Abrigo de la Boja is a rock-shelter located in Rambla Perea, a tributary of the Mula Basin, in Murcia SE Spain. The site displays a succession of human occupations from late Mousterian to the Magdalenian, which include the practical totality of the Upper Paleolithic technocomplexes identified in Southern Iberia. Abrigo de la Boja yielded a rich assemblage of lithic-tools and ornamental items from the Upper Paleolithic. Ashes and hearths show a pristine preservation, which allowed for a detailed analysis of the fire technology during the Upper Paleolithic. The radiocarbon dates obtained from the Mousterian layer are essential to understand the late Neanderthal survival in Southern Iberia. The excavation at the site has been led by Prof. Joao Zilhao, and ALMA's role in the excavation includes phytolith and FTIR analysis.

El Salt and Abric del Pastor are two Middle Paleolithic sites located in Alcoi, Spain. The Middle Paleolithic sedimentary sequence at El Salt has provided dates between 60 and 45 ka BP, placing the Neanderthal occupations of El Salt during MIS 3, whereas the dates for El Pastor indicate an older occupation around MIS4-5. Both sites yielded abundant lithic-tools and faunal remains and they show well-preserved evidence for Neanderthal use of fire. Researchers from La Universidad de la Laguna are currently excavating the site. Support from the European Research Council has been granted to Dr. Carolina Mallol to study charred organic micro-remains. ALMA is contributing to the understanding of these two sites by carrying out the phytoliths and the FTIR analyses.

Pech IV is a classic Middle Paleolithic cave site in the Dordogne region in France. The site was initially excavated by F. Bordes in the 1970s and re-excavated by Dibble and McPherron, from 2000-2003. The sequence of the site ranges from around 95 ka to 50 ka BP. Level 8 dated, around 95 ka BP, is the lowermost level and it is characterized by the abundance of lithic, faunal, and fire remains. This level is currently under the study of a multidisciplinary team funded by the NSF that aims to identify fire use variability among Neanderthals. The project will develop a high-precision excavation technique by removing blocks from the site and excavating them within a laboratory environment. ALMA participates in this project analyzing the phytoliths assemblages from the excavated hearths.

To understand the demise of the Neanderthals and the arrival of Modern Humans into Iberia the Lagar Velho Rock shelter is a key site. The site has a sequence of several meters of sedimentation spanning at least 10,000 years. The minimum dates suggesting human activities in the site are around 35 ka cal B.P., but a basal level with faunal remains might be an indication for an unexplored Mousterian layer. The site is well-known by the 29 Ka cal BP Gravettian child burial. By the time it was discovered, the physical characteristics of the child were interpreted as the result of a Neanderthal and Modern Human admixture. The intense debate that followed the discovery of these remains was somehow forgotten until recent aDNA confirmed that Neanderthals and Modern Humans interbreed in the past. Whether or not the Lapedo child is a result of this admixture does not change the fact that archaeological remains at the Lagar Velho rock shelter have a pristine state of preservation. ALMA will collaborate in the new excavations at Lagar Velho by providing the scientific back up for the Prehistoric Fire Technology at the site and studying the microscopic remains of human activities.

The site of Tell es-Safi/Gath is multilayered site located in Israel that is well-known by its impressive Bronze and Iron Age remains. According to the biblical text, the city of Gath was the hometown of Goliath and a non-Semitic name inscribed in a sherd relates to this story. Tell es-Safi/Gath was one of the most remarkable cities during the Philistine period, and the long occupation history of the site allows to study changes in the evolution of urban entities.

Currently, ALMA is part of an ISF funded project directed by Prof. Aren Maeir to study the lower city of Gath. Most of the excavations to the date have been carried out in the Upper City, but in the recent years, the discovery of Iron I urban remains north to the Upper City has changed completely the perception of how a Philistine city developed. This study will shed light on social, economic and functional differences between different parts of the site (upper/lower city; areas within lower city) and has implications to understand how this city related to their closest neighbors, and of urban, architectural and fortification traditions evolved during from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age.

Dr. Cabanes is currently accepting applications for Ph.D. graduate students that would like to focus research on the study of phytoliths assemblages and other microremains at Tell es-Safi/Gath. See the “Research Opportunities” page for further information.