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Francesco d'Errico

{{short description|(b.1957) Italian archaeologist}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}

{{Infobox scientist

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| name = Francesco d'Errico

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| image = Francesco d’Errico in 2010.jpg

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age |df=yes|1957|09|24}}

| birth_place = Foggia, Italy

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| citizenship = Italian

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| fields = Prehistory
Upper Paleolithic art
Middle Paleolithic art

| workplaces = University of Bordeaux

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| education = University of Turin
University of Paris
University of Pisa

| alma_mater = Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle
University of Bordeaux

| thesis_title = L’art Gravé Azilien (Azilian Engraved Art)

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| thesis_year = 1989

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| notable_students = Lucinda Backwell

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| awards = CNRS Silver Medal
Fabio-Frassetto prize

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| spouse = Maria Fernanda Sanchez Goni{{R|Bordeaux}}

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| website = {{URL|http://www.pacea.u-bordeaux.fr/d-ERRICO-Francesco,487.html| Francesco d'Errico at Univ. Bordeaux}}

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Francesco d'Errico (born 24 September 1957 in Foggia, Italy) is an archaeologist who works as CNRS Director of Research at the University of Bordeaux in France and Professor at the Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour, University of Bergen. In 2014 he was awarded the CNRS silver medal.{{R|CNRS}} In 2015 Giorgio Napolitano, president of Italy, presented him with the Fabio-Frassetto prize from the Accademia dei Lincei.{{R|Bordeaux|SudOuest}}

His research interests focus on the origins of modern behaviour in Hominins and specifically the emergence of cultural innovations in the African Middle Stone Age and the transition between Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon cultures.{{R|PACEA}}

File:Tsumkwe.jpg (left back) with friends at Tsumkwe, Namibia.]]

Education and career

d'Errico was born in Foggia, Italy and at the age of seven he was already searching for archaeological remains, in this case flint-stones, in the Puglia region of south-east Italy.{{R|Bordeaux}} His early education was at Liceo Classico Massimo d'Azeglio in Turin.{{R|CV}}

He completed a MA in Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Turin in 1982 followed by a DEA in Prehistory and Quaternary geology at the University of Paris in 1985.{{R|CV}} During this time he was a fellow of the Italian Ministry of Research at the Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, Paris.{{R|PACEA}}

In 1986 d'Errico completed his Diploma di Specializzazione in Archeologia Preistorica at the University of Pisa and in 1987 he was visiting professor at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, Paris. He completed his PhD in prehistory and quaternary geology at Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris in 1989.{{R|CV}}

In 1991 he was employed as a contract researcher at Monrepos Archäologisches Forschungszentrum und Museum für menschliche Verhaltensevolution in Neuwied, Germany.{{R|PACEA}}

In 1992 d'Errico worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid and from 1992-1993 he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge, England. In 1994 he was appointed research associate at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research of the University of Cambridge{{R|PACEA}} and joined the CNRS at the University of Bordeaux's De la Préhistoire à l’Actuel: Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie (PACEA) laboratory.{{R|Bordeaux}}

In 1999 d'Errico worked as a visiting professor at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS), South Africa and between 2015 and 2017 he was a Professorial Fellow at the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeoscience in the Evolutionary Studies Institute at WITS.{{R|PACEA}}{{R|CV}}

In 2003/4 d'Errico was Research Professor at the department of Anthropology of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. In 2003 he completed Habilitation à diriger des Recherches at the University of Bordeaux. In 2007 d'Errico was visiting professor at the department of Anthropology, Princeton University, New Jersey and between 2011 and 2015 he was associate professor at the Department of Archaeology at the University of Bergen.{{R|CV}}

Since 2017 he has held a professorship at the Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour at the University of Bergen.{{R|CV}}

Other fellowships

  • 1987-1988 Fellow of the Fyssen Foundation, Paris. Awarded for "Analysis of new modes of expression of the beginning of the post-glacial period by the microscopic study of Azilian engraved pebbles."{{R|CV|FF}}
  • 1990-1991 Fellow of the NATO Science Program, Paris{{R|CV|Templeton}}

