History and archaeology

CEAACP is an interdisciplinary research unit focussing on Archaeology, Arts and Architecture including hubs at the Universities of Coimbra and Algarve and the Archaeological Field of Mértola, (an NGO with a broad vocation linked to promoting communities through historical, archaeological, landscape, architectural, and heritage).

Trance-disciplinary research group on linguistic, cultural, historical and didactical topics concerning Saami and Indigenous issues. The group consists of scholars at the Faculty of Teacher Education and Arts, from campuses both in Lule Saami and South Saami traditional territories.

Cross-disciplinary research group focusing on how war, conflict and acts of terrorism affect societies by the way they are remembered, and how the memories of such experiences may be used by various agents in processes of collective commemoration, political governance and educational practices.

The multidisciplinary research group URBinN has a thematic focus on urbanization, urban and regional planning and sustainable development of small and medium sized urbanities in a global perspective with an initial focus on Nordic remote areas. The motive for this interest is the somewhat under-researched area of social, spatial, historical and economic processes related to the origin, functioning and planning of smaller urbanities in general.

The multidisciplinary research group for circumpolar history has expertise in historical trends of arctic regions from antiquity to modern times

Climate change, security, pursuit of natural resources and geopolitical tensions are currently drawing global attention to the circumpolar north. The geographical Arctic has a unique social, economic and environmental history which is key to understanding current events.

In the CEPAC we develop research on Heritage, Landscape and Construction, namely on water resources, land use planning, urbanism, urban rehabilitation. history, environmental assessment and engineering for sustainability framed in the CEPAC's interdisciplinary.

Following its emergency in Africa, human populations started migrating and dispersing within and outside Africa. Current research indicates that climate changes and increased human population density may have triggered both human inventive and adaptive behavior and dispersal. To better understand prehistoric behavior and human dispersal in Africa, our team is developing groundbreaking research on the past social and cultural interactions between human populations and between humans, the environment and other species surrounding them.

Eurasia played a critical role in unravelling details of our evolution from the appearance of the earliest Homo species to the transition from Neanderthals to Homo sapiens around 40,000 years ago. The ICArEHB’s group 'Dynamics of Paleolithic People in Eurasia' explores the cultural, social, and environmental interactions that occurred during the Pleistocene across this vast and diverse geographical area. Its goal is to contribute towards a better understanding of the factors that led to our status as the only surviving species on Earth.

The transition from hunting-gathering-fishing to agriculture as the main form of obtaining dietary calories was one of the key moments in human evolution. It occurred at different times in distinct parts of the world. Often, this led to an increase in social complexity, inequality and to the appearance of state societies. We analyse traces left behind in the archaeological, bio-anthropological and palaeobotanical records, while evaluating the relationship between daily human activities and ecological/climatic changes overtime.

The core mission of the ICArEHB is to develop an integrative understanding of past human adaptations.