Anna Belfer-Cohen is a retired full professor at the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Anna studies prehistoric lithic and bone industries, human remains and artistic manifestations. Her main interest lies in the domain of exploring prehistoric beginnings. Thus she has been studying the Upper Palaeolithic period which portrays the spread and flourishing of modern humans Out of Africa, as well as the transition from extractive to productive economies during the later Epipalaeolithic and early Neolithic in Western Asia, focusing on what this changes imply vis a vis human cognition, behaviour and adaptation. Besides past projects, relating to the topics above, she is currently involved in the excavation projects of Kebara and Hayonim caves (Upper Palaeolithic, and Epipalaeolithic), the open-air sites of Nahal Ein Gev II, Upper Besor VI, Fazael IV (Natufian) and the Kaizer Hill quarry (PPNA) in Israel as well as the Upper Palaeolithic projects at the sites of Dzudzuana, Kotias Klde and Satrublia in Georgia.

Nigel Goring-Morris is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research focuses on investigating human adaptations and transformations in the Near East, from mobile band societies to sedentary communities and the emergence of complex, ‘domesticating’ societies against the backdrop of changing environmental conditions. He has participated in and conducted numerous prehistoric surveys and excavations of Upper Palaeolithic, Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic sites in the southern Levant. These include projects in the Coastal plain, the Rift valley, and the Negev and Sinai deserts. More recently he has completed long-term fieldwork at the PPNB cult and mortuary site of Kfar HaHoresh in Galilee. Lately, together with Güneş Duru, Nurcan Kayacan and Mihriban Özbaşaran he has conducted a prehistoric survey (CAPs) and excavations (Balıklı) aimed at investigating the dynamics of early Holocene initial sedentarising processes atop the central Anatolian plateau in Cappadocia.