nature Ecology & Evolution
[2] Gibert, C., Vignoles, A., Contoux, C., Banks, W.E., Barboni, D., et al., 2022. Climate inferred distribution estimates of mid-to-late Pliocene hominins. Global and Planetary Change 210, 103756.
[3] Saylor B., L. Gibert, A. Deino, M. Alene, N. E. Levin, S. M. Melillo, M. D. Peaple, S. J. Feakins, B. Bourel**, D.Barboni, A. Novello, F. Sylvestre, S. A. Mertzman & Y. Haile-Selassie, 2019. Age and context of new mid-Pliocene hominin cranium from Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia. Nature 573 (7773), 220–224
[4] Barboni, D. et al., 2019. Springs, palm groves, and the record of early hominins in Africa. Review of palaeobotany and palynology 266: 23-41.
[5] Novello A.*, D. Barboni,et al. 2017. Phytoliths indicate a significant arboreal cover (>40%) at Sahelanthropus type locality TM266 in northern Chad and a decrease in later sites. Journal of Human Evolution, 106 : 66-83.
[6] WoldeGabriel, G., Ambrose, S.H., Barboni, D., Bonnefille, R., Bremond, L., Currie, B., DeGusta, D., Hart, W.K., Murray, A.M., Renne, P.R., Jolly-Saad, M.C., Stewart, K.M. & White, T.D. 2009. The Geological, Isotopic, Botanical, Invertebrate, and Lower Vertebrate Surroundings of Ardipithecus ramidus. Science 326,vol 5949
She also has illustrated book for children: Taieb M., Barboni D., Gambini C., 2022. Il était une fois Lucy, Illustrated story.
Coll. Sciences humaines. Odile Jacob. 56p.
Dr. Vandana Prasad
Dr. Vandana Prasad is the former Director of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, India. Her research experience lies in the field of pollen morphology, Pollen-stigma interaction and Reproductive biology of some oil yielding taxa. Subsequently she contributed significantly in earth sciences in particular Cretaceous-Palaeogene palynology and evolutionary biogeography, Quaternary Paleoclimatic studies. She has 54 publications. As Director of the BSIP, she was responsible for multiple scientific and administrative aspects of heading a national research laboratory. She received the Anna Mani Award for women scientist 2021, she is a Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, 2022, member of the Research, Development and Co-ordination Committee (RDCC) from 2013-2017 and as Convenor RDCC from January 2018, the Nominee is involved in planning and execution of Institute activities related to ongoing research and planning of future goals. She has organised numerous conclaves and meetings and has received awards/fellowships. Her research led to the discovery of the oldest evidence of grass evolution from India and established earliest evidence for rice-based agriculture in central Ganga plains since about 8300 cal yrs BP.
5 selected most relevant publications:
[1] Prasad, V., Stromberg, C.A.E., Alimohammadian, H, Sahni, A. 2005. Dinosaur coprolites and the early evolution of Grasses and Grazers. Science, 310:1177-1180. Impact factor: 34.661
[2] Prasad, V., Farooqui, A., Sharma, A., Phartiyal, B., Chakraborty, S., Bhandari, S., Rachna Raj., Singh, A. 2014.Mid–late Holocene monsoonal variations from mainland Gujarat, India: A multi-proxy study for evaluating climate culture relationship. Paleogeogr.Paleoclmatol.Paleoclimatol. 397, 38-51
[3] Prasad, V, Strömberg, C.A.E., Leaché, A.D., Samant, B., Patnaik, R., Tang, L., Mohabey, D.M., Ge, S. and Sahni, A. 2011. Late Cretaceous origin of the rice tribe provides evidence for early diversification in Poaceae, Nat. Commun., 2:480 doi: 10.1038/ncomms1482.
[4] Saxena, A., Prasad, V., Singh, I.B., Chauhan, M. S. and Hasan, R 2006 On the Holocene record of phytoliths of wild and cultivated rice from Ganga Plain: evidence for rice-based Agriculture, Curr. Sci. 90: 1547-1552.
[5] Singh V, Prasad V, & Chakraborty, S 2007. Phytolith as indicator of monsoonal variability during mid-late Holocene in Mainland Gujarat, western India, Curr. Sci. 92: 1754-1759
Dr. Razika Chelli Cheheb
Razika Chelli is a young researcher at the National Center for Prehistoric, Anthropological and Historical Investigations (CNRPAH, Algeria). In 2018, she received her doctoral degree in Quaternary and Prehistory from the University UNIFE of Ferrara (Italy). Her academic and research interests include Paleontology and zooarchaeology exploring early hominid subsistence behavior with emphasis on Taphonomy, Coevolution hominids Carnivores and adaptation to Paleoecology. Currently, she is directing a research project on Taphonomy and Zooarchaeology under the leadership Professor M. Sahnouni to investigate the subsistence behavior and adaptation of the Homo Genius in North Africa (Oldowan sites of Ain Hanech, El-Kherba, Ain Boucherit, and the hominid Acheulean site of Tighennif). Dr. Chelli is author and co-author of articles indexed in JCR (Journal Citation Reports, such as The science of Nature, Azania, Neues Jahrbuch fur Geologie und Paleontologie Abhandlungen, Journal of Human Evolution, Frontiers in Earth Science, Quaternary Science Reviews, etc.). Other publications include chapters in edited books, conference proceedings and articles in non SCI journals. She is also engaged in teaching Zooarchaeology and Taphonomy at the University of Algiers 2 (Algeria). In addition, she has been member and assessor in committees of a number of PhDs and Master’ theses pertaining to Quaternary Sciences and Prehistoric Archaeology. It is important to point out that R. Chelli actively collaborates with Professor M. Sahnouni inmajor research projects investigating the oldest human occupation in North Africa: i) Ain Boucherit and Ain Hanech sites (Algeria) dated to 2.44-1.8 million years ago, and ii) Homo erectus behavior and adaptation in arid environment through fieldwork and laboratory analyses at the Acheulean site of Tighennif (formerly Ternifine) (Algeria) dated to 1.2-1.0 million years ago.
