Biography

Understanding the origins and development of human uniqueness is the greatest question investigated by archaeology. How did we become human? When did we start creating art, using language, or thinking as we do today?

I investigate this question using archaeological science ultimately to help us understand who we are and where we came from.

In particular, I study some of the earliest tools and body adornments created by human communities across the globe, working out how they were made, how they were used, and what they might have meant to those who owned them.

Collecting this information through microscopic study of the artefacts allows us to reconstruct not only how our minds and societies developed, but also how our ancestors dealt with changing climates, growing populations, natural disasters, and their relationships with their neighbours.

Additionally, I also focus on finding traces of children in the archaeological record. What did kids get up to 10,000 of years ago? What was their role in their communities? Through integrating the study of artefacts with ethnographic, psychological, and sociological literature -- I hope to answer these questions.

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