David Miedzianogora (UCL) - 2025-26 Students
david.miedzianogora.23@ucl.ac.uk

The neural correlates of late Homo lithic technology

This project investigates the neural foundations of stone tool technologies associated with late Homo species such as Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. To achieve this, expert stone toolmakers will replicate key technologies (refined bifaces, prepared cores, and prismatic blades) whilst undergoing neuroimaging to investigate the correlation between key cognitive systems such as working memory and the capacity for language with the evolutionary trajectories of human cognition during the past half million years. This project will provide a significant step towards refining models of how, when, and why uniquely human cognitive capacities evolved.

Principal supervisor: Dr Matt Pope