Research Associates

Research Associates

Prof. Rob Anderson

Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Discipline: intertidal and shallow subtidal marine ecology 

Interests: diet of coastal foragers during the Middle Stone Age on the SA south coas

Dr Hayley Cawthra

Council for Geoscience

Discipline: Geology

Interests: Sedimentary indicators of sea-level change, marine geophysics, seismic stratigraphy, evolution of continental shelves, ​carbonate diagenesis, submerged landscapes and human use of ancient coastlines 

W: Google Scholar

Prof. Naomi Cleghorn

University of Texas at Arlington

Discipline: Archaeology

Specialisation: Human adaptation and response to environmental change in the late Pleistocene

W: http://naomicleghorn.weebly.com/

Prof. Richard Cowling

Nelson Mandela University

Discipline: Botany

Specialisation: Cape evolution

Dr. Jan C. De Vynck

Institution: Nelson Mandela University, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience

Discipline: Human Behavioural Ecology

Interests: Productivity and resilience of intertidal resources available to extant human foragers on South Africa's Cape south coast: behavioural implications for early Homo sapiens

Dr Irene Esteban

University of the Witwatersrand

Discipline: Archaeobotany

Specialisations: Phytolith analysis, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy

Interests: The study of the exploitation and use of plants by past hunter-gatherers and their couple response to vegetation and climate change. The study of plants and surface soils from different types of vegetation as modern analogs for their identification in the fossil record.

W: https://wits.academia.edu/IreneEsteban

W: www.researchgate.net/profile/Irene_Esteban2

W: www.paleoliticovalenciano.es/es 

Dr Charles Helm

Peace Region Palaeontology Research Centre, Tumbler Ridge

Disciplines: Palaeontology and Ichnology

Specialisation: Fossil trackways of the Cape south coast

W: http://www.prprc.com/

Prof. Curtis Marean

Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University

Discipline: Anthropology

Specialisations: Origins of modern human behaviour, paleontology and palaeoenvironments

W: https://webapp4.asu.edu/directory/person/332669

Ms. Navashni Naidoo

Nelson Mandela University

Discipline: Archaeology

Specialisations: African Stone Age archeaology and stable isotopes

Interests: Quaternary climates, human behaviour, fauna and human responses to environmental change.

Dr Frank Neumann

Forschungsstelle für Paläobotanik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster

Discipline: Geology, Palaeontology

Specialisations: Palaeoecology & Palynology of Quaternary, Neogene and Paleogene sites in southern Africa, the Near East and Central Europe

W: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Neumann2

Dr Willo Stear

Principal, Willo & Associates cc

Discipline: Geology

Specialisations: Sedimentary rock formations (and their contained mineral deposits), stratigraphy, sedimentology and palaeo-environmental interpretation

Interests: Palaeosurface analysis (trace fossil tracking), depositional environmental reconstruction, rock-art interpretation, human evolutionary studies and ancient mining, seafaring and mineral trading.

Dr Jan Venter

Chairperson/Director

School of Natural Resource Management, Nelson Mandela University

Discipline: Ecology

Specialisations: Large Mammals and Vertebrate Biodiversity

W: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jan_Venter3

Affiliated Members

Ms Carina Helm

Hatfield Consultants, North Vancouver BC

Discipline: Geography

Specialisations: Applying photogrammetry to the Cape South Coast Ichnology project. Leading topographic and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveys to characterize the topography, bathymetry and grain size of river systems.

Dr Gavin Rishworth

Nelson Mandela University, Department of Zoology

Discipline: Coastal Ecology

Specialisations: Modern microbialites; benthic metazoans; geobiology

Interests: Functional drivers of modern and comparable extinct microbialites, particularly the bioturbation dynamics of associated invertebrates

W: Google Scholar