Daniel Adler

I have been a student of Archaeology since 1989 and a director of Palaeolithic archaeological excavations in Eurasia since 1995. My knowledge of Palaeolithic Archaeology has been gained through study and research at the University of Connecticut, the Forschungsinstitut für Vor- und Frühgeschichte in Neuwied, Germany, the Institute für Ur- und Frühgeschichte at the Universität Tübingen, Germany, and Harvard University. Experiences at these institutions fostered my interests in human behavioral ecology, human evolution, lithic technology, zooarchaeology, chronometric dating, Neanderthal-modern human interactions, and the factors contributing to the demise of the Neanderthals.

In 1992, I began Palaeolithic research in Europe, the Middle East, and the Caucasus, and between 1995–2006 I co-directed four interdisciplinary research projects in the Georgian Republic: Akhalkalaki, Ortvale Klde, the Mashavera Gorge Palaeolithic Project, and the Pinavera site. Each project focused on the documentation and dating of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sites and the testing of various hominin behavioral hypotheses.

Since 2008, I have been engaged in Palaeolithic research in Armenia, specifically within and surrounding the Hrazdan Gorge. Through a combination of survey and excavation my interdisciplinary research team has identified and conducted excavations at a variety of new Palaeolithic localities. Our efforts have focused on Nor Geghi 1 and Lusakert Cave, sites that document hominin activities in the region during the late Middle Pleistocene and the Upper Pleistocene, respectively.

Excavations at these and other sites in Armenia are conducted in tandem with an archaeological field school run through UConn’s Office of Study Abroad and supported by UConn’s Norian Armenian Programs Committee and external sources.