Research interests

d'Errico has worked in 17 countries, including China, Botswana, Morocco, the United States, the Netherlands and South Africa. His research has indicated that jewelry, engravings, pigments and tools made from bones were used in Northern and Southern Africa at least {{val|80000|fmt=gap}} years ago, which is earlier than the previously accepted scenarios for the development of modern behaviour.{{R|PACEA}}

Some of his research interests are the evolution of human cognitive abilities as evidenced by the use of bone tools and symbolism, including grave goods used during burial rituals in the Paleolithic period and systems of notation from the same time period. He has studied the extinction of Neanderthals and their relations with the modern humans that replaced them; and the role climate change had on human evolution.{{R|CV}}

Research at Border Cave in South Africa, conducted with Lucinda Backwell and other colleagues, showed that beads, bone tools and other artefacts reminiscent of those used by San hunter-gatherers were already present in southern Africa {{val|44000|fmt=gap}} years ago.{{R|BorderCave2018}}

= Current research =

In 2019, d'Errico and his colleague Lucinda Backwell were collaborating on a book on the ethnoarchaeology of the San people from the Kalahari. The book is the result of the examination of San artefacts, collected by Louis Fourie between 1916 and 1928, by four San elders and their descriptions of the manufacture, use and meaning of these items.

Selected publications

d'Errico has authored or co-authored 6 books:

  • {{cite book | last=d'Errico | first=F. | title=L'art gravé azilien: de la technique à la signification | publisher=CNRS éditions | series=Supplément à "Gallia préhistoire" | issue=v. 31 | year=1994 | isbn=978-2-271-05247-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TZUpAQAAIAAJ | language=fr }}
  • {{cite book | last1=Bosinski | first1=G. | last2=d'Errico | first2=F. | last3=Schiller | first3=P. | title=Die gravierten Frauendarstellungen von Gönnersdorf | publisher=F. Steiner | series=Der Magdalénien-Fundplatz Gönnersdorf | year=2001 | isbn=978-3-515-07799-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OQODU-D7vM0C | language=de }}
  • {{cite book | last1=Zilhão | first1=J. | last2=d'Errico | first2=F. | title=The Chronology of the Aurignacian and of the Transitional Technocomplexes: Dating, Stratigraphies, Cultural Implications; Proceedings of Symposium 6.1 of the XIVth Congress of the UISPP (University of Liège, Belgium, September 2-8, 2001) | publisher=Instituto Português de Arqueologia | series=Trabalhos de arqueologia | year=2003 | isbn=978-972-8662-15-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIhtQgAACAAJ }}
  • {{cite book | last1=d'Errico | first1=F. | last2=Backwell | first2=L. | last3=Tobias | first3=P.V. | title=From Tools to Symbols: From Early Hominids to Modern Humans; in Honour of Professor Phillip V. Tobias | publisher=Witwatersrand University Press | year=2005 | isbn=978-1-86814-411-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NVKkZwEACAAJ |author-link2= Lucinda Backwell| author-link3=Phillip V. Tobias}}
  • {{cite book | last1=d'Errico | first1=F. | last2=Hombert | first2=J.M. | title=Becoming Eloquent: Advances in the Emergence of Language, Human Cognition, and Modern Cultures | publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company | year=2009 | isbn=978-90-272-3269-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_cac38pfmAC }}
  • {{cite book | last1=Henshilwood | first1=C.S. | last2=d'Errico | first2=F. | title=Homo Symbolicus: The dawn of language, imagination and spirituality | publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company | series=Critical human rights | year=2011 | isbn=978-90-272-1189-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2IFwDnnh4ZIC |author-link1=Christopher Henshilwood}}

In 2019, Google Scholar listed more than {{val|20000|fmt=gap}} citations for Francesco d'Errico and ResearchGate listed more than 330 research publications and more than {{val|10000|fmt=gap}} citations. Selected publications include:

