About the event
Since the first dispersals out of Africa beginning after 2 million years ago, there has been a coevolutionary relationship between landscapes and hominins.
Archaeologists have known that the loess (dust) plateaus of Central Asia have been hotspots of hominin settlement and dispersal corridors for decades, but only recently have developed tools to date and understand past behaviours.
The project Timing and Ecology of Human Occupation of Central Asia (THOCA) seeks to better constrain the Lower Palaeolithic through early pastoral settlement of southern Tajikistan within a robust environmental framework.
We are developing microanalytical tools to provide deep insights into how hominins sculpted ecologies as reflected in the build-up of fine dust over 1 million years.
By comparing the light stable isotopes, organic biomarkers and sedimentary DNA from soils in on-site, near-site and off-site contexts, we are gaining better understandings of the evolution of landscape responses to human predation and subsistence.
Such efforts are critical to establish an ecological baseline for future climate and human settlement regimes.
About David K. Wright
David K. Wright is a professor at the Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo.
He is an environmental archaeologist specializing in archaeometric dating and ecological reconstructions of human-made environments. His research utilizes scientific tools to address important questions pertaining to the co-evolution of humans and terrestrial and atmospheric systems.
He seeks to develop deeper understandings of the human past through analyzing connections between earth’s spheres (lithosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, etc.) and the influence humans exert on sculpting earth’s ecological systems.