Workshop on Dating, Isotopes & Human Evolution (Brisbane, 2019)
25-27 September 2019
Host institution
Griffith University, Australia
Organising Committee
Mathieu Duval (Chair), Rainer Grün, Holly Smith, David McGahan
Short description
In recent years, the application of micro-analytical techniques on human fossils have seen dramatic changes in our understanding of ancient humans and their environment. Direct dating has led to important revisions of the chronology of human evolution, for example, by establishing the oldest modern human at Irhoud (~ 300 ka), the earliest modern human out of Africa (Misliya at ~ 170 ka) and the ages of enigmatic fossils such as Homo naledi and Homo floresiensis. In situ isotope studies on Neanderthal teeth have also revealed insights into migration, seasonality, weaning and lead poisoning.
From 25 to 27 September 2019, the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE) at Griffith University, Brisbane, hosted a three-day international Workshop on dating, isotope studies and human evolution (DIHE). The aim of this interdisciplinary workshop was to bring together internationally recognised specialists from a wide range of scientific fields to exchange results and ideas from their work relating, to a greater or lesser extent, to human evolution. The Workshop specifically aimed at encouraging scientific discussions around unsolved questions in the various disciplines and to explore new avenues for future research.
A total of 42 oral presentations divided into 10 sessions were given by researchers from Australia (>70%), Ireland, Germany, China, France, South Africa, USA, Japan and Spain. The meeting was also an opportunity to celebrate Prof. R. Grün’s significant contribution to the field of Quaternary Sciences, and especially in Geochronology and Geochemistry. On the second day of the event (26/09), Katerina Douka, then Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Germany, gave a public IMPACT Lecture “When Neanderthals, Denisovans and modern humans met; What dating can tell us about human evolution”. Finally, the Workshop ended with a Panel Discussion about “The future of Archaeological sciences”, moderated by Rob Bruce.
Contact
Mathieu Duval, CENIEH, Spain