Selected most relevant publications:
[1] Chelli Cheheb R., Arzarello M., Arnaud J., Berto C., Cáceres I., Caracausi S., Colopi F.,Daffara S., Montanari Canini G., Huguet R., Karambatsou T., Sala B., Zambaldi M., Berruti L. F. Human behaviour and Homo-mammals interaction at the first European peopling: newevidences from the Pirro Nord 13 site (Apricena, southern Italy). The Science of Nature, 2019,106 (5-6): 1432-1904.
[2] Chelli Cheheb R., Merzoug S. The Aterian site of Phacochères (northern Algeria): a zooarchaeological perspective. Azania: Archaeological research in Africa, 2023, 58 (1): 1-29.
[3] Cáceres I., Chelli Cheheb R., Van der Made J., Harichane Z., Boulaghraif K., Sahnouni M.Assessing the subsistence strategies of the earliest North African inhabitants: Evidence from the Early Pleistocene site of Ain Boucherit (Algeria). Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2023, 15 (87): 2-28.
[4] Duval M., Sahnouni M., Parés J. M., Van der Made J., Abdessadok S., Harichane Z., Chelli Cheheb R., Boulaghraief K., Pérez-Gonzalez A. The Plio-Pleistocene sequence of Oued Boucherit (Algeria): a unique chronologically-constrained archaeological and paleontological record in North Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews, 2021 (271): 107 116.
[5] Merzoug M., Kherbouche F., Sehil N., Chelli R., Hachi S. 2016. Faunal analysis of the Neolithic units from the Gueldaman Cave GLD1 (Akbou , Algeria ) and the shift in sheep / goat husbandry. Quaternary International, 410(A) 1, 1–7
Dr. Prachi Joshi
Dr Prachi Joshi is an archaeologist who is currently working on the research topic: "Geometric-morphometric approaches to the study of Handaxe Variability at Palaeolithic sites in Tamil Nadu" for which she has received the prestigious Homi Bhabha Fellowship. She has completed her PhD from the Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, on the topic entitled, ‘Prehistoric investigation in the Wainganga Basin, Maharashtra: Issues in continuity and change', and was under the guidance of Professor Shanti Pappu and Dr S B Ota. Her research was focused on the behavioural implications of the distribution of Palaeolithic sites and the technological strategies noted during the Acheulian and the Late Palaeolithic phase. In addition to field and laboratory studies, she also participated in numerous conferences (national and international) and published two articles in the international journals like Antiquity and Quaternary International. She has participated in various workshops which are related to her research and they have improved her knowledge of the subject. During the pandemic time, she has organised two conferences. First virtualconference was organised by ECRs for ECRs in Prehistory & Quaternary Sciences in India:Archaeology from Home: Connecting Things and Thoughts. The second conference was also a virtual conference where a series of lectures were organised in Bones and Beyond: Introduction to South Asian Pleistocene Fauna. She had participated in the excavations at important Palaeolithic sites such as Sendrayanpalayam in Tamil Nadu and Dhansi in Madhya Pradesh. She has also worked on Animal Bone Microstructure from Archaeological sites under the guidance of Prof. Vijay Sathe. Her research interests are in the Palaeolithic hominin behaviour, quaternary sciences and geo-n mythology. Currently she is a ECR representer in the HABCOM community of INQUA society.
5 selected most relevant publications:
[1] 2022. Kumar Akhilesh, Paromita Bose, Sutonuka Bhattacharya, Prachi Joshi, S. Paranthaman, R. Sivanantham, K. Bakialakshmi, K. Rajan, Shanti Pappu. Celts, Slabs, and Space: Organisation of lithic reduction strategies in Tamil Nadu, India, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2022.101464
[2] 2021. A note on recent studies of Acheulian assemblages in the Wainganga River basin, India. Quaternary International, Vol. 603, 113-124.
[3] 2020. Bose, P., Bhattacharya, S., Joshi, P., Salunke, M., & Thakar, C. Guest Editorial, Antiquity, Vol. 94 (377), 1125-1132.
[4] 2020. Investigating long-term Palaeolithic occupation and transitions in the Wainganga River Basin, Maharashtra, India. Antiquity Vol. 90(374), 300-322.
[5] 2017. Recent investigations of the early prehistory of the Wainganga River basin, eastern Maharashtra, India. Antiquity Project Gallery, Vol. 91, Issue 357.