Nationality: South African

Institution: University of Johannesburg

Department: Palaeo-Research Institute

PAST programme support: Degree support

Research title: Inside or Outside the Shelter? Different use of spaces at Balerno Main Shelter, middle Limpopo Valley.

Sylvia Ubisse holds a Bachelor of Arts in Archaeology and Geography, and a Bachelor of Arts Honours Archaeology from the University of Pretoria.

Currently, she is a first year Master of Arts student at the University of Johannesburg under the Anthropology department, Palaeo-Research institute. Sylvia is a lithic enthusiastic and developed the love for archaeology in 2019. Sylvia has conducted several field excavations and field research as an Assistant Researcher. Projects she has worked on include: surface recording at an Early Stone Age site in the Greater Kruger in 2019, and excavations in the Mapungubwe Landscape at Little Muck Shelter and Mbere Complex, and Leokwe Hill between 2021 and 2023 under the supervision of Dr Tim Forssman. She has also excavated at a Middle and Later Stone Age site at Holley Shelter, KwaZulu-Natal in 2024, supervised by Dr Gregor Bader and Dr Manuel Will.

Sylvia’s future goal is to be an academic and to show young black women that anyone can be a scientist, no matter the background.