Lithic miniaturization provides a universal signature of an MIS4-3 southern dispersal of Homo sapiens
Seminar
Presented in person and online, details below.Fossil and artefactual evidence shows Homo sapiens in Eurasia well before 75 ka. However, genetic evidence suggests all extant non-African populations derive almost all of their ancestry from a dispersal that only diverged in the last 60…
Stretching Cities: On the Neo-Pentecostalization of Urban Space
Seminar
Presented in person and online; details below.Since the latter part of the twentieth century, new forms of Pentecostalism have made their presence felt throughout the globe. No longer world-renouncing, these neo-Pentecostalists have combined religious mission with strategic attempts to intervene in…
Craniofacial development in bats: Insights into the evolution of laryngeal echolocation
Seminar
Presented in person and online, details below.Bats are known for their ability of laryngeal echolocation producing of high-frequency pulses from their larynx and interpreting returning echoes to track their prey and avoid obstacles in the night sky. The evolution of laryngeal echolocation within…
New Thinking About the Origins of Material Symbols
Seminar
At some point our evolutionary past (exactly when is debated, though most would say within the last 200 ky years or so), our ancestors began to regularly produce material symbols (e.g., jewellery, parietal art, etc.). As yet, there's no widely accepted account as to what drove this intuitively…
The temporal ambiguities of Win Neisen. Transformations of historicity in the Paliau Movement (Manus, Papua New Guinea)
Seminar
Presented in person and online. Zoom details below.The temporal ambiguities of Win Neisen. Transformations of historicity in the Paliau Movement (Manus, Papua New Guinea)Win Neisen is a local, indigenously developed church, that is the contemporary manifestation of the well-known Paliau Movement…
Unearthing the Plain of Jars: New Dates, New Finds, New Questions
Seminar
Recent excavations at the Plain of Jars have changed our understanding of this unique megalithic landscape. Archaeological investigations have uncovered buried ceramic and stone jars, mortuary features marked with limestone slabs and boulders, and a diverse array of related material culture.…
“If I Were His Mother”: Race, Kinship and Redemption in Brazil’s Prisons
Seminar
Presented in-person and online. Zoom details below.Why are Brazilian men’s prisons saturated with anxieties about motherhood? Drawing on my forthcoming book—Where the Sun Rises Square: Mass Incarceration and the Binds of Reform in Brazil (Stanford University Press, November 2025)—this…