The PEOPLE project includes a core team at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH) in Spain, and an extended team whose members are located in South Africa, Germany, and the USA.
Core team
Dr. Toffolo’s work focuses on the evolution of Homo sapiens in southern Africa during the Middle and Late Pleistocene from a geoarchaeological perspective. He directed excavations in South Africa at Lovedale (Middle Stone Age) and Damvlei (Later Stone Age), and currently directs excavations at Florisbad, Lombards Drift, and Baden Baden 2 together with Dr. Lloyd Rossouw (National Museum Bloemfontein). His research is aimed at reconstructing site formation processes and paleoenvironments based on the study of the microscopic archaeological record, to understand the dispersal and adaptation strategies of the first H. sapiens in the interior of South Africa. In addition, he conducts basic research on the physico-chemical properties of calcium carbonate to develop new analytical methods in the study of prehistoric pyrotechnology.