Mallol graduated from Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain with her BA and MA in Geography and History, followed by an MA in 1999 then PhD in Anthropology at Harvard University in 2004. She was awarded a National Science Foundation grant for her PhD research, comprising a geoarchaeological study of three Lower Paleolithic sites.
Career and research
Since 2014 Mallol has held the position of Ramón y Cajal researcher and lecturer at the University of La Laguna, Spain. Prior to this she was a Juan de La Cierva Post-doc at Universidad de La Laguna, Spain from 2009–2013. From 2006–2008 she held a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France, and from 2004–2005 was ASPR Postdoctoral Fellow Harvard University. Mallol's research focuses on early hominids and pyrotechnology, using soil science and biogeochemistry. She has worked on campfire remains at many Neanderthal sites including in El Salt and Abric del Pastor, near the town of Alcoy, as well as Middle Paleolithic remains in France, Georgia, Armenia and Uzbekistan. She has been Principal Investigator of 3 consecutive major research projects funded by the Leakey Foundation on Neandertal Fire Technology. From 2014-2016:. MISTI Co-PI of a MISTI Global Seeds Fund project on “Paleoenvironmentary and Paleodietary Reconstruction of Early Hominin Sites”, and was awarded a European Research Council Consolidator 2014 grant.
Awards
In 2013 Mallol was awarded The UCLA Cotsen Prize in History. In 2016 she was awarded the IUEM 8th of March Prize, awarded annually by the University Institute of Women's studies of the Universidad de la Laguna with outstanding research records.
Selected publications
Mallol, C. and Goldberg, P.. Caves and Rockshelter Sediments. In C. Nicosia and G. Stoops, Archaeological Soil and Sediment Micromorphology. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, pp. 359-377.
Mallol, C. and Mentzer, S.M.. Contacts under the lens: Perspectives on the role of microstratigraphy in archaeological research. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 9: 1645-1669.
Mallol, C., Mentzer, S.M. and Miller, C.E.. Combustion Features. In C. Nicosia and G. Stoops, Archaeological Soil and Sediment Micromorphology. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, pp. 299-326.
Pérez, L., Sanchis, A., Hernández, C.M., Galván, B., Sala, R. and Mallol, C.. Hearths and bones: An experimental study to explore temporality in archaeological contexts based on taphonomical changes in burnt bones. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports, 11: 287-309.
Mallol, C. and Henry, A.. Ethnoarchaeology of paleolithic fire: methodological considerations. Current Anthropology, 58: 217-229.
Égüez, N., Mallol, C., Martín-Socas, D. and Camalich, M.D.. Radiometric dates and micromorphological evidence for synchronous domestic activity and sheep penning in a Neolithic cave: Cueva del Toro. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 8: 107-123.
Mallol, C. and Hernández, C.. Advances in palimpsest dissection. Quaternary International, 417: 1-2.
Vidal-Matutano, P., Hernández, C.M., Galván, B. and Mallol. Neanderthal firewood management: evidence from Stratigraphic Unit IV of Abric del Pastor. Quaternary Science Reviews, 111: 81-93. Machado, J., Mallol, C. and Hernández, C.M.. Insights into Eurasian Middle Paleolithic Settlement Dynamics: The Palimpsest Problem. In N.J. Conard and A. Delagnes, Settlement Dynamics of the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age. Volume IV. Tübingen: Tübingen Publications in Prehistory, p. 361-382.
Mallol, C.. Aplicaciones en Geoarqueología. In J.C. Loaiza, G. Stoops, R.M. Poch and M. Casamitjana, El Manual de Micromorfología de suelos y técnicas complementarias. Institución Universitaria Pascual Bravo. pp. 321-352.
Adler, D.S., Wilkinson, K.N., Blockley, S., Mark, D.F., Pinhasi, R., Schmidt-Magee, B.A., Nahapetyan, S., Mallol, C., Berna, F., Glauberman, P.J., Raczynski-Henk, Y., Wales, N., Frahm, E., Jöris, O., MacLeod, A., Smith, V.C., Cullen, V.L. and Gasparian, B.. Early Levallois technology and the Lower to Middle Paleolithic transition in the Southern Caucasus. 345: 1609-1613.
Nigst, P.R., Haesaerts, P., Damblon, F., Frank-Fellner, C., Mallol, C., Viola, B., Götzinger, M., Niven, L., Trnka, G. and Hublin, J.-J.. Early modern human settlement of Europe north of the Alps occurred 43,500 years ago in a cold steppe-type environment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111: 14394-14399.
Garralda, M.D., Galván, B., Hernández, C.M., Mallol, C., Gómez, J.A. and Maureille, B. . Neanderthals from El Salt in the context of the latest Middle Palaeolithic populations from the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. Journal of Human Evolution, 75: 1-15.
Galván, B., Hernández, C.M., Mallol, C., Merciers, N., Sistiaga, A. and Soler, V.. New evidence of early Neanderthal disappearance in the Iberian Peninsula. Journal of Human Evolution, 75: 16-27.
Sistiaga, A., Mallol, C., Galván, B. and Summons, R.E.. The Neanderthal meal: a new perspective using faecal biomarkers. PloS ONE, 9-6: e101045-e101045
