FROM PRIMATE ARCHAEOLOGY TO HUMAN EVOLUTION

JIA 2011, *4th Archaeological Meeting for Early Career Researchers:
*[IV Jornadas de Jovens em Investigação Arqueológica]

CALL FOR PAPERS AND POSTERS FOR SESSION 8:
"FROM PRIMATE ARCHAEOLOGY TO HUMAN EVOLUTION"

The 4th Archaeological Meeting for Early Career Researchers will be held in Faro, in the South of Portugal on May 2011 (11th - 14th). This is a rare opportunity to be amongst early career researchers (participation restricted to non PhD´s), to discuss the latest state of the art of our fields of research, but also to initiate future collaborations or projects. We would like to invite early career researchers to submit oral or poster presentations in the broad topic of session 8.

Session Abstract: The prehistory of human origins and evolution can be portrayed as a shifting puzzle, remarkably fascinating, but far from completely solved. In the challenging goal of reconstructing our evolutionary past, recent fossil and archaeological discoveries, as well as the introduction of new tools of research, have played a major role. In the last decade, increasing interaction of inter-disciplinary studies has developed. The search for answers to some of the most complex questions concerning our evolution and material culture has been the main focus. Thus, Paleoanthropology, Genetics, Primatology, Archaeology, Ecology, Ethology, are linked and currently are being explored by young researchers, with innovative approaches. This session aims to promote the need for bridging different disciplines, in order to understand further Human Evolution, with a particular focus on the recent "Primate Archaeology" manifesto (Nature, 2009). Studies focusing on the elementary technology and material culture of non-human primates will serve as the bases to discuss the implications of using non-human primates as models to elucidate the earliest technologies in Africa.

Session Coordinator: Susana Carvalho (Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, U. Cambridge, U.K; CIAS - Centre of Research in Anthropology and Health and GEEvH - Group of Studies in Human Evolution, U. Coimbra, Portugal).

Details for submission of presentations: (8-9) Oral and (3) poster presentations will be held in this session. Oral presentations are limited to 15 minutes (+ 5: discussion). If you wish to have either a poster or oral presentation considered for inclusion, you must submit an abstract to session8@jia2011.com (and to scr50@cam.ac.uk) before March 10th. Abstracts must not exceed 250 words of text, 4 key-words (max.) and should indicate the name, title, institutional affiliation, mailing and email address of all authors. Please consider the nature of the material you wish to present and on this basis decide whether a poster or oral presentation will be most effective.

Registration opens on Feb 1st; please go to www.jia2011.com for further information.

Many thanks,
Susana Carvalho