University of Cambridge

Faculty Member, LCHES

Lecturer in Human Evolution

About

My principle research interests are in the evolution of subsistence strategies and human reactions to climate change, with a focus on the interplay between human mobility, settlement and subsistence in relation to environmental changes. Through my zooarchaeological expertise I explore the interaction between society and the environment in diverse geographical regions within Southern Europe, such as mountains, lakes and islands, and in a variety of economic settings, both hunter-gatherer and agricultural, spanning from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic.

I have been working on Upper Palaeolithic subsistence changes in the Italian and Iberian peninsulas, with a special focus on the notion of specialised hunting, using the ibex (wild goat) as a case study, and on settlement patterns in Northeast Italy during the Late Glacial (15,000 – 10,000 BP).

My current project examines the changes in subsistence and settlement patterns during the transition from the Last Glacial Maximum (20,000 BP) to the climatic warming of the Late Glacial, and the significance of the loss of the Adriatic plain with the rise of sea levels. The Italian site of Grotta Paglicci forms the centre of this work.

My interest in environmental archaeology and animal bones have taken me to the Neolithic of Greece where I am involved in two smaller projects centring round the interaction of terrestrial and aquatic economies: one on the Aegean islands (Ftelia, Mykonos) and one on mainland lake settlements (Dispilio, Kastoria).

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