Archaeologist, head of the Human Palaeosystems Group at the MPI-GEA, Reader at the University of Cologne, A/Prof at the University of Malta & NatGeo Explorer. Human evolution, niche expansion & the transition to human dominated landscapes.https://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3msxvgujls22mThis made me happy! [contains quote post or other embedded content]13 Aug 2026 14:52 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3msxvgujls22mhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3msdwjyhmas2ghttps://theconversation.com/europes-stone-age-hunters-made-sea-voyages-to-malta-thousands-of-years-before-evidence-of-sails-28896905 Aug 2026 16:18 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3msdwjyhmas2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3ms3gyo5mdk2gOne more from us, again led by the amazing @jblinkhorn.bsky.social - Neanderthals were likely responsible for the production of stone tool assemblages found in the Arabian Desert, giving key new insights into their possible range and where to look! [contains quote post or other embedded content]02 Aug 2026 07:19 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3ms3gyo5mdk2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3mrugw3qo3k2aWe've been coring into submerged terrestrial sediments! Excited to see what these will yield!30 Jul 2026 12:29 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrugw3qo3k2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3mrphxl6ej22xNew paper: Mesolithic mariners in the Central Mediterranean made sustained, long distance sea journeys. Not accidents, one offs, and not rare events. See thread in the comments. https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/5/7/pgag234/8741796, led by @jblinkhorn.bsky.social28 Jul 2026 13:04 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrphxl6ej22xhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3mkzkmszlm227Looking forward to this! [contains quote post or other embedded content]04 May 2026 11:22 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkzkmszlm227https://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3mk62jazekk2o1/7 Our papers may seem to address different themes, but they coalesce around the deep human past as a process of niche expansion and feedbacks, into the transition to human dominated landscapes. A starting point was the pan-African structured theory of human origins: https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169-5347(18)30117-4?&23 Apr 2026 12:52 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk62jazekk2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3mk43j4f6bs241/5 Well over three years of work and I’m thrilled to see it out today in Science Advances: the cover feature no less! Using an innovative pipeline, we show that malaria shaped the spatial organization of human groups in sub-Saharan Africa over the last 74,000 years. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aea231622 Apr 2026 18:04 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk43j4f6bs24https://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3mjjq5qsldk2bOur new paper exploring the measurement of complexity in tools - the result of significant and ongoing work, including that which emerged from our Complexity in Lithics Conference! https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10816-026-09779-z15 Apr 2026 10:53 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjjq5qsldk2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3mhj5t737rk2tAn interesting perspective! [contains quote post or other embedded content]20 Mar 2026 18:35 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhj5t737rk2thttps://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3mhiow3ozwc2dNew paper alert! Part of our work in West Africa also involves trying to understand later processes, in this case the expansion of pearl millet agriculture into Senegal. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/citedby/10.1080/0067270X.2026.2637384?scroll=top&needAccess=true20 Mar 2026 14:08 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhiow3ozwc2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3mg2nnoo2es2tA paper over then years in the making! Using Latent Class Models to categorise stone tool classes. Great to see it out after so long, and huge thanks to @lucytimbrell96.bsky.social for taking this to the finish line! [contains quote post or other embedded content]02 Mar 2026 06:43 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3mg2nnoo2es2thttps://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3me45uv5wp223Job alert in Malta on my ERC funded IslandLab Project for a post excavation research assistant. A bachalor's degree in Archaeology, or related fields is required, ideally with experience working on faunal assemblages and handling bones/fossils, and curating finds. https://www.um.edu.mt/media/um/docs/directorates/hrmd/workatum/projects/FTRSAorRSOI-14-ISLANDLAB-29.01.26.pdf05 Feb 2026 10:16 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3me45uv5wp223https://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3me45i45brs23https://www.newscientist.com/article/2511681-ancient-humans-were-seafaring-far-earlier-than-we-realised/#Echobox=176961951305 Feb 2026 10:08 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3me45i45brs23https://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3m63irod6x222Our new paper is out! Here's a thread from @huwgroucutt.bsky.social [contains quote post or other embedded content]20 Nov 2025 19:27 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3m63irod6x222https://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3m3a73gezkk2fHappening now! https://www.gea.mpg.de/177655/the-evolution-of-human-niche-size-in-east-asia-across-the-pleistocene.html15 Oct 2025 12:01 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3m3a73gezkk2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3ltmg5sevvc2eNew paper from all of us led by the amazing @lucytimbrell96.bsky.social! [contains quote post or other embedded content]10 Jul 2025 13:18 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3ltmg5sevvc2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3lt7bnhiy3s25New paper alert! Led by @jblinkhorn.bsky.social, we look at refugia for baboons in the Pleistocene and Holocene, offering a potential analogue for early hominins where climatic tolerances are shared. https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-025-08419-805 Jul 2025 07:53 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3lt7bnhiy3s25https://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3lrvcxdcios2yGift article about our work that also mentions our recently published paper in @nature.com on rainforests as well! Thank you @carlzimmer.com! [contains quote post or other embedded content]18 Jun 2025 15:24 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3lrvcxdcios2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliescerri.bsky.social/post/3lrvc665p2k2m1/5 Why do all non-Africans descended from a group that left Africa 50k ago? In @nature.com we model 120k years of human niche dynamics. From 70ka, a big expansion of the human niche in Africa likely equipped later OOA dispersals with a unique ecological flexibilty. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09154-018 Jun 2025 15:10 +0000at://did:plc:asrmwajhtpcg36tlvglb4ipa/app.bsky.feed.post/3lrvc665p2k2m