Recipient Dr Evan Hill, Queens University, Belfast
Date 01 October, 2017
Amount £1593
Summary Recent excavations of layers 135,000 to 115,000 years old in the Haua Fteah cave, Libya, have produced an estimated 10,000 shells of land, freshwater and sea shells, clams and tusk shells.

This project will investigate how the early modern humans, who left this material in the cave, were using the animals for food; it will also investigate whether they were using the shells to make beads and tools, the latter being an important indicator of the behavioural complexity of early Homo Sapiens in North Africa.

Click here to read a project research report