Associate Professor in the academic field BIOS-03/B – Anthropology, he conducts research in the field of Palaeolithic archaeology. His research focuses on reconstructing the evolution of the technological behaviours of hunter-gatherer societies in Eurasia from the Middle Pleistocene to the Holocene. His current research addresses the repopulation of Central Europe during the last glacial cycle (MIS 5–MIS 2), the extinction of Neanderthal populations, and the expansion of early Homo sapiens.
He is the Principal Investigator of the project “Investigating cultural and biological scenarios of late Neanderthals and Homo sapiens in Poland – POOL”, funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research within the 2022–2023 Italian Science Fund programme.
Together with Dr Manuel Vaquero, he co-directs the archaeological excavations at Abric de la Consagració (Capellades, Spain), funded by the Department of Culture of the Government of Catalonia within the project “Territoris prehistòrics de la Conca del Riu Anoia”.
Together with Dr Damian Stefański and Dr Jarosław Wilczyński, he co-directs the archaeological excavations at Mamutowa Cave, funded by the POOL project.
Together with Dr Damian Stefański and Dr Magda Kowal, he co-directs the archaeological excavations at Ciemna Cave, funded by the POOL project.
In 2023, together with Dr Damian Stefański, he co-directed the archaeological excavations at Mamutowa Cave and the Kraków-Zwierzyniec open-air site (Kraków, Poland), funded by the Leakey Foundation (Los Angeles, USA).
He directed the project “STONE – Spread and Technology of Neanderthals in Periglacial Environment” (2021–2023), funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG, grant no. 429271700; Bonn, Germany).
He collaborated on the project “DYNASTY – Neanderthals’ dynamic pathway and resilience in Central Europe through chronometric sustainability”, funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research through the PRIN 2020 programme (grant no. 20209LLK8S). Principal Investigators: Prof. Sahra Talamo and Prof. Giovanni Muttoni.
He collaborated on the project “Competition, co-evolution and commensalism: the use of karst environments by humans and carnivores during the Middle Palaeolithic”, funded by the Department of Culture of the Government of Catalonia (Barcelona, Spain). Principal Investigator: Dr Jordi Rosell.
He is responsible for the lithic collections from Teixoneres Cave (Moià, Spain).
EDUCATION
He graduated in Archaeology in 2005 and obtained his PhD in Quaternary Science and Prehistory from Rovira i Virgili University (Tarragona, Spain) in 2014.
ACADEMIC CAREER
01/2022–09/2022 Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Prehistoric and Early Historic Archaeology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Jena, Germany)
12/2021–10/2022 Associate Researcher, Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig, Germany)
04/2015–09/2022 Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Prehistoric and Early Historic Archaeology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Jena, Germany)
04/2019–11/2021 Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig, Germany)
04/2017–12/2018 Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (Jena, Germany)
10/2014–09/2016 Humboldt Research Fellow, Department of Prehistoric and Early Historic Archaeology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Jena, Germany)
01/2011–12/2013 Fuhlrott Research Fellow, Neanderthal Museum Foundation (Mettmann, Germany)
TEACHING ACTIVITIES
He currently teaches “Palaeolithic Archaeology” in the Master’s Degree Programme in Archaeology and Cultures of the Ancient World, “Palaeolithic and Neolithic Archaeology” in the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Cultural Heritage, and “Reading the Past: Principles of Paleolithic Archaeology and Radiocarbon” in the international Master’s Degree Programme in Science for the Conservation-Restoration of Cultural Heritage at the University of Bologna.
He is also the scientific coordinator of the “Lithic Technology Laboratory” for the Master’s Degree Programme in Archaeology and Cultures of the Ancient World.
