"In the last decade there has been an explosion of interest into the role played by coastal ecosystems in the lives of hunter-gatherers. Studies have highlighted the importance of ecological, physical and climatic conditions of coastal areas on the biological evolution, dispersion, survival and social development of earliest humans. This new research direction offered more nuanced investigations: how important are coastal resources for humans with a shared cultural identity but living in different ecosystems? Do the social response to different coastal habitats changes over space and time? COREBRAS project aims to address these interrogatives to South America archaeology and specifically to Brazilian sambaquis. Sambaquis are cultural shell middens left by hunter-gatherer-fishers (HGF) that inhabited Brazilian coasts between ca. 8-1 ka BP. They represent the world’s largest evidence of prehistoric reliance on coastal resources. By undertaking these interrogatives, COREBRAS will provide new skills on human ecology and on the global role of coastal areas in the complex humankind’s adaptation to different environmental and climate conditions. COREBRAS will for the first time transfer scientific knowledge from European developments in biomolecular archaeology to Brazilian issues by mean of an extensive program of analysis on sambaquis (Human, fauna and artefact remains). With this aims I will exploit the remarkable concentration of expertise at the University of York (UK), the world’s leader in biomolecular archaeology. The proposed project represents a unique opportunity for cross-European integration of the study of one of the major forms of prehistoric site. The trained I will receive at the BioArCh group (University of York) in different biomolecular techniques will provide me multiple skills and competences to face objectives of COREBRAS project and enhance my interdisciplinary career opportunity within and outside the European scientific community."