PalaeoChron

I joined PalaeoChron in January 2015 and am investigating the archaeology of the sites that are of interest to the project. This involves researching the assemblages (especially stone tool assemblages) found at each site and evaluating their attributions to particular archaeological cultures, including whether they were created by Neanderthals or modern humans. It also involves considering the availability of material for direct dating by the project. From January 2016 I am based at the Université Bordeaux on a Fondation Fyssen post-doctoral fellowship. 

Education and Previous Work

My doctoral research at Oxford examined the Mid Upper Palaeolithic of European Russia (ca. 34,000-24,000 years ago), by studying backed lithics from five Gravettian sites (Khotylëvo 2, Kostënki 4, Kostënki 8 Layer 2, Kostënki 9 and Kostënki 21 Layer 3) and re-evaluating the chronology of the period.

My interests include lithic analysis, Palaeolithic chronology, cultural variation and change, the impacts of past climate change on human populations, and human migration and interaction during the Palaeolithic. I use my Russian and other language skills to synthesize previous research undertaken from historically distinct theoretical viewpoints. I am interested in the differences between Soviet, post-Soviet and Western approaches to archaeology and how these can best be integrated.

Before coming to Oxford to undertake my DPhil I studied at the University of Sheffield (BA Archaeology and Slavonic Studies) and at UCL (MSc Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic Archaeology). I have taken part in excavations at sites in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Russia and Ireland.