The PEOPLE project includes a core team at the Archéosciences Bordeaux (UMR 6034) Université Bordeaux Montaigne in France, 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), Damvlei (Later Stone Age), Lombards Drift (Late Pleistocene/Holocene), and currently directs excavations at Baden-Baden 2 (Middle Stone Age). His research is aimed at reconstructing site formation processes and palaeoenvironments 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.
After a year of teaching at the University of Aix-Marseille from 2022 to 2023 (ATER), in 2024 he joined the CENIEH (Spain) as postdoctoral researcher in the PEOPLE team. Since 2025 he is postdoctoral researcher CNRS at Archéosciences Bordeaux. Dr. Longet's research focuses on the phenomenon of the regionalisation of technical traditions during the South African Middle Stone Age at the beginning of the Upper Pleistocene.