  • d’Errico, F. et P. Villa, 1997. Holes and grooves. The contribution of microscopy and taphonomy to the problem of art origins. Journal of Human Evolution. 33, 1-31.
  • {{cite journal | last1=d'Errico | first1=Francesco | last2=Zilhão | first2=Joao | last3=Julien | first3=Michèle | last4=Baffier | first4=Dominique | last5=Pelegrin | first5=Jacques | title=Neanderthal Acculturation in Western Europe? A Critical Review of the Evidence and Its Interpretation | journal=Current Anthropology | publisher=University of Chicago Press | volume=39 | issue=S1 | year=1998 | issn=0011-3204 | doi=10.1086/204689 | pages=S1–S44 | s2cid=144799519 }}.
  • d’Errico F., Ch. Henshilwood, G. Lawson, M. Vanhaeren, A.-M. Tillier, M. Soressi, F. Bresson, B. Maureille, A. Nowell, J. Lakarra, L. Backwell, M. Julien. 2003. Archaeological evidence for the origins of language, symbolism and music. An alternative multidisciplinary perspective. Journal of World Prehistory 17 : 1-70.
  • {{cite journal | last=d'Errico | first=Francesco | title=The invisible frontier. A multiple species model for the origin of behavioral modernity | journal=Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews | publisher=Wiley | volume=12 | issue=4 | date=5 August 2003 | issn=1060-1538 | doi=10.1002/evan.10113 | pages=188–202 | s2cid=1904963 }}
  • d’Errico F., Henshilwood Ch, Vanhaeren, M., Karen van Niekerk, K. 2005. Nassarius kraussianus shell beads from Blombos Cave: Evidence for Symbolic Behaviour in the Middle Stone Age. Journal of Human Evolution 48, 3-24.
  • {{cite journal | last1=d'Errico | first1=Francesco | last2=Stringer | first2=Chris B. | title=Evolution, revolution or saltation scenario for the emergence of modern cultures? | journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences | publisher=The Royal Society | volume=366 | issue=1567 | date=12 April 2011 | issn=0962-8436 | doi=10.1098/rstb.2010.0340 | pages=1060–1069 | pmid=21357228 | pmc=3049097 | doi-access=free }}
  • d’Errico F., Backwell L., Villa P., Degano I., Lucejko J.J, Bamford M.K., Higham, T., Colombini M.-P., Beaumont P.B. 2012. Early evidence of San material culture represented by organic artifacts from Border Cave, South Africa. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, vol. 109 no. 33, 13214-13219.
  • {{cite journal | last1=d’Errico | first1=Francesco | last2=Banks | first2=William E. | title=Identifying Mechanisms behind Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age Cultural Trajectories | journal=Current Anthropology | publisher=University of Chicago Press | volume=54 | issue=S8 | year=2013 | issn=0011-3204 | doi=10.1086/673388 | pages=S371–S387 | s2cid=144922210 | url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01842788/file/dErrico_Banks_2013_CA_clean.pdf }}
  • {{cite journal | last1=d’Errico | first1=Francesco | last2=Banks | first2=William E. | last3=Warren | first3=Dan L. | last4=Sgubin | first4=Giovanni | last5=van Niekerk | first5=Karen | last6=Henshilwood | first6=Christopher | last7=Daniau | first7=Anne-Laure | last8=Sánchez Goñi | first8=María Fernanda | title=Identifying early modern human ecological niche expansions and associated cultural dynamics in the South African Middle Stone Age | journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume=114 | issue=30 | date=24 July 2017 | issn=0027-8424 | doi=10.1073/pnas.1620752114 | pages=7869–7876 | pmid=28739910 | pmc=5544275 | doi-access=free | bibcode=2017PNAS..114.7869D }}
  • {{cite journal | last1=d’Errico | first1=Francesco | last2=Doyon | first2=Luc | last3=Zhang | first3=Shuangquan | last4=Baumann | first4=Malvina | last5=Lázničková-Galetová | first5=Martina | last6=Gao | first6=Xing | last7=Chen | first7=Fuyou | last8=Zhang | first8=Yue | title=The origin and evolution of sewing technologies in Eurasia and North America | journal=Journal of Human Evolution | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=125 | year=2018 | issn=0047-2484 | doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.10.004 | pages=71–86 | pmid=30502899 | bibcode=2018JHumE.125...71D | s2cid=54488324 | url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02196037/file/2018_dErrico_AL_JHE.pdf }}
  • {{cite journal | last1=d’Errico | first1=Francesco | last2=Colagè | first2=Ivan | title=Cultural Exaptation and Cultural Neural Reuse: A Mechanism for the Emergence of Modern Culture and Behavior | journal=Biological Theory | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=13 | issue=4 | date=12 September 2018 | issn=1555-5542 | doi=10.1007/s13752-018-0306-x | pages=213–227 | s2cid=92719074 }}
  • {{cite journal | last1=d'Errico | first1=Francesco | last2=Doyon | first2=Luc | last3=Colagé | first3=Ivan | last4=Queffelec | first4=Alain | last5=Le Vraux | first5=Emma | last6=Giacobini | first6=Giacomo | last7=Vandermeersch | first7=Bernard | last8=Maureille | first8=Bruno | title=From number sense to number symbols. An archaeological perspective | journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences | publisher=The Royal Society | volume=373 | issue=1740 | year=2018 | issn=0962-8436 | doi=10.1098/rstb.2016.0518 | page=20160518 | pmid=29292345 | pmc=5784044 | doi-access=free }}

