João Zilhão (University of Lisbon)

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João Zilhão, professor of archaeology and expert on Neanderthals, received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa on the 24th February 2026.

Photo : João Zilhão, pictured here in the Ardales Cave in Spain, has contributed to more than 45 years of research in prehistory © Alexa Vachon
João Zilhão, pictured here in the Ardales Cave in Spain, has contributed to more than 45 years of research in prehistory © Alexa Vachon

João Zilhão is an internationally renowned Portuguese archaeologist specialising in European prehistory. Born in Lisbon in 1957, he has devoted most of his career to studying Palaeolithic societies, Neanderthals and the first Homo sapiens populations in Europe. He is currently a Research Professor at the University of Lisbon, having previously taught and conducted research at several European universities, including Bristol and Barcelona.

Trained in archaeology in Portugal, João Zilhão took an early interest in prehistoric archaeology and the Palaeolithic period. He has conducted numerous field studies in the Iberian Peninsula and south-western Europe, combining excavations, chronological analyses and theoretical reflection on human evolution.

His research focuses primarily on the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic periods, the transition between Neanderthals and modern humans, and the chronology and interpretation of Palaeolithic art.
He plays a major role in international scientific debates on the symbolic abilities of Neanderthals, defending the hypothesis of cultural and cognitive continuity between the different human species of the Pleistocene. His work has profoundly contributed to challenging long-dominant models of the sudden replacement of Neanderthal populations by Homo sapiens.

João Zilhão is also recognised for his decisive contributions to the study and preservation of rock engravings in the Côa Valley in Portugal.
Appointed in January 1996 by the Portuguese government, he was tasked with creating the valley's archaeological park, coordinating scientific research on the dating of Palaeolithic rock art, and preparing the site's application for World Heritage status, which was granted in December 1998.
Between 1997 and 2002, he created and directed the Instituto Português de Arqueologia, a department of the Ministry of Culture responsible for supervising archaeological activities at the national level.

Author of over 300 scientific publications, João Zilhão publishes in the most prestigious international journals, such as Science, Nature, PNAS, Current Anthropology and the Journal of Human Evolution.
He is one of the most cited researchers in archaeology worldwide, demonstrating the lasting impact of his work on the discipline.

Winner of the Humboldt Foundation Research Award (2003) for "his past achievements in teaching and research" and winner of the London Prehistoric Society's Europa Award (2005) for "his significant and lasting contribution to the study of European prehistory", he was featured in a profile in Science magazine in 2012.

His ties with the University of Bordeaux are long-standing and formative. Since the late 1990s, he has maintained close collaborations with teams in Bordeaux, resulting in numerous co-publications, joint doctoral supervision, international conferences and participation in scientific evaluation bodies, contributing to the lasting prominence of archaeological research in Bordeaux.

The DHC for Prof. João Zilhão Frances Separovic was proposed by Francesco d'Errico, CNRS Research Director, Professor at the University of Bergen and member of the Prehistory to Present Time: Culture, Environment, Anthropology (PACEA) laboratory (University of Bordeaux, CNRS).