The Sahara Desert is known as a harsh, unforgiving landscape that is inhospitable to most forms of life, but recent research suggests that the Sahara cycles through different climates, and was greener and more vegetated in the past than it is today. Ancient Saharan rock art depicts a variety of animals that are now extinct,…
Dan Lieberman, an executive officer of the ASPR and the organization’s treasurer, recently led an analysis of the Paleo diet using evidence from contemporary hunter-gatherer populations. The Paleo diet, which has become increasingly popular in the last few decades, recommends calorie ranges of 19-35% protein, 22-40% carbohydrates, and 28-47% fat, while also prohibiting dairy, grains,…
The Tao River Archaeology Project (TRAP), the result of a collaborative effort between the Gansu Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Peking University, and Harvard University, and led by ASPR director Rowan Flad, began in 2011 and continued until 2019. During its first two years, TRAP investigated 531 Neolithic and Bronze-Age sites in the Tao River valley,…
Amy Clark, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University and a member of the ASPR’s Program Board, is conducting research at the sites of Bizmoune Cave and Jorf el Hamam in Morocco. Large-scale investigation at Bizmoune cave began in 2014, and the research team have since recovered the earliest evidence of beads (made from marine…
