Nationality: South African

Institution: University of Witwatersrand

Department: Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI)

PAST programme support: Conferences and workshops: The International Council for Archaeozoology

Research title: Distinguishing human and brown hyaena (Parahyaena brunnea) faunal accumulations from Middle Stone Age rockshelters in South Africa

“I am a zooarchaeologist at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. I specialise in the analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites to understand past human-environment interactions, subsistence strategies, and environmental change in southern Africa.”

My research spans multiple time periods, with a particular focus on the Iron Age, Later Stone Age, Middle Stone Age, Early Pleistocene and historical archaeology. I have contributed to numerous multidisciplinary projects that explore themes such as animal domestication, hunting practices, and the ecological impacts of past societies. My work draws on methods from both archaeology and zoology, combining morphological identification with ecological and taphonomic analysis. I have worked on material from a wide range of sites, including rock shelters and open-air settlements across southern Africa. At the Evolutionary Studies Institute, I supervise postgraduate research in zooarchaeology and related fields. In addition to academic publishing, I am active in public outreach and science communication, regularly engaging with broader audiences through talks, interviews, and writing.