Dr Carmen Martín-Ramos

I joined the School of Archaeology and Ancient History of the University of Leicester in September 2024 as a Teaching Fellow in Early Prehistory and Human Evolution. Iam a Palaeolithic archaeologist and Africanist, specialising in Human Evolution, Palaeoanthropology, lithic technology and Geoarchaeology. Before joining the University of Leicester, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research (University of Cambridge) and completed a PhD at the Institute of Archaeology (University College London) and the Earth Sciences Department of the London Natural History Museum.

As a Palaeolithic archaeologist, my research has primarily focused on Oldowan, Acheulean, and Middle Stone Age technocomplexes from East and South Africa, especially at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania). My research is dedicated to understanding human behavioural evolution through the excavation and analysis of lithic assemblages. I often employ a technological approach to assess changes in hominin behaviour and cognitive abilities, with a special interest in field excavation techniques, geoarchaeology, and landscape use.

I am a lithic specialist and a field archaeologist with over fourteen years of practical experience in field excavation and scientific research, being an active member of two ERC-funded projects in East Africa (ERC Advance Grant BICAEHFID, grant agreement ID: 832980; ERC Starting Grant ORACEAF, grant agreement ID: 283366). I have participated in several fieldwork projects in Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Africa, Spain and also worked as a field archaeologist and surveyor in Commercial Archaeology in the UK, at sites ranging from the Lower Palaeolithic to post-Medieval periods.

Aside from my professional experience in Palaeolithic archaeology, I am also a big advocate for mental health and well-being in Academia and like to explore how Prehistory and archaeologists are portrayed in comics, board games and other examples of popular culture.

As a Palaeolithic archaeologist, my research has primarily focused on African Early and Middle Stone Age technocomplexes. My research is dedicated to understanding human behavioural evolution through the excavation and analysis of lithic assemblages. I often employ a technological approach to assess changes in hominin behaviour and cognitive abilities, with a special interest in field excavation techniques, geoarchaeology, and landscape use. Some (but not all) of my main research interests are:

• Human Evolution and Palaeoanthropology
• African and European Stone Age/Palaeolithic lithic industries
• Landscape archaeology and geoarchaeological approaches
• Lithic technology
• Evolutionary Cognitive Archaeology
• Spatial Analysis and 3D modelling

 Past and current research projects and collaborations

• 2022 – 2024 – Site supervisor and collaborator on the project “Rescue excavations at Britain’s earliest Acheulean site, Fordwich”, founded by The Leakey Foundation. Project PIs: Prof. Alastair Key (University of Cambridge, UK) and Dr. Tomos Proffit (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany; ICArEHB, Portugal).

• 2019 – 2020: Site supervisor and collaborator on the ERC-Advanced Grants project “Biogeographic and cultural adaptations of early humans during the first intercontinental dispersals”, (ERC Advance Grant, £2,152,625. (Grant agreement ID: 832980). Project PIs: Prof. Ignacio de la Torre (CSIC, Spain), Prof. Rafael Mora (Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain); Prof Alfonso Benito (CENIEH, Spain).

• 2018 – 2019: Site supervisor and project member of the project “Registros fluviales pleistocenos y ocupaciones paleolíticas en el valle del Guadiana: el yacimiento de Albalá (Ciudad Real)”, founded by Consejería de Educación, Cultura y Deportes de la Junta de Castilla-La Mancha (Spain) and CENIEH (Spain). Project Pis: Prof Alfonso Benito (CENIEH, Spain) and Prof. Ignacio de la Torre (CSIC, Spain).

• 2014 – 2018: Laboratory manager and project member on the project “The Origins of Homo sapiens in the Rift Valley”. Archaeological investigations abroad funding support, Spanish Ministry of Culture, £10,300). Project IPs: Prof Rafael Mora (Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain) and Prof Ignacio de la Torre (University College London).

• 2013 – 2016: Laboratory manager and project member on the ERC-Starting Grants project “The Origins of the Acheulean in East Africa”. ERC-Starting Grant, £1,300,000 (Grant agreement ID: 283366). Project PIs: Prof. Ignacio de la Torre (University College London), Prof. Jackson Njau (University of Indiana), Prof. Lindsay McHenry (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee).

• 2012: Laboratory manager and project collaborator on the project “The origins of Acheulean in East Africa: curation and inventory of the Mary Leakey archaeological collections, Olduvai Gorge and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania”, founded by Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Spain. Project PI: Prof. Ignacio de la Torre (University College London).

