It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the passing of Professor David Lubell on 3 September 2025, at the age of 83. David was Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Alberta and a dear colleague to many of us.
David began teaching in 1969 in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Alberta, where he also served as Chair for ten years. In 2005 he moved to the University of Waterloo, where he taught as Adjunct Professor. His research focused on the late Pleistocene–early Holocene prehistory of the western Mediterranean, with a special focus on southern Europe and the Maghreb. A specialist in lithic analysis, he was also deeply interested in palaeoeconomies, including the use of land snails as a food resource in Capsian contexts of the eastern Maghreb.
Between 1972 and 1979, David carried out an extraordinary series of excavations in eastern Algeria. These projects were pioneering, laying the foundations for the first successful multidisciplinary approaches in the region and influencing research far beyond. Among his most significant contributions was his major monograph on the Holocene prehistory of the Télidjène Basin, alongside numerous influential articles on human–environmental relationships during the Holocene transition. His work integrated palaeoecological, palaeoeconomic, and bioarchaeological data from key sites such as Kef Zoura D and Ain Mesteheya. Just before his 81st birthday, David entrusted the records from these excavations to CNRPAH (formerly CRAPE), the institution that had supported his fieldwork in the 1970s.
David also served as editor of Nyame Akuma for many years and sat on the editorial boards of African Archaeological Review and later Mesolithic Miscellany, after redirecting his research from Algeria to Italy, Spain, and Portugal. He continued to publish actively until his final days, while also devoting much of his energy to volunteering and advocating for public health care.
We have lost not only a remarkable scholar but also a generous and supportive colleague. Our heartfelt condolences go to David’s family and to the wide community of friends and collaborators whose lives he touched.
Latifa Sari
Director of Research – CNRPAH
Vice President of the UISPP ACSPT Commission