Excavating the LRJ layers 8 metres deep at Ranis was a logistical challenge and required elaborate scaffolding to support the trench.

Analysis of over 1000 animal bones from Ranis showed that early Homo sapiens processed the carcasses of deer but also of carnivores, including wolf.

Human bone fragment from the new excavations at Ranis.

After chemical preparation and purification, very small samples from animal teeth are loaded into the magazine of an isotope ratio mass spectrometer to obtain oxygen stable isotope ratios, which yield information about past climates that animals lived in.