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Current field research

The contribution of Northwest Africa to the cultural origins of modern humans: Archaeological excavations at Jorf el Hamam, southwest Morocco

  • Map with location of Jorf el Hamam along the southern coast of Morocco

    Map of site location

    Jorf el Hamam and Bizmoune Cave (a nearby site with similar age deposits) are located north of the Moroccan city of Essaouira

  • Excavations at Jorf el Hamam

    Excavations at Jorf el Hamam

    Test excavations in November of 2019 unearthed artifacts characteristic of the Middle and Late Stone Age

  • Backed bladelet

    Backed bladelet

    Backed bladelets, like this one excavated at the site, are characteristic of the Iberomaurusian technocomplex (Later Stone Age).

My current field research is focused on the Middle Stone Age in Morocco. In November 2019, in collaboration with Dr. Jalil Bouzouggar (Institut National des Sciences de l'Archéologie et du Patrimoine, Rabat, Morocco), I conducted test excavations at the site of Jorf el Hamam along the southern Atlantic coast in Morocco. We found artifacts diagnostic of the Middle and Later Stone Age in well stratified deposits.

We returned in the summer of 2022, expanding and connecting several of the test units we opened in 2019. We found many more artifacts characteristic of the Middle Stone Age, and a few from the Later Stone Age. We also found a line of cemented hearths towards the back of the shelter. We are still in the midst of analyzing the artifacts and dating the deposits but we are very encouraged by the outcome of this field season. 

This research is funded by the Leakey Foundation, the American School of Prehistoric Research, and the National Institute of Archaeology and Heritage Science (Rabat, Morocco).

Evolution of the home

A home can take many forms, indoor and outdoor, permenent and ephemeral, but its importance, both as a physical space, and as a concept, is uncontested. The home is sometime that is intimately linked to being human. It is something that evolved with us, that shaped us as a species, yet we have an incomplete understanding of how it came to be. A major part of my current research is centered around the home, its transformation over time, and its role in human evolution. This project integrates much of my previous research on intrasite spatial patterning and site use. 

I have recently been awarded a Hunt Fellowship from the Wenner Gren foundation to provide support while I work on a book focused on the evolution of the home. A link to my sucessful proposal can be found here. A paper on this subject was also recently published in the Journal of Human Evolution (find it here).