I am a Senior Lecturer in Palaeolithic Archaeology at the University of Liverpool.

I hold a BA in Archaeology from Durham University, and an MPhil and PhD (2013) from the University of Cambridge. From 2013-2016, I was a Research Fellow in Archaeology and Anthropology at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge, where I was also Director of Studies for Human, Social, and Political Sciences. From 2016-2020 I was based at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, first as a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow (ECF-2016-128), and then as the recipient of  a Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Wenner-Gren Foundation.

Within the broad area of Palaeolithic archaeology, my research focuses on archaeological demography, hunter-gatherer studies, and the methodological and theoretical challenges of the archaeology of archaic hominins. These three strands are combined in my new monograph “Palaeolithic Europe: A Demographic and Social Prehistory” (Cambridge University Press, World Archaeology Series). In this volume, I develop a new four-stage model of the population history of Europe between ~1.8 million and 15,000 years ago, using demography as the lens through which to examine Palaeolithic societies, and the relationship(s) between people, material culture, and the environment. Details of this book, and the project from which it derives, can be found under the “Palaeolithic Europe” tab.

From January 2023, I am the Co-I of one of the work packages within the multinational research project “Concepts in Dynamic Assemblages: Cultural Evolution and the Human Way of Being”, funded by the John Templeton Foundation. Along with colleagues at Appalachian State University (USA), this work package will investigate early technologies and the continued role of technology within the human niche through the lens of ‘concepts’ , connecting theory and methods from archaeology, palaeoanthropology, ethnography and cultural evolution.  Specifically, this project focuses on the technological concept of ‘containment’ and on the role of containment technologies in our evolutionary past from both a theoretical and materials perspective. Further information about the wider project can be found here. 

Other ongoing research projects include the study of adolescents and adolescence as a social and biological phenomena in the European Upper Palaeolithic, and the emergence of sex/gender roles in our evolutionary past, and how these relate to concepts of power and personhood.

I am also an active field researcher currently conducting field research at the early prehistoric site of Wogan Cavern (Pembroke, Wales). For further information see our project website.

More information about my research, fieldwork, teaching experience and approach to teaching can be found on my departmental web page. 

If you are a fellow researcher with similar interests looking to collaborate or have any questions about my work, please get in touch via the Contact tab.

For further updates on my research please check my Twitter page.