• 2010-2012: Field archaeologist and collaborator on the project “Prehistoric population of the Eastern Pyrenees during the Pleistocene and Holocene”, founded by the Archaeology and Paleontology Service of the Council of Catalonia and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. Project IPs: Prof Rafael Mora (Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain).

• 2009: Field archaeologist and collaborator on the project “Restoration and valorisation of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Roman Villa del Casale of Piazza Armerina” (Sicily, Italy), founded by UNESCO and the Italian Ministry of Culture. Project PI: Prof. Patrizio Pensabene (University of Rome, La Sapienza; Rome, Italy).

Module coordinator:

AR1007: Archaeology: The Essentials (CB)

AR2028: Archaeological Survey and Geomatics (CB)

AR255: Being Human: Evolution and Prehistory (DL)

AR2605: Archaeology of Human Evolution (DL)

AR7522: Landscape Archaeology (DL)

Lecturer:

AR1004: Introduction to Word Archaeology BC (CB)

AR1008: Using Archaeological Evidence (CB)

AR2031: Artefact Analysis (CB)

AR3602: Research Bootcamp (DL)

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0335-7940

Scopus Author ID: 57195325103

Bluesky profile: @cmramos.bsky.social

• 2016 - 2021 London Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Doctoral Training Partnership. Research graduate scholarship. £105,000 
• 2016 - 2019 Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) doctoral scholarship (declined because of enrolment in NERC DTP programme). £81,000
• 2011 - 2012 Erasmus year abroad grant, Universidad de Sevilla (University College London, UK). £7500

• Martín-Ramos, C., Key, A and de la Peña (2024). To see forest for the trees. A new approach to the Howiesons Poort chronological controversy through Optimal Linear Estimation. 14^th meeting of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution, Zagreb (Croatia), 11^th-15^th September 2024. Poster communication.
• Martín-Ramos, C. (2024). Assessing hominin cognitive evolution through problem-solution distance modelling. A case study based on Acheulean technology at Olduvai Gorge (Northern Tanzania). 89^th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, New Orleans (USA). Poster communication.
• Martín-Ramos, C. (2023). What comes next? Acheulean Large Cutting Tool production at Olduvai Gorge Beds III-IV, Tanzania. 13^th meeting of the European Society for the Study of Human Evolution, Aarhus (Denmark), 20^th-24^th September 2023. Oral communication.
• Martín-Ramos, C. (2023). 30 years after Leakey and Roe. New analyses on the stone tool record from Olduvai Beds III and IV, Tanzania. Evolutionary Anthropology Research Group Webinar Series, Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology. University of Liverpool, 4^th of May 2023. Oral communication.
• Martín-Ramos, C. (2023). Innovación tecnológica e industria lítica. Nuevos análisis sobre el registro Achelense de los lechos III y IV de Olduvai (Tanzania). Seminario “¿Qué se investiga en nuestro departamento? Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Universidad de Granada, 20^th April 2023. Oral communication.
• Moll, R. and Martín-Ramos, C. (2019). Perspectives on being an archaeologist. Lithic studies and public outreach. 2019 African Research Day. 9^th November 2019, UCL Institute of Archaeology (London, UK). Oral communication.
• Martín Ramos, C. (2018). Lithic technology and hominin cognitive evolution in the Early Acheulean. A pilot study from the EFHR site at Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania). A Changing Planet: the Joint DTP Conference, 10^th-11^th September 2018, Imperial College (London, UK). Conference poster.
• Martin Ramos, C. (2014). Neopeplum en el comic. “300”: La Batalla de las Termópilas según Frank Miller y Lynn Varley. Universidad de Sevilla, Spain (April 2014). Poster communication.
• Martin Ramos, C. (2010). “La Antigüedad en el Imaginario de Frank Miller. El cómic 300”, in the seminar La Antigüedad en la novela histórica y el cómic. Universidad de Sevilla, Spain (May 2010). Oral communication.

• 2016 – 2023: PhD Archaeology

University College London (Institute of Archaeology) and Natural History Museum (Earth Sciences Department)

• 2013 – 2015: MA Archaeological Practice

  Birkbeck College London (Department of History, Classics and Archaeology)

• 2007 – 2012: BA History (Prehistory and Archaeology focus)

Universidad de Sevilla (Facultad de Geografia e Historia)