Umberto Lombardo (Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, ICTA‑UAB) has obtained an ERC Consolidator Grant 2021. His project DEMODRIVERS (Drivers of Demographic Dynamics) will study the patterns and drivers of human demographic dynamics in the Bolivian Amazon.

Umberto studied Natural Sciences in Pisa (Italy), getting his degree in 2000. He first arrived in Spain in 1998, with an Erasmus project at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). He worked on a development project in Bolivia from 2001 to 2004, and in 2006 he started working in Academia. In 2012 he received his PhD in Geography at the University of Bern in Switzerland. Since then, he has been working as a postdoc on several research projects, always on the Bolivian Amazon.

Which are the main objectives of DEMODRIVERS?

This five-year interdisciplinary project will investigate the patterns and drivers of human demographic dynamics by focusing on a regional case study, the Llanos de Moxos in the Bolivian Amazon, that has a potentially unparalleled explanatory power. This region at the southwestern end of the Amazon hosts a recently discovered, almost complete archaeological record, made up of 4700 sites spanning 8300 years and distributed over 100,000 km2. This record is unique in the world, offering us the first opportunity to quantify how far demographic trends and patterns responded to exogenous (climate, landscape) and endogenous (culture, technology) variables. This research aims to exploit the full potential of the Llanos de Moxos archaeological record by taking an unconventional approach: the density of the occupation and its spatial and temporal boundaries will be measured by studying 150 stratigraphic cores extracted from 100 evenly distributed archaeological sites.

The project includes 3 periods of fieldwork in the Bolivian Amazon for a total of 9 months. The approach is interdisciplinary, integrating conventional archaeology with state-of-the-art geoarchaeology, biomarkers, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology and artificial intelligence.

Why did you decide to carry out your research at ICTA-UAB?

I am already affiliated with the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA‑UAB) with a María Zambrano grant. This is a multidisciplinary and international centre where there are already several others ERC grantees. This centre, which is a Maria de Maeztu Unit of Excellence, offers state of the art lab facilities and a long experience in managing European projects.

How do you expect this grant will affect your professional career?

This is easily the world’s most prestigious research grant. It allows you to establish a research group and gives you total research freedom. In addition, it normally gives you also a permanent position. For someone in my current situation, a postdoc who goes from contract to contract, it is a total game-changer in both professional and personal terms.

Are you planning to open research positions in your group?

Yes. There will be 5 PhDs, 2 PostDocs and 1 technician. The project is very interdisciplinary, therefore the profiles I will look for go from IT PhD with experience in deep learning to a PostDoc archaeobotanist with good knowledge of neotropical phytoliths and experience in managing archaeological excavations. I will also need a GIS/RS specialist with experience with LIDAR mapping and drones who is able to drive a motorbike offroad and can speak Spanish, a chemist interested in analysing faeces of wild animals to detect specific compounds that are well preserved in sediments, someone with a geology/physics background who will reconstruct past climate using Hydrogen/Deuterium, a paleoecologist who will reconstruct past vegetation using pollen from lakes and so on. It will be a very diverse team.

Are you planning any collaborations?

Yes, the project has several collaborators: one in Italy, two in Germany, one in Bolivia and three in The UK. In the UK I will work with Frank Mayle from Reading University, José Iriarte from Exeter University and Christopher Bronk Ramsey from Oxford University.

Where can we learn more about you and your project?

Twitter (personal account): @Umba_moxos

Twitter (project account): @DEMODRIVERS_ERC

Selected publications

Early Holocene crop cultivation and landscape modification in Amazonia. Lombardo, U., Iriarte, J., Hilbert, L. et al. Nature 581, 190–193 (2020).

Alluvial plain dynamics and human occupation in SW Amazonia during the Holocene: A paleosol-based reconstruction. Lombardo, U., Rodrigues, L., Veit, H. Quaternary Science Reviews 180, 30-41 (2018)

During the following weeks, we will be presenting those researchers working at Spanish institutions that have obtained an ERC Starting or Consolidator Grant 2021 and their projects. You can check their profiles HERE.

Featured image author: Sergio Quezada