The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded two new grants to the University of Algarve's (UAlg) Archaeology Centre, reaching a value of 9.5 million euros over the past two years. The ERC has awarded 494 'starting grants' to young scientists and academics from all around Europe, whose projects are related with innovative research in a range of scientific areas and humanities.

As the institution said in a statement, “These results place ICArEHB [Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior at UAlg] as one of the main places to understand human evolution, with an exceptional concentration of excellent researchers”. ICArEHB has already received three grants in the past two years, awarded to Nuno Bicho (Advanced Grant), João Cascalheira (Consolidator Grants), and Vera Aldeias (Starting Grant).

Jonathan Reeves of the Max Planck Institute in Germany received the first of the grants, the Starting Grant, worth 1.5 million euros, which will be used to examine the significance of stone tool use for hominin ancestors 2.6 million years ago. Moreover, Elisa Bandini of the University of Zurich in Switzerland received a second grant of the same amount with the goal of identifying "the catalysts of a decisive behaviour in our evolutionary history: the ability to manufacture and use sharp stone tools."

Under the European Union's Horizon Europe initiative, early-career academics will be able to "launch their own projects, form their teams, and pursue their most promising ideas" thanks to the funding.