Nationality: Zimbabwean

Institution:  University of Cape Town

Department: Department of Geological sciences and Human Evolution Research Institute (HERI)

PAST programme support: Research project support

Project title: Changes in raw material selectivity through time: Contrasting Earlier and Middle Stone Age quartzite use strategies from Tswalu, southern Kalahari.

Facebook: precious.chiwara

Precious Maenzanise completed her BA, BA Special Honours, and Master’s in Archaeology at the University of Zimbabwe before joining the University of Cape Town (UCT) Archaeology Department and Human Evolution Research Institute (HERI), where she completed her doctoral studies in 2023.

Her PhD focused on the cultural information exchange among groups inhabiting discrete Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites in the Kalahari Basin. This research was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Yonatan Sahle and Dr. Jayne Wilkins. Precious’s PhD work was funded by several organizations, including HERI at UCT, GENUS DSI-NRF COE in Palaeosciences, and the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS). She is now a Post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Geological Sciences and HERI at UCT. Her postdoc is a continuation of the work on human evolution in the Kalahari; hence, she is also part of the North of Kuruman Palaeoarchaeology Project, an interdisciplinary research initiative investigating the southern Kalahari of South Africa and drawing attention to the early record of human evolution that extends beyond the coastal regions. Her postdoc is funded by GENUS and PAST.