Reevaluating the Early Upper Paleolithic Sequence at Ksâr ‘Akil, Lebanon (Layers XX-XIB)

Last updated on Aug 12, 2025
Photo from Falcucci & Kuhn (accepted) Journal of Human Evolution

Research Objectives

  • Examine the lithic assemblages from layers XX-XIB, excavated during the 1947–1948 Boston College excavation at Ksâr ‘Akil, currently housed at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.
  • Quantify technological variability across the stratigraphic sequence and refine our understanding of the site’s chrono-cultural development through core reduction sequence analysis, attribute analysis, and 3D modeling.
  • Investigate the techno-typological diversity of the Early Ahmarian and explore its potential connections to the European Protoaurignacian, a relationship that has yet to be tested.
  • Develop an Open Access repository featuring 3D models and attribute data.

Research Collaborator

  • Prof. Steven L. Kuhn (Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona).

Research Stays

  • March-June 2023: Research stay at the Department of Anthropology, Harvard University (Boston, USA).
  • September-October 2024: Research stay at the Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona (Tucson, USA).

Funding

  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Bonn, Germany)
  • Reinhard-Frank-Stiftung (Hamburg, Germany)
Ahmarian Open Science
Armando Falcucci
Armando Falcucci
Lecturer in Palaeolithic Archaeology

I am a Lecturer in Palaeolithic Archaeology at the University of Southampton (CAHO). My research investigates the interplay between technological evolution, mobility, and human-climate interactions across Europe, the Levant, and southern Africa. Using a combination of traditional and computational methods, I explore cultural transmission and demic spread during the MIS3.