Current affiliation: University of California, Santa Cruz
Research description: My research focuses on the cognitive evolution of the genus Homo through changing patterns of stone tool production in the Oldowan and subsequent technologies. Using an experimental approach to stone tool production, I am interested in quantifying production behaviors associated with stone tool manufacture. This allows for patterns of production to be statistically compared between archaeological sites across space and through time.
My current research focuses on Oldowan assemblages from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania and Koobi Fora, Kenya. I am also expanding this kind of analysis to reconstruct production patterns of micro drills in the California Channel Islands, which will demonstrate the efficacy of this lithic analytical methodology.