Prof Yossi Zaidner is a Paleolithic archaeologist, head of the Laboratory for the Study of Human Cultural Evolution, and a professor at the Institute of Archaeology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
His research centers on human evolution, ecology, and behavior during the Lower, Middle, and early Upper Paleolithic.
The projects he is directing and collaborating with are rooted into the research of human culture, with an emphasize on the lithic technology, population interactions, origins of modern humans, the early hominins dispersals and the peopling of the Levant and Central Asia.
His major projects include:
- Middle Paleolithic in the Near East: Investigating early Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, and other Middle Pleistocene hominins through excavations at Tinshemet Cave and Nesher Ramla, with a focus on social structure, mobility, and symbolic behavior.
- Central Asian Paleolithic: Exploring human evolution, migration, and population interactions during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic in Tajikistan.
- Oldowan Hominins Outside of Africa: Studying the cultural behavior and environmental context of early Oldowan Toolmakers at Bizat Ruhama as they dispersed from Africa into Eurasia.
His 5 most important scientific contributions:
- Discovery of a Homo sapiens fossil dated to 180,000 years ago at Misliya Cave (published in Science)
- Discovery of Nesher Ramla Homo – a late Middle Pleistocene Homo (published in Science)
- Publication of the first archaeological evidence for interactions between late Middle Pleistocene Homo and Homo sapiens (published in Science)
- Study of interactions between archaic and modern human populations in the Middle Paleolithic, based on excavations at Tinshemet Cave (published in Nature Human Behavior)
- Identification and study of the first Oldowan site in the Levant at Bizat Ruhama, Israel (published as a book)