{"id":1614,"date":"2026-06-11T16:49:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T15:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/?p=1614"},"modified":"2026-06-11T16:49:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T15:49:50","slug":"an-introduction-to-the-aqhci","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/palaeoclimate\/an-introduction-to-the-aqhci\/","title":{"rendered":"An Introduction to the African Quaternary Human\u2013Climate Interactions Network"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction to EcoArch and AQHCI<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the first week of June, members of the SPECIAL research team travelled to Nairobi, Kenya, to participate in the kick-off meeting of the EcoArch project.<\/p>\n

EcoArch is the latest initiative involving the SPECIAL team and aims to apply palaeoenvironmental methods to investigate the interactions between humans, climate, and fire during the Holocene across the Afrotropics. (You can read more about the successful grant application involving the University of Oslo and Pennsylvania State University here.)<\/a><\/p>\n

A central goal of the meeting was to formally establish the African Quaternary Human\u2013Climate Interactions network (AQHCI). This network brings together a diverse group of sub-awardee partners from across Africa, who will generate regionally distributed datasets on fire activity, climate variability, and human\u2013environment interactions over the last ~6000 years, particularly in areas beyond the primary EcoArch study regions.<\/p>\n

Participants included researchers from Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Benin, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The meeting provided an opportunity for each partner to present their proposed research, receive feedback, and identify opportunities for collaboration across sites and disciplines.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoyed meeting up with old friends and collaborators at the EcoArch kick-off meeting in Nairobi, as well as the chance to meet new collaborators from the AQHCI. It was exciting to find out more about the AQHCI projects and see how they will expand the geographic coverage of EcoArch and to connect with some really enthusiastic young African scientists.\u201d \u2013 Professor Sandy Harrison, EcoArch PI and SPECIAL PI.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Fig 1: Arrival at the University of Nairobi conference centre where we were hosted for the duration of the kick-off meeting.<\/em><\/p>\n

Meeting Aims and Highlights<\/strong><\/p>\n

The workshop combined methodological exchange and technical explanations. Sessions focused on outlining research designs, discussing lessons learnt from time spent in the field, and introducing key analytical techniques that will underpin EcoArch reconstructions of past environments and human activity.<\/p>\n

Approaches to Sampling<\/strong><\/p>\n

A major theme of the meeting was the discussion of sampling strategies. As each partner will generate their own sediment cores and associated proxy datasets, good methodology is critical for comparison between sites and continental scale analysis.<\/p>\n

EcoArch lead PI, David Wright, introduced the framework of \u201con-site, near-site, and off-site\u201d<\/em> sampling. This approach emphasises sampling not only directly at archaeological locations, but also across at an increasing distance from the site of interest. This will allow scientists on the project to develop a picture of the range of human impact on the landscape.<\/p>\n

Discussions also highlighted the importance of:<\/p>\n