There has been much recent discussion on the nature of 'behavioural modernity': how can it be defined? How can archaeologists recognise it? When, where, how and why did it develop? And is it, in case, a useful concept for us to apply to the archaeological record of Homo sapiens and contemporary species? There is no question about the success of our species in colonising new environments in the late Pleistocene: we colonised the globe at a time of profound, often abrupt, climatic change which saw the demise of Neanderthals, Denisovans and Homo floresiensis. What behaviours and strategies were involved in these dispersals? These questions have been investigated in two inter-disciplinary field projects, re-excavations of famous caves excavated over 50 years ago, both of which have yielded early fossils of Homo sapiens: Niah Great Cave in the rainforest zone of Sarawak, northern Borneo, and the Haua Fteah on the semi-arid coast of Libya in North Africa. What can we learn of the behaviours developed by early Homo sapiens for living in these very different environment, and for adapting to climate-induced changes to those environments, and how does that contribute to the big debates about the global dispersal of a 'behaviourally modern' species?

For further information contact: Duncan.Wright@anu.edu.au or Jack.Fenner@anu.edu.au