Abel MOCLÁN RAMOS
Postdoctoral researcher
Main research question
As a zooarchaeologist, I focus my research on understanding the subsistence strategies of hominins during the Pleistocene. Thus, I am interested in aspects such as the animal resource acquisition strategies of Pleistocene hunter-gatherers or their level of competition with carnivores.
Topics of study
My primary focus is the analysis of the subsistence strategies of Middle Palaeolithic groups in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle and Upper Pleistocene. However, I also study the behaviour of early Homo in East Africa to understand the origins of distinctly human subsistence behaviour. Other areas of interest include the application of experimental archaeology and artificial intelligence to address taphonomic issues.
Fieldworks
I collaborate on various archaeological research projects that include 1) the analysis of the origins of human behaviour in East Africa (Olduvai Gorge), 2) the coexistence of technoculturally distinct groups during the Middle Pleistocene in the Iberian Peninsula, i.e., Torralba and Ambrona (Soria) and Cuesta de la Bajada (Teruel), as well as 3) the subsistence and symbolic behaviour of Neanderthals in central Iberia (Pinilla del Valle, Madrid).
Other connections
Associate researcher of the Institute of Evolution in Africa (IDEA), University of Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
Contact
- Build. B35 – 3rd floor, north wing – Room 406
- abel.moclan.ramos@univ-poitiers.fr
- https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Abel-Moclan
Iconic publications
Moclán A., Domínguez-Rodrigo M., Huguet R., Pizarro-Monzo M., Arsuaga J.L., Pérez-González A., Baquedano E., 2024 – Deep learning identification of anthropogenic modifications on a carnivore remain suggests use of hyena pelts by Neanderthals in the Navalmaíllo rock shelter (Pinilla del Valle, Spain) – Quaternary Science Reviews 329, 108560 – https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108560
Baquedano E., Arsuaga J.L., Pérez-González A., Laplana C., Márquez B., Huguet R., Gómez-Soler S., Villaescusa L., Galindo-Pellicena M.Á., Rodríguez L., García-González R., Ortega M.-C., Martín-Perea D.M., Ortega A.I., Hernández-Vivanco L., Ruiz-Liso G., Gómez-Hernanz J., Alonso-Martín J.I., Abrunhosa A., Moclán A., Casado A.I., Vegara-Riquelme M., Álvarez-Fernández A., Domínguez-García Á.C., Álvarez-Lao D.J., García N., Sevilla P., Blain H.-A., Ruiz-Zapata B., Gil-García M.J., Álvarez-Vena A., Sanz T., Quam R., Higham T., 2023 – A symbolic Neanderthal accumulation of large herbivore crania – Nature Human Behaviour 7, 342–352 – https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01503-7
Moclán A., Cobo-Sánchez L., Domínguez-Rodrigo M., Méndez-Quintas E., Rubio-Jara S., Panera J., Pérez-González A., Santonja M., 2023a – Spatial analysis of an Early Middle Palaeolithic kill/butchering site: the case of the Cuesta de la Bajada (Teruel, Spain) – Archaeological and Anthropological Science 15, 91 – https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01792-7
Moclán A., Domínguez-García Á.C., Stoetzel E., Cucchi T., Sevilla P., Laplana C., 2023b – Machine Learning interspecific identification of mouse first lower molars (genus Mus Linnaeus, 1758) and application to fossil remains from the Estrecho Cave (Spain) – Quaternary Science Reviews 299, 107877 – https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107877
Organista-Labrado E., Moclán A., Aramendi J., Cobo-Sánchez L., Egeland C.P., Uribelarrea D., Martín-Perea D., Vegara-Riquelme M., Hernández-Vivanco L., Gidna A., Mabula A., Baquedano E., Domínguez-Rodrigo M., 2023 – A taphonomic analysis of PTK (Bed I, Olduvai Gorge) and its bearing on the interpretation of the dietary and eco-spatial behaviors of early humans – Quaternary Science Reviews 300, 107913 – https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107913
Moclán A., Huguet R., Márquez B., Laplana C., Galindo-Pellicena M.Á., García N., Blain H.-A., Álvarez-Lao D.J., Arsuaga J.L., Pérez-González A., Baquedano E., 2021 – A neanderthal hunting camp in the central system of the Iberian Peninsula: A zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of the Navalmaíllo Rock Shelter (Pinilla del Valle, Spain) – Quaternary Science Reviews 269, 107142 – https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107142
Moclán A., Domínguez-Rodrigo M., Yravedra J., 2019. – Classifying agency in bone breakage: an experimental analysis of fracture planes to differentiate between hominin and carnivore dynamic and static loading using machine learning (ML) algorithms – Archaeological and Anthropological Science 11, 4663–4680 – https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00815-6