The UP-NORTH project is an ERC funded research project (running from 2014-2019) that studies the Late Upper / Final Palaeolithic and Early Mesolithic "Colonisation and cultural diversification in unfamiliar landscapes". The project is applying a range of techniques (radiocarbon dating, aDNA analysis, stable isotope analysis etc.) to
1) better constrain the timing, direction and rate of human popu
lation movement/cultural change,
2) further explore the ecology and behaviour of the prey humans hunted
3) provide a better climatic and environmental context for this time period. The area UP-NORTH looks at comprises northwestern Europe, i.e. everything north of approximately the Loire, the Alps, and the northern Carpathians. The studied time period spans from the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (c. 20,000 BP) to the Early Holocene (c. 10,000 BP). Obviously, a single team cannot cover this area and provide in-depth archaeological analyses of sites. Therefore, we work together with many project collaborators across northern Europe who are assisting us with accessing samples, providing specialist archaeological knowledge of sites, certain regions and archaeological cultures.
