Vangelis Tourloukis

University of Tuebingen | EKU Tübingen · Group of Prehistory & Archaeology Science

The project involves excavations and radiometric dating at two open-air sites in Epirus, NW Greece, and aims to test specific hypotheses that have been suggested to explain the Palaeolithic human geography of the area. The sites would have been located at the shores of small, ephemeral lakes that most likely provided good opportunities for big game hunting, as well as a range of other valuable resources, such as water, edible plants and flint for the making of stone-tools. Our research investigates the role of those sites in the regional settlement network and examines how this role and function might have been changing according to the fluctuations of the climate or the changes in human culture. The project includes geoarchaeological analyses of site formation processes, palaeoenvironmental studies and lithic analysis.

To help develop a chronological and paleoenvironmental framework for the paleolithic of Greece and re assess the human fossil record from the region.

Led by Alexandros Karakostis, this project focuses on providing interdisciplinary evidence of the relationship between physical activity and entheseal morphology. This includes research involving the novel "Validated Entheses-based Reconstruction of Activity" (V.E.R.A.) method (developed in 2016 by Fotios Alexandros Karakostis).