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Department of Archaeology

 

Biography

I received a BA in Archaeology from the University of York in 2021 before undertaking an MPhil in Archaeology at the University of Cambridge (2022). 

I then spent a year working in commercial archaeology in the UK, and two years as a research assistant on projects in Madrid and Cambridge. This included fieldwork in West Turkana, Kenya.

I am now a NERC CREATES DLA-funded PhD student in the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge (start 2025).

Research

I am interested in human evolution in Africa prior to ~1 Ma. My MPhil thesis focussed on the relationship between H. erectus s.l., the Acheulean, and volcanic eruptions in eastern Africa. Subsequently, I have worked in research teams focussed on Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, and West Turkana in Kenya, and published on both the African Oldowan and British Palaeolithic.

My PhD research focuses on the relationship between hominin evolution and climate/ecology across Africa prior to 1 Ma.

Key Publications

Key publications

Williams, E.M., Key, A., de la Torre, I. and Wood, B., 2025. Who made the Oldowan? Reviewing African hominin fossils and archaeological sites from 3.5 million years ago. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology79, p.101704.

Key, A., Clark, J., Lauer, T., Bates, J., Sier, M.J., Nichols, C., Martín-Ramos, C., Cebeiro, A., Williams, E., Kim, S., Stileman, F., Mika, A., Pope, M., Bridgland, D., Redhouse, D., Leonardi, M., Smith, G.M. and Proffitt T., 2025. Hominin glacial-stage occupation 712,000 to 424,000 years ago at Fordwich Pit, Old Park (Canterbury, UK). Nature Ecology & Evolution, pp.1-10.

Teaching and Supervisions

Research supervision

Primary Supervisor: Dr Alastair Key

Job Titles

PhD Student in Archaeology

General Info

Not available for consultancy
Research Expertise / Fields of study
Paleoanthropology
Human Evolutionary and Behavioural Ecology
Human Evolution
Computational and Quantitative Archaeology

Contact Details

Affiliations

Person keywords
Plio-Pleistocene
Hominin evolution
Climate/niche modelling
Lithics
Subjects
Archaeology
Biological Anthropology
Themes
Human Evolutionary Studies
Geographical areas
Africa
Periods of interest
Palaeolithic/Mesolithic