Archaeology PhD student Tanner Kovach was recently awarded a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant titled Investigating the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition in the southern Caucasus. Tanner will investigate how technological strategies changed between the Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic, and what these differences can tell us about cultural transmission between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. Specifically, this research will investigate the transition from Middle Paleolithic to Upper Paleolithic technologies at the site of Ortvale Klde in the Georgian Republic, as well as the Middle and Upper Paleolithic sites to the south in the Republic of Armenia. By combining the stone tool data generated by this project with genetic, geoarchaeological, and paleoclimate data, this project will greatly improve our understanding of this important period in human evolution.

Congratulations, Tanner!