Dr Alastair Key’s research selected for British Academy Showcase

Using a stone tool to whittle a wooden stick

Research carried out at the School of Anthropology and Conservation will feature in the British Academy’s annual Summer Showcase in June.

Now in its second year, the Summer Showcase aims to bring the best in new humanities and social sciences research to a public audience.

In one of Kent’s two featured projects, Dr Alastair Key, a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Biological Anthropology, will seek to answer the question, ‘What prompted humans to start developing the first stone tools and how these did these evolve over time?’

His interactive exhibit, presented in collaboration with Ian Farr, a PhD student at the University’s School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, will allow visitors to handle Palaeolithic artefacts and test their muscle activity using different prehistoric stone tools. These exhibits will demonstrate how and why early human technology evolved over time.

In addition to the interactive exhibits designed by academics, the Summer Showcase, which runs from 21-22 June, will also feature pop-up talks and performances.

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