Documentaries

d'Errico has featured in several documentaries and interviews, including the following. The complete list can be found on his webpage at the University of Bordeaux.

  • {{cite AV media| people = Greg Konop (Interviewer)| date = 2016| title =7.5 Talking About the Archaeology of Complex Cultures with Francesco d-'Errico| language =en| url =https://mediaspace.wisc.edu/media/7.5+Talking+About+the+Archaeology+of+Complex+Cultures+with+Francesco+d-%27Errico+/0_r8710wx5| location = Vienna| publisher =University of Wisconsin-Madison Kaltura MediaSpace }}
  • {{cite AV media| people = Kayla Mac Conachie (producer)| date =2017| title =Border Cave| medium =YouTube| language =English| url =https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogNppa3T4AU| location = South Africa| publisher =Pacea Videos }}
  • {{cite web | title=The color of the Ovahimba | website=Canal-U | date=9 October 2014 | url=https://www.canal-u.tv/video/cerimes/the_color_of_the_ovahimba.15970 | language=English, French | ref={{sfnref | Canal-U}} }}
  • {{cite web | title=San Ostrich Trap | website=Vimeo | date=17 September 2019 | url=https://vimeo.com/90326902 | access-date=30 September 2019}}
  • {{cite web | title=Gorham's Cave Engravings | website=Vimeo | date=24 September 2019 | url=https://vimeo.com/95728349 | access-date=30 September 2019}}

Recognition

  • In 2015 Giorgio Napolitano, president of Italy, presented d'Errico with the Fabio-Frassetto prize from the Accademia dei Lincei.{{R|Bordeaux|SudOuest}}
  • In 2014 he was awarded the CNRS silver medal.{{R|Bordeaux|SudOuest}}
  • Since 2014 d'Errico was included in list of Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate Analytics.{{R|Clarivate}}
  • He is the most cited Italian researcher in the field of Humanities according to TopItalianScientists.org.{{R|TIS}}

References

{{reflist|30em|refs=

{{cite web | title=Highlight: Francesco d'Errico, Homo prehistoricus | website=University of Bordeaux | date=12 September 2014 | url=http://www.u-bordeaux.com/Research/Meet-our-researchers/Highlight-Francesco-d-Errico-Homo-prehistoricus | access-date=11 September 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123104251/http://www.u-bordeaux.com/Research/Meet-our-researchers/Highlight-Francesco-d-Errico-Homo-prehistoricus| archive-date=23 November 2018| language=en}}

