Dating projects
Bone collagen is extracted and purified prior to dating. Different contaminants are shown here as different colours.
Time lies at the heart of all archaeological investigations.
Based for over 10 years at the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and a member of the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, I gained extensive hands-on experience in developing, testing and mainstreaming new sampling techniques and chemistry protocols for the radiocarbon dating of bone, charcoal and shell, as well as in the Bayesian statistical analysis of radiocarbon data.
With these tools in hand, I have been investigating the timing and nature of major prehistoric population movements, extinctions, and interaction, over the past 100,000 years. Some current research themes include, but are not limited to :
the timing of Homo sapiens expansion across Eurasia and the interaction between modern and archaic human groups (e.g. Neanderthals, Denisovans).
the origins of personal ornamentation and symbolism (marine shell and ostrich eggshell beads, bone points) during the Palaeolithic.
the spread of Neolithic farmers across the Aegean in the early Holocene.
PalaeoChron
Between 2013 and 2017 I worked with the PalaeoChron team at the University of Oxford, funded by a European Research Council project, led by Prof. Tom Higham .
PalaeoChron investigated one of the most intriguing periods of late human evolution, the transition from the Middle to Early Upper Palaeolithic across Eurasia, when Neanderthals and other archaic hominins met Homo sapiens.
We developed and used novel methodologies in radiocarbon and luminescence dating, and applied them on excavated material from over 100 key Palaeolithic sites across Eurasia.
Early Neolithic in the Aegean
The nature, timing and pathways of the Neolithization process (farming economy with cultigens and domesticates, settlements, pottery) across the Aegean have been matters of intense debate since the mid-20th century. The lack of a reliable chronological framework to define these processes has been at the heart of the issue.
In 2013, I initiated a project to tackle this . A small research grant by the John Fell Fund (University of Oxford) accompanied by an Early Career Fellowship at the British School at Athens, enabled a prolonged stay in Greece for the study of relevant literature, as well as the examination and selection of appropriate samples for AMS dating. A first publication of the results was out in 2017 and focused on the site of Knossos (see in Publications). The project is currently expanding in other areas, such as North and Central Greece.
Collaborators: Prof. Catherine Perlès (France) | Prof. Nikos Efstratiou (Greece) | Antikleia Moundrea- Agrafioti (Greece) | Georgia Karamitrou- Mentessidi (Greece)
The Gravettian expansion
Within the framework of the “Ancient Human Occupation Occupation of Britain 3″project and in following years , I worked on the chronology of the Gravettian dispersal in Western, Central and southern Europe and Russia. Over 200 samples from 20 sites were collected from material held in France, the Czech Rep., Russia and Italy. 130 new dates provide a consistent picture for the emergence of the Gravettian between 32 and 34 ka ago.
Collaborators : Dr R. Dinnis, Prof. T. Higham, Prof C. Stringer (UK) | Dr L. Chiotti, Dr R. Nespoulet, Dr N. Goutas, Dr C. Schwab, Dr D. Pesesse (France) | Prof. J. Svoboda, Dr M. Novak (Czech Rep.) | Prof. A. Ronchitelli, Dr P. Boscato, Dr S. Grimaldi, Prof P. Gambassini (Italy) | Prof. A. Buzhilova, Prof. K. Gavrilov, Dr S. Lev, Prof A. Sinitsyn (Russia)
Dating human expansion in Southeast Asia
The role Southeast Asia has played in late human evolution has been updated in recent years, overturning decades-long misconceptions of stagnation in the tropics. Since 2015 I have been revisiting the chronological framework of human presence in late Pleistocene Thailand. Four sites (Tham Lang Rongrien, Moh Khiew, Tham Lod, Lang Kamnan), thought to be occupied between ~50-15,000 years ago, were the focus of this work. Preliminary funding was obtained via a fellowship from the School of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge (Evans Fund Fellowship 2014-15).
More work in South Asia and in particularly Sri Lanka has also helped me place early humans in this dynamic region.
Collaborators : Prof. Rasmi Shoocongdej, Dr Prasit Auetrakulvit (Thailand) | Prof. Charles Higham (NZ) | Michael Petraglia, Patrick Roberts, Oshan Wedage (MPI-SHH & Sri Lanka)