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MAHSA
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Middle Stone Age Hunter-Gatherers at the Highlands of Southwest Angola explores how early human communities lived, moved and adapted to changing environments in one of Africa’s least studied prehistoric regions. Southwestern Angola preserves a rich archaeological record, including caves, rock shelters and open-air sites containing stone tools, animal remains and sediments that document human activity over thousands of years.
The project focuses on the Humpata Highlands, where reliable water sources, wildlife and stone suitable for toolmaking may have supported hunter-gatherer populations during periods of major climatic change. By combining archaeological excavation, the study of stone tools and fossils, geological analysis, microscopic research and radiometric dating, the project investigates when these communities occupied the region, how they used the landscape and how their ways of life changed through time.
Historical documents and archaeological collections held at the University of Lisbon are also being reassessed and connected with new field research in Angola. This work will help reconstruct the original contexts of objects collected during earlier expeditions and make this heritage more accessible.
Developed in cooperation with Angolan institutions, students and local communities, the project also promotes scientific training, heritage conservation and public engagement. Its wider aim is to restore the memory of Angola’s ancient hunter-gatherer populations and highlight the importance of southwestern Africa in the broader history of human evolution.
Gruta da Leba
More information on Fieldwork: www.uniarq.net/paleoleba.html
COLLABORATIONS
Museu de História Natural e da Ciência, Universidade de Lisboa
Universidade Mandume Ya Ndemufayo, Angola
Instituto Nacional do Património Cultural, Angola
Museu Regional da Huíla, Angola
Museu Nacional de História Natural de Angola
Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Universidade de Tübingen
Museu Nacional de História Natural de França
CERENA, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa
Max Planck Institute Leipzig, Alemanha
Museu de História Natural Americano, EUA
Universidade Mandume Ya Ndemufayo, Angola
Instituto Nacional do Património Cultural, Angola
Museu Regional da Huíla, Angola
Museu Nacional de História Natural de Angola
Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Universidade de Tübingen
Museu Nacional de História Natural de França
CERENA, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa
Max Planck Institute Leipzig, Alemanha
Museu de História Natural Americano, EUA
FUNDING BODIES
Foundation for Science and Technology, PT: “Middle Stone Age hunter-gatherers at the escarpment of Southwest Angola” (2023.08165.CEECIND)
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Wenner-Gren Foundation, USA: “The early Middle Stone Age in the Northern Namib Desert” (Gr. 10852)
PARTNERSHIPS
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