Dr. Julio Mercader Florin

Biography

Julio Mercader Florín is a professor at the University of Calgary and the principal investigator of the SSHRC-funded project focused on Stone Tools, Diet, and Sociality. His current research investigates human evolution, particularly how dietary and climatic changes have impacted this evolution, with an emphasis on tropical ecosystems during the African Stone Age. Dr. Mercader employs multidisciplinary approaches in his research, assessing subsistence, diet, technology, stability, change, and paleoenvironments. His fieldwork is primarily conducted at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. Over the years, he has studied a diverse range of archaeological sites across Central, West, and Southern Africa. Additionally, Dr. Mercader has supervised both field and laboratory work in various settings, ranging from undergraduate field schools to highly technical laboratory setups. He is also a research associate with the Max Planck Institute for Science and Human History in Germany and the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution in Spain, as well as holding a position in the Department of Geoscience at the University of Calgary. Moreover, he is a Canada Research Chair in Tropical Archaeology.

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