Francesc Burjachs

Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES)

Humanities

Born on 3rd August 1955 in Blanes, Catalonia. Dissertation on Paleopalynology, Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB, 1985). DEA on Quaternary, MNHN-IPH, Paris (1986). PhD in Biological Sciences (UAB, 1990). Contributor of the Botany Department (UAB, 1979-1990). Director and co-director of several archaeological excavations. Hired researcher at Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera, CSIC, Barcelona (1990-1998). Research Assistant at Catholic University of Louvain-La-Neuve (1994). Associate Professor at University Rovira i Virgili (URV), Tarragona since 1998. ICREA Research Professor at URV (2001-2007) and at the Catalan Institute of Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) since 2008. Training stages of palynological research abroad: CRA, Sophia Antipolis, France (1978) with Prof. M. Girard; IPH, Paris (1985-1987) with Prof. J. Renault-Miskovsky, and University La Sapienza, Roma (1991) with Prof. M. Follieri. He has published more than 330 papers and reports.


Research interests

My investigation seeks to understand the climatic changes that happened along human evolution. This information is important to appreciate some of the factors which have influenced our evolution towards the current species. More precisely, my work is developed in the science of Palynology, which basically consists in the study of the fossil pollen trapped in the soil that our ancestors stepped on. In this way, we can describe the landscape in which they lived, the climate they endured, the vegetables they ate, etc.

Selected publications

– Burjachs F, Jones SE, Giralt S & Fernández-López de Pablo J 2016, ‘Lateglacial to Early Holocene recursive aridity events in the SE Mediterranean Iberian Peninsula: The Salines playa lake case study’, Quaternary International, vol. 403, pp. 187-200.

– Burjachs F, Pérez-Obiol R, Picornell-Gelabert Ll, Revelles J, Servera-Vives G, Expósito I & Yll EI 2016, ‘Changements environnementaux et histoire de la colonisation humaine des Îles Baléares (Méditerranée occidentale): conséquences sur l’évolution de la végétation’, In Ghilardi M (ed.) Géoarchéologie des îles de Méditerranée, 259-272, Paris, CNRS.

– Revelles J, Burjachs F & van Geel B 2016, ‘Pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs from the Early Neolithic settlement of La Draga (Girona, Spain)’, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, vol. 225, pp. 1-20.

– Expósito I & Burjachs F 2016, ‘Taphonomic approach to the palynological record of burnt and unburnt samples from El Mirador Cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain)’, Quaternary International, vol. 414, pp. 258-271.

– Euba I, Allué E & Burjachs F 2016, ‘Wood uses at El Mirador Cave (Atapuerca, Burgos) based on anthracology and dendrology’, Quaternary International, vol. 414, pp. 285-293.

– Sharp WD, Mertz-Kraus R, Vallverdú J, Vaquero M, Burjachs F, Carbonell E & Bischoff JL 2016, ‘Archaeological deposits at Abric Romaní extend to 110 ka: U-series dating of a newly cored, 30 meter-thick section’, Journal of Archaeological Science – Reports, vol. 5, pp. 400-406.

– Vergès-Bosch JM, Burguet-Coca A, Allué E, Expósito I, Guardiola M, Martín P, Morales JI, Burjachs F, Cabanes D, Carrancho Á & Vallverdú J 2016, ‘The Mas del Pepet experimental programme for the study of prehistoric livestock practices: Preliminary data from dung burning’, Quaternary International, vol. 414, pp. 304-315.


Selected research activities

Co-organizer of MEDINES 2016 Conference ‘Late Glacial to Early Holocene Socio-ecological responses to climatic instability within the Mediterranean Basin‘, CaixaForum, Tarragona.