Center of Excellence

Archaeology Research Sub-Group

Ms. Nira Alperson-Afil

Projects and Research interest

• The Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov: multidisciplinary research project based on excavations carried out in 1989-1997 (directed by Prof. N. Goren-Inbar).
• Paleo-routes; Acheulian land use from an ecological perspective (with Prof. N. Goren-Inbar and Dr. S. Ashkenazi).
• Construction of database of all Acheulian sites and find spots in Israel (with Prof. N. Goren-Inbar).
• Acheulian cultural diffusion: application of ecological niche modelling to anthropological issues, with a test case of the spatial distribution of the Acheulian landscape in the Levant (with Prof. N. Goren-Inbar and GARP, University of Kansas, Lawrence).

Publications:

Alperson, N., Barzilai, O., Dag, D., Hartman, G. and Matskevich, Z. 2000. The age and context of the Tabun I skeleton: A reply to Schwarcz et al. Journal of Human Evolution 38: 849-853.

Alperson, N. and Garfinkel, Y. 2002. The Flint Knapping Industry. In: Garfinkel, Y. and Miller, M. A. (eds.) Sha‘ar Hagolan 1: Neolithic Art in Context, pp. 146-175. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Goren-Inbar, N., Alperson, N., Kislev, M. E., Simchoni, O., Melamed, Y., Ben-Nun, A. and Werker, E. 2004. Evidence of hominin control of fire at Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov, Israel. Science 304: 725-727.

Alperson-Afil, N. and Hovers, E. 2005. Differential use of space in the Neandertal site of Amud Cave, Israel. Euroasian Prehistory 3 (1):3-22.

Alperson-Afil, N. and N. Goren-Inbar. 2006. Out of Africa and into Eurasia with controlled use of fire: evidence from Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel. Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 4 (28):63-78.

Alperson-Afil, N., Richter, D., and Goren-Inbar, N. 2007. Phantom hearths and the use of fire at Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov, Israel. Paleoanthropology 1:1-15. http://www.paleoanthro.org/journal/content/PA20070001.pdf