Culture, Ecology, and Earth Science
The study of organism-environment
interactions and the evolutionary
processes shaping culture's diversity
My research interests and outputs transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries. My work lies at the intersection of archaeology, paleoecology, evolutionary biology, and geology. Although these fields differ in many respects, the common thread that weaves them together into a cohesive multidisciplinary perspective is the inextricable relationship between time, culture, and biology—in essence, how our world and its organisms change over time, biologically, ecologically, and culturally.
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My primary research focus within archaeological sciences is the reconstruction of paleolandscapes. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of our shared human history, it is essential to deeply explore past environments—examining how these environments shaped human societies and, conversely, how our ancestors influenced the environments in which they lived. To uncover these dynamics, I employ a range of paleoecological methods, including excavation, survey, geospatial analysis, phytolith analysis, and ecological modeling.
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Across my multi-disciplinary archaeological research I have had the opportunity to lead and participate in a variety of research projects focused on the better understanding of past hominin behavior. This includes: (1) human-environment relationships and subsistence strategies in West Africa, (2) leather-working and animal exploitation practices in Middle Palaeolithic coastal Morocco, and (3) hominin resilience and niche modelling in Africa for the past 120,000 years.
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My archeological work, developed as part of my doctoral project, concentrated upon the development of the currently poor knowledge of past human-environmental activities in West Africa, temporally constrained between the Middle Pleistocene to the Late Holocene. This was done by carrying out several fieldwork and laboratory-based projects in environmentally different sites in Nigeria, Benin, Ivory Coast and Senegal, ranging from rainforest to open savanna and riverine habitats.
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Building on my archaeological work in Africa and Eurasia, I am now developing a new interdisciplinary research project titled “Searching for the Earliest Humans of Montane Central Italy.” This project is set in the region where I was born and raised, and aims to re-evaluate past human activity in montane Central Italy. The objective is to gain insights into early human presence and their environmental (dietary, climatic, and ecological) impact. Central Italy has long been recognized as a key area for studying human evolution, yet most Neanderthal and early Homo sapiens sites are located in non-montane environments. In June 2021, Dr. Emily Y. Hallett and I discovered a previously undocumented rock shelter in this region, Riparo Cervara, which revealed a rich Middle Palaeolithic cultural assemblage, including in situ lithics and a hearth. Future investigations of this site and the surrounding landscape are planned.
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Below is a selection of relevant publications:
Cerasoni, J.N. et al. 2023. Human interactions with tropical environments over the last 14,000 years at Iho Eleru, Nigeria. iScience. 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106153
Cerasoni, J.N. et al. 2023. ‘Iho Eleru’. In “Handbook of Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa: Hominin behavior, geography, and chronology” [Eds. A. Beyin, D.K. Wright, J. Wilkins, A. Bouzouggar & D.I. Olszewski]. Springer. 10.1007/978-3-031-20290-2_58
Cerasoni, J.N., et al. 2022. Archaeological sites and palaeoenvironments of Pleistocene West Africa. Journal of Maps. 10.1080/17445647.2022.2052767
Hallett, E.Y., Marean, C.W., Steele, T.E., Alvarez-Fernández, E., Jacobs, Z., Cerasoni, J.N., … and Dibble, H.L. 2021. ‘A worked bone assemblage from 120,000-90,000 year old deposits at Contrebandiers Cave, Atlantic Coast, Morocco’. iScience 24(9): 102988. 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102988
Scerri, E.M.L., Niang, K., Candy, I. Blinkhorn, J., Mills, W., Cerasoni*, J.N., … & Groucutt, H.S. 2020. Continuity of the Middle Stone Age into the Holocene. Scientific Reports 11, 70. 10.1038/s41598-020-79418-4
Hallett, E.Y., Leonardi, M., Cerasoni, J.N., ... Scerri, E.M.L. In review (2nd round). Major expansion in the human niche preceded out of Africa dispersal. Nature.
Ben Arous, E., Blinkhorn, J.A., Elliott, S., … Cerasoni, J.N., … Scerri, E.M.L. In review (2nd round). Humans in Africa’s tropical forests 150 thousand years ago. Nature.
Paleolandscapes, hominin behavior,
and human-environment dynamics
150,000 years of ecological change
and microevolutionary dynamics
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A diatomite mine in Fernley, high-altitude desert Nevada. This site is a modern remanent of an ancient paleolake bed of Miocene age (10.3 million years ago). Among the most important fossils found within it are fossil lineages of Threespine Stickleback fish (Gasterosteus doryssus) that likely represents one of the most compelling examples of gradual Darwinian evolution in the fossil record. These stickleback and other vertebrate fossils were preserved in annual varves, with the deposit spanning over 150,000 years.
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Fossils from a series of past and newly excavated quarries include threespine stickleback, killifish, trout, catfish, snakes, birds, frogs, and a squirrel. My vertebrate research is centered on G. doryssus assemblages, which include over 20,000 fossils, and the identification and publication of undescribed fossil species. I am analyzing existing data, creating new phenotypic datasets and compiling comprehensive multivariate trait sets to understand the genetic mechanisms behind the microevolutionary rates of G. doryssus including dynamics such as armor loss, development of reproductive isolation, and the evolution of allometry and sexual dimorphism. This research is conducted within Dr. Yoel E. Stuart's laboratory as part of his NSF CAREER grant (Department of Biology, Loyola University Chicago) and in collaboration with Dr. Michael A. Bell (University of California Museum of Paleontology).
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One of the exceptional aspects of this site is its geological origin. Diatomite, also known as diatomaceous earth, is a sediment formed from the deposition of fossilized diatoms—microscopic aquatic algae. These diatoms accumulate seasonally, often forming thick green algal mats in water bodies, and have been preserved under optimal conditions. Through the extraction and analysis of these remains, I have reconstructed changes in algal communities over time, enabling direct inferences about ecological and climatic conditions for each observable season over the past 150,000 years. Furthermore, the silica-based diatomite serves as an excellent medium for preserving other terrestrial botanical microremains, such as charcoal and phytoliths (opal silica fossils of plants). These remains are analyzed to reconstruct environmental changes at both local and regional scales around the paleolake. This extensive paleoecological research not only facilitates detailed seasonal reconstructions of aquatic and terrestrial environmental changes—enhanced by advanced microscopy and computational techniques—but also provides crucial ecological context for the evolutionary changes observed in vertebrate assemblages.
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The following articles on this work have been published so far, with five more at different stages of production (data analysis → completed submission):
Cerasoni, J.N., Bell, M.A., and Stuart, Y.E. 2024. Geology, microstratigraphy, and paleontology of Truckee Formation lacustrine diatomite deposits near Hazen, Nevada, USA, with emphasis on fossil stickleback fish. PaleoBios 41: 1-15. 10.5070/P941161500
Cerasoni, J.N., O’Toole, M.C., Patel, R., Stuart, Y.E.. 2023. Miocene phytolith and diatom dataset from 10.3Myo diatomite formation, Fernley, Nevada, USA. Data In Brief 50: 109519. 10.1016/j.dib.2023.109519
