Dr. Eslem Ben Arous

Research Associate
Human Palaeosystems Research Group
+49 3641 686-970
+33642765149

Main Focus

Eslem Ben Arous is a Fyssen Postdoctoral fellow at the Panafrican Evolution Research Group. She is also a researcher affiliated to the Dating Programme of the CENIEH (Burgos, Spain) and to the Department "Human and Environment" of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (Paris, France). As an archaeologist and quaternary geochronologist, she is interested in the chronology of Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age human settlements in North and West Africa. She led to the development of an interdisciplinary approach comparing proxies to discuss the evolution of H. sapiens during the last 150,000 years and its relation to paleoenvironmental changes. Her work strategy is based on a multi-dating approach (Optically stimulated luminescence on quartz grain, combined US-ESR on hydroxyapatite and ESR on quartz grain, Bayesian approach). Currently, Eslem works on the chronological definition of the West African sites, newly investigated by the Pan-Ev Group to test emerging hypotheses about the role of West Africa in H. sapiens evolutionary history. 





Curriculum Vitae

After a Bachelor's degree in Earth Sciences obtained in 2014 at the Pierre and Marie Curie University (Paris, France), Eslem obtained her Master's degree in Geochronology and Prehistory at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (Paris, France). She received her Ph.D in 2019 in Geochronology from the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. Her doctoral research was focused on dating early human archaeology associated with some of the earliest examples of cultural innovations finding in Middle Stone Age (MSA) coastal occupations and on dating the Later Stone Age (LSA) using multi-dating and comparative approaches (OSL on quartz grain, combined US-ESR on hydroxyapatite and SMA radiocarbon dating on seeds/charcoals). 


Publications

2022
  • L. Marquer, T. Otto, E. Ben Arous, E. Stoetzel, E. Campmas, A. Zazzo, O. Tombret, C. Falguères, M. A. El Hajraoui, R. Nespoulet,” Early human use of wild olive during the Aterian Middle Stone Age in North Africa”, Nature Plants, 8, 204–208. (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01109-x)
  • E. Ben Arous, A. Philippe, Q. Shao, O. Tombret, N. Mercier, M. Richard, D. Richter, A. Lenoble, E. Stoetzel, M. A. El Hajraoui, R. Nespoulet, C. Falguères, “An improved chronology of the Middle Stone Age at El Mnasra cave”, PLOS One (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0261282)

2020

  • E. Ben Arous, C. Falguères, R. Nespoulet & M. El Hajraoui, ” Review of chronological data from the Rabat-Témara caves (Morocco): implications for understanding human occupation in Northwestern Africa during the Late Pleistocene ” in ” Not Just a Corridor. Human occupations of the Nile Valley and neighbouring regions between 75,000 and 15,000 years ago ”, eds A. Leplongeon, M. Goder-Goldberger, D. Pleurdeau, Natures en Sociétés.
  • E. Ben Arous, C. Falguères, O. Tombret, M. El Hajraoui and R. Nespoulet, “Combined US-ESR dating of fossil teeth from El Harhoura 2 cave (Morocco): new data about the end of the MSA in Temara region ”, Quaternary International, 556, p. 58-65.(https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2019.02.029)
  • C. Daujeard, C. Falguères, Q. Shao, D. Geraads, J.-J. Hublin, D. Lefèvre, M. El Graoui, M. Rué, R. Gallotti, V. Delvigne, A. Queffelec, E. Ben Arous, O. Tombret, A. Mohib & J.-P.Raynal, ” Earliest    African evidence of carcass processing and consumption in cave at 700 ka, Casablanca, Morocco ”, Scientific reports 10, 4761.(https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61580-4)


2019
  • C. Mallol, C. Hernández, N. Mercier, C. Falguères, Á. Carrancho, D. Cabanes, R. Connolly, P. V.    Matutano, L. Pérez, A. Fagoaga, R. Marquina-Blasco, F.J. Ruiz-Sánchez, A. Mayor, E. Ben Arous & B. Galván, ” Fire and short-term human occupations in Iberia during MIS 4: Evidence from Abric del Pastor (Alcoy, Spain) ”, Scientific reports, 9, 18281, 2019 (doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-54305-9)
  • C. Falguères, B. Ghaleb, O. Tombret, E. Ben Arous, M. Richard, A. Moigne, T. Saos, M. Frouin, M. Caparros & C. Barroso-Ruiz,” ESR/U-series dates on Equus teeth from the Middle Pleistocene  Acheulean site of Cueva del Angel, Spain”, Quaternary Geochronology, 49, p. 297–302,  2019 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2018.02.003)

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