Aug 01 - Programme Of Events For Calpe Conference 2016
The Calpe 2016 Conference will be held at the University of Gibraltar from the 29th September to the 1st October 2016. The programme offers scope for a varied audience, ranging in subject matter from Pleistocene humans to life in Gibraltar in the 19th Century.
It is divided into three days: one discusses general topics, another focuses on case studies of humans in South America and the third on the Gibraltar Neanderthals, this being the first time since World Heritage inscription that an overview of results from the Gorham’s cave Complex will be presented. Registration is free to local residents.
In the last half-a-million years two human lineages – Neanderthals and Modern Humans - appear to have occupied large areas of the Old World. The Neanderthals were confined to Eurasia but Modern Humans, originating in Africa, were the first to colonise Australia and the Americas. During this long course of occupation and geographical expansion, Neanderthals and Modern Humans interacted with their environment in subtle and sophisticated ways that we are only beginning to understand now. These interactions were not unidirectional and were not limited to simple responses to climate and environment. For example, recent evidence from Gibraltar has revealed that Neanderthal camp fires were already a source of chemical pollution inside the caves in which they lived 40,000 years ago.
In spite of this early evidence, studies of human impact on the environment, and most recently on climate, have tended to focus with Modern Human population growth associated with the development of sedentary, often agricultural, societies. Recent studies show a greater appreciation of the onset of human impact on their environment, apparently predating sedentary life. When humans started to modify their surroundings and act as agents of change will be a major theme of this conference.
Case studies focusing on recent work in Pleistocene Europe and Holocene South America will give focus to the questions to be discussed. For instance, papers will examine the relationship between humans and water supplies, from the seasonal responses of Neanderthals living in semi-arid environments in Europe to the construction of complex hydraulic architecture by Holocene humans in South America.
For further information and registration please contact the Calpe Conference registration desk at 200 74289 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
For the full programme of events, see below:
Past Worlds
Neanderthal and Modern Human response to climate and environment change
Day 1
Thursday 29th September, 2016 General Topics
0900: Official Opening
0930: Inaugural Lecture
Arturo Morales
Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain
Fish and the archaeological record: an overview of some persistent paradigms
1030: Coffee
1100: Lecture 1
Charly French
University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Chronicling the resilience of alluviated valley systems in wet/dry transitions: Case studies from the Ica valley of Peru, the Kerio valley of Tot in northern Kenya and Aksum/Konso in Ethiopia
1200: Lecture 2
Dan Sandweiss
University of Maine, United States
El Niño in Ancient Peru
1300: Lunch
1500: Lecture 3
Luis Borrero
IMHICIHU, CONICET, Argentina
Homo sapiens and the Holocene colonization of the Patagonian Andes
1600: Tea
1630: Lecture 4
Larry Sawchuk
University of Toronto, Canada
Water Harvesting and Adaptive Strategies for Coping with Climate Change: The Gibraltar Experience
1730: Lecture 5
Jacques Blondel
CNRS, France
Eco-cultural niche modelling: a Malthusian-Darwinian trajectory of civilization in the Mediterranean
1830: Discussion
Day 2
Friday 30th September, 2016 Neanderthals in Pleistocene Europe
0930: Lecture 6 Joaquin Rodríguez Vidal Universidad de Huelva, Spain
The Neanderthal occupation of Gibraltar: 1 - The temporal context
1030: Coffee
1100: Lecture 7
Richard Jennings
Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom
The Neanderthal occupation of Gibraltar: 2 - The spatial context
1200: Lecture 8
Geraldine Finlayson
The Gibraltar Museum and University of Gibraltar, Gibraltar
Neanderthals in the landscape – ecological patterns in a Mediterranean Serengeti
1300: Lunch
1500: Lecture 9
Darren Fa
University of Gibraltar, Gibraltar
Did Neanderthals overexploit intertidal resources?
1600: Tea
1630: Lecture 10
Clive Finlayson1,2 and Stewart Finlayson1,3
1The Gibraltar Museum
2The University of Gibraltar, Gibraltar
3Anglia Ruskin University, United Kingdom
Neanderthals in the cave – passive onlookers or agents of environmental change?
1730: Lecture 11 Jacques Jaubert Université de Bordeaux, France Neanderthals deep in the cave
1830: Discussion
Day 3
Saturday 1st October, 2016
Modern Humans in Holocene South America
0930: Lecture 12
David Beresford-Jones
University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Lomas Fog Oasis as a Barometer of Past ENSO Changes and their Role in Shaping Preceramic Hunter-Gatherer Ecology on the South Coast of Peru
1030: Coffee
1100: Lecture 13
Bert Rein
University of Mainz, Germany
El Nino variability in Peru during the last 130 kyrs
1200: Lecture 14
Matthieu Carré
Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution de Montpellier, France
Holocene changes on the Pacific Ocean coast and El Niño activity: the setting of the rise of Andean civilizations
1300: Lunch
1500: Lecture 15
Bertil Mächtle
University of Heidelberg, Germany
Human response to environmental change In Andean South America - results from Peru: the joint- projects "Nasca" and "ANDEAN transect"
1600: Tea
1630: Lecture 16
Kevin Lane
CONICET, Instituto de Arqueología, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina Environment, Mobility and Herding: A Political Ecology of South American camelid pastoralism
1730: Discussion
1800: Closing Lecture
Miguel Araujo
Museo de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain Does Biodiversity Have a Future?
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