{{cite journal | last1=Backwell | first1=Lucinda R. | last2=d'Errico | first2=Francesco | last3=Banks | first3=William E. | last4=de la Peña | first4=Paloma | last5=Sievers | first5=Christine | last6=Stratford | first6=Dominic | last7=Lennox | first7=Sandra J. | last8=Wojcieszak | first8=Marine | last9=Bordy | first9=Emese M. | last10=Bradfield | first10=Justin | last11=Wadley | first11=Lyn | title=New Excavations at Border Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa | journal=Journal of Field Archaeology | publisher=Informa UK Limited | volume=43 | issue=6 | date=18 August 2018 | issn=0093-4690 | doi=10.1080/00934690.2018.1504544 | pages=417–436| s2cid=133659154 |author-link1=Lucinda Backwell|author-link11=Lyn Wadley| hdl=11336/88051 | hdl-access=free }}

{{cite web | title=Archived Highly Cited Researchers Lists | website=clarivate.com | date=6 December 2018 | url=https://hcr.clarivate.com/resources/archived-lists/ | access-date=16 September 2019}}

{{cite web | title=Médaille d'argent du CNRS | website=CNRS | url=https://www.cnrs.fr/fr/talents/cnrs?medal=39&year=2014&institut=All&page=1 | language=fr | access-date=11 September 2019| quote=The Silver Medal distinguishes researchers for the originality, quality and importance of their work, recognized nationally and internationally.}}

{{cite web |title=Francisco d'Errico - CV |url=http://stel.ub.edu/evolang2008/dErrico.pdf |website=Servei de Tecnologia Lingüística |publisher=University of Barcelona |access-date=11 September 2019|language=en}}

{{cite web | title=Annuaire des boursiers de la Fondation | website=Fondation Fyssen | url=http://www.fondationfyssen.fr/annuaire/ | language=fr | access-date=11 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161023051546/http://www.fondationfyssen.fr/annuaire/|archive-date=23 October 2016}}

{{cite web | title=De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel : Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie. - d'ERRICO Francesco | website=PACEA | url=http://www.pacea.u-bordeaux.fr/d-ERRICO-Francesco,487.html?lang=fr | language=fr | access-date=11 September 2019|publisher=University of Bordeaux|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170505025848/http://www.pacea.u-bordeaux.fr/d-ERRICO-Francesco,487.html|archive-date=5 May 2017}}

{{cite web | title=Le préhistorien de Bordeaux Francesco d'Errico médaillé | website=SudOuest.fr | date=17 September 2014 | url=https://www.sudouest.fr/2014/09/17/la-medaille-vient-du-fond-des-ages-1673811-2780.php | language=fr | access-date=11 September 2019}}{{subscription required}}

{{cite web |title=The Humble Approach Initiative |url=http://humbleapproach.templeton.org/Innovations_Material_Spiritual_Cultures/participants03.html |website=humbleapproach.templeton.org |publisher=The John Templeton Foundation |date=May 2004}}

{{cite web | title=Top Italian Scientists Humanities | website=Top Italian Scientists | url=http://www.topitalianscientists.org/TIS_HTML/Top_Italian_Scientists_Humanities.htm | language=it | access-date=16 September 2019}}

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External links

  • {{ResearchGate|Francesco_DErrico2|Francesco d'Errico}}

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Category:Living people

Category:1957 births

Category:21st-century Italian archaeologists

Category:20th-century Italian archaeologists

Category:Italian archaeologists

Category:Academic staff of the University of Bordeaux

Category:People from Foggia

Category:University of Turin alumni

Category:University of Paris alumni

Category:University of Pisa alumni

Category:Italian expatriates in France

Category:Research directors of the French National Centre for Scientific Research