About Us

OSA represents a diverse group of researchers who have been working together for a number of years mainly on Neandertal sites in southwest France but also on penicontemporaneous sites in north Africa (Morocco and Egypt) and in east Africa (Ethiopia). Broadly our goal has been to better understand the evolution of hominin behavior through the excavation of archaeological sites using a comparable set of standards and methodologies. This work has resulted in a data set coming from ten sites (caves, rockshelters, and open-air) and over 140 different stratigraphic contexts. New excavations by students who trained with us are expanding this data set still further.

On this web site we also host pages put together by Anta Montet-White to published additional data from her excavations in France and Bosnia. If you have Paleolithic material that you would like to host here, please contact us.

Methods, Data, and Other Resources

Over the years we have emphasized the use of technology to make excavation and analysis more efficient and effective. We have published many of these efforts, and we have shared our software freely in part to encourage the development of standards.

Several data sets from excavations that are finished and published are available here (including data from Montet-White's excavations). When we finish the publication of Pech de L'Aze IV, it will be the next database to go on-line.

More information on OSA projects can be found at our FaceBook and Academia.edu pages.