Research interests: Paleoanthropology, African Archaeology, Middle/Later Stone Ages, Pleistocene/Holocene, Zooarchaeology, Taphonomy, Ostrich Eggshell, Technological Innovation, Ornamentation, Experimental Archaeology, Archaeological Science.
I investigate human/hominin behavior, with a particular interest in the environmental and social factors that influences shifts in social connectivity, mobility, subsistence strategies, and material culture. I am interested in archaeological site formation as a product of interactions between human societies, local ecologies, and post-depositional processes. My methods include zooarchaeology, archaeological science, and experimental archaeology to untangle site formation process and human behavior.
I have participated in projects ranging from Middle Stone Age to Medieval contexts across South Africa, Malawi, Italy, Mongolia, Romania, and the USA. My Masters’ thesis examined proxies for nutritional stress in Later Stone Age populations along the South African coastline during interstadial/glacial transitions.
My dissertation research is twofold: I employ experimental archaeology to understand and identify archaeological ostrich eggs utilized as containers through use-wear, organic, and chemical analysis. I investigate human use of ostrich eggs during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene of South Africa, and how climate change and a shifting coastline impacted resource availability and subsequently human subsistence strategies, flask manufacture, and social connectivity.