Jonathan Haws

Jonathan Haws is a Professor and Department Chair at the University of Louisville, leading international archaeological research projects focusing on prehistoric human-environment interactions. His work emphasizes Neanderthal adaptation, modern human dispersal, and climate change impacts in Europe, Mozambique, and Sudan. He directs the NSF-funded 'Long Term Accommodation to Climate Change' project at Portugal's Lapa do Picareiro, a site yielding insights into Neanderthal extinction and modern human migration patterns.

Education: PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Research interests include paleolithic land-use strategies, Middle/Upper Paleolithic transitions, and multi-disciplinary methods integrating archaeology with geochemistry and paleoenvironmental analysis. Recent projects in Mozambique and Sudan explore early modern human behavior and Middle Stone Age technologies. Collaborations involve institutions such as ICArEHB, Universidade do Algarve, and the European Research Council (ERC).

Grants include NSF, ERC, Wenner-Gren Foundation, and National Geographic Society funding. He serves on the UISPP Commission 8 (Upper Paleolithic of Eurasia).

Key discoveries include evidence of modern humans in Portugal 40,000 years ago and the 40,000-year-old Zimuara site in Mozambique. Current work focuses on expanding excavations into deeper Neanderthal layers and Sudan's Kerma region surveys.