15th Congress of the PanAfrican AAP

Sonja Tomasso, member of our lab, is co-organizing a session with Giulio Lucarini (University of Cambridge) at the 15th Congress of PanAfrican Archaeological Association for Prehistory & Related Studies (PANAF).

Thematic session T-0023: Africa under the microscope: what’s the future for techno-functional analysis?

Over the last several decades, the application of different methodological approaches such as technological, functional & experimental studies has become pivotal to archaeological research. The combination of these different approaches is particularly important for a better understanding of a tool’s biography, since it can yield significant new information about the nature of the artefact and the way it was originally manufactured, used and modified. Their application to reliable archaeological assemblages may also held adress issues relating to evolutionaly processes, subsistance strategies and human behavioural change. In Africa the potential of technological and fuctional analyses has become well known and is a fundamental step in the design of numerous archaeological projects and when addressing specific research questions.