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Tübingen Prize for Quaternary Archaeology goes to US researcher Dr. Britt Marie Starkovich

An outstanding thesis analyses the changing diet of Neanderthals in the Middle and Upper Paleolithic

Dr. Britt Marie Starkovich

Tübingen’s prestigious Prize for Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology goes to Dr. Britt Marie Starkovich of the University of Arizona’s School of Anthropology in recognition of her work on animal bones from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic, with which she demonstrates the changing diet of Neanderthals and early modern humans. The prize, sponsored by the German drinks company EiszeitQuell, is in its 14th year and – at €5000 – is the most valuable of its kind for young archaeologists.

Dr. Britt Marie Starkovich (b. 1981) submitted her thesis in 2011 at the University of Arizona. Her thesis, “Trends in Subsistence from the Middle Paleolithic through Mesolithic at Klissoura Cave 1 (Peleponnese, Greece)” focuses on animal bones found at Klissoura Cave 1 in the northeast Peloponnes peninsula in Greece. The site is extremely valuable because it has preserved consecutive layers from the time of the Neanderthals right up to the start of the post-glacial period. This is almost unique in Greece, and yielded useful finds from the time 80,000 to 10,000 years ago.

In those approximately 70,000 years, Neanderthalers were supplanted by anatomically modern humans, and there were many climatic and environmental changes. The cave was used by hominins for much of that time, and the finds it yields provide information on how Neanderthalers and early humans altered their food-gathering strategies, and the different ways in which they used the cave.

Contact:

Prof. Nicholas J. Conard Ph.D.
University of Tübingen
Science Faculty
Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology
Phone +49 7071 29-76457
nicholas.conard[at]uni-tuebingen.de

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen

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