Andy I.R. Herries at La Trobe Archaeoogy
@ozarchaeomaglab.bsky.social
Palaeoanthropology & Geochronology Professor at La Trobe University Archaeology. Director of the Drimolen Palaeoanthropology Field School, Amanzi Springs & The Australian Archaeomagnetism Laboratory he/him
Australian Opal colours in Adelaide
March 6, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Australian Opal colours in Adelaide
One of the many new MIS 11 Acheulian large cutting tools from Amanzi Springs Area 1. As we enter the last week of excavation we switch from collecting more of these to sampling for micromorphology/geochronology/palaeoenvironments
December 1, 2024 at 11:23 AM
One of the many new MIS 11 Acheulian large cutting tools from Amanzi Springs Area 1. As we enter the last week of excavation we switch from collecting more of these to sampling for micromorphology/geochronology/palaeoenvironments
Come and have a holiday digging with us, we do a lot of GIS, drone mapping and georectified photogrammetry as part of the process, often reaching the limits of the software and technology available to us.
November 27, 2024 at 6:00 AM
Come and have a holiday digging with us, we do a lot of GIS, drone mapping and georectified photogrammetry as part of the process, often reaching the limits of the software and technology available to us.
La Trobe Archaeology student Jaz with her first handaxe discovery from Amanzi Springs Area 1 in South Africa. This central layer has actually been interesting for yielding lots of small flaking debris, and wood, but glad the students finally also got to excavate an Acheulian icon as well.
November 26, 2024 at 1:35 AM
La Trobe Archaeology student Jaz with her first handaxe discovery from Amanzi Springs Area 1 in South Africa. This central layer has actually been interesting for yielding lots of small flaking debris, and wood, but glad the students finally also got to excavate an Acheulian icon as well.
That moment when you find out you have gotten your grant funding and so don't have to frantically write the net one in 3 weeks because your national grant body opens the next round before they have told you the outcome of the last. Anyway, stay tunned for the next 4 years of Drimolen research.
November 26, 2024 at 12:59 AM
That moment when you find out you have gotten your grant funding and so don't have to frantically write the net one in 3 weeks because your national grant body opens the next round before they have told you the outcome of the last. Anyway, stay tunned for the next 4 years of Drimolen research.
One of the large cutting tools we just recovered from a new layer, >400,000 years old, at Amanzi Springs Area 1 in South Africa.
November 26, 2024 at 12:00 AM
One of the large cutting tools we just recovered from a new layer, >400,000 years old, at Amanzi Springs Area 1 in South Africa.
Amanzi Springs can be a cruel and unpredictable site. In the right hand corner is the edge of Deacon’s 1960s trench where he seemingly found no archaeology. In the top right is our current excavation, with artefacts 30cm below the surface. Just under our feet the whole time.
November 25, 2024 at 10:54 AM
Amanzi Springs can be a cruel and unpredictable site. In the right hand corner is the edge of Deacon’s 1960s trench where he seemingly found no archaeology. In the top right is our current excavation, with artefacts 30cm below the surface. Just under our feet the whole time.
La Trobe University Archaeology student Sarah with her first handaxe from Amanzi Springs Area 1, in layers we now believe to be older than 400,000 years.
November 24, 2024 at 2:34 PM
La Trobe University Archaeology student Sarah with her first handaxe from Amanzi Springs Area 1, in layers we now believe to be older than 400,000 years.
The first ever photo of a large cutting tool that I took at Amanzi Springs, when I first surveyed the site in 2015 with Matt Caruana of the University of Johannebsurg. This was 50 years after the last work at the site by Hilary Deacon for his masters project in 1965.
November 20, 2024 at 1:22 PM
The first ever photo of a large cutting tool that I took at Amanzi Springs, when I first surveyed the site in 2015 with Matt Caruana of the University of Johannebsurg. This was 50 years after the last work at the site by Hilary Deacon for his masters project in 1965.
New paper led by my PhD student Coen Wilson: "An Actualistic Experimental Study of Giant Quartzite Core Reduction Strategies: Implications for Large Flake Blank Production and Handaxe Manufacture at Amanzi Springs, South Africa"
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
November 20, 2024 at 1:13 PM
New paper led by my PhD student Coen Wilson: "An Actualistic Experimental Study of Giant Quartzite Core Reduction Strategies: Implications for Large Flake Blank Production and Handaxe Manufacture at Amanzi Springs, South Africa"
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
New paper led by my PhD student, Coen Wilson: Why large Flakes? Later Acheulian handaxe manufacture at Amanzi Springs, Area 2 (Eastern Cape, South Africa)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 20, 2024 at 1:11 PM
New paper led by my PhD student, Coen Wilson: Why large Flakes? Later Acheulian handaxe manufacture at Amanzi Springs, Area 2 (Eastern Cape, South Africa)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Paper led by my now-graduated PhD student Jesse Martin where we argue that the SK 54 cranium from Swartkrans in South Africa is Homo, not Paranthropus. www.scielo.org.za/pdf/sajs/v12...
November 20, 2024 at 9:26 AM
Paper led by my now-graduated PhD student Jesse Martin where we argue that the SK 54 cranium from Swartkrans in South Africa is Homo, not Paranthropus. www.scielo.org.za/pdf/sajs/v12...
This little Acheulian handaxe was the last stone tool to come from our new >400 ka layer at Amanzi Springs Area 7. While excavations into the wood layers continue at Area 7 we have begun excavation in Area 1 again for the first time in 5 years, which also yielded wood.
November 19, 2024 at 3:17 PM
This little Acheulian handaxe was the last stone tool to come from our new >400 ka layer at Amanzi Springs Area 7. While excavations into the wood layers continue at Area 7 we have begun excavation in Area 1 again for the first time in 5 years, which also yielded wood.
Flew up to Johannesburg this week for a meeting with a colleague and show him the Drimolen hominins, including this new mandible of Paranthropus from the 2023 Field School. Applications for June 2025 are open soon.
November 16, 2024 at 3:07 PM
Flew up to Johannesburg this week for a meeting with a colleague and show him the Drimolen hominins, including this new mandible of Paranthropus from the 2023 Field School. Applications for June 2025 are open soon.
One of the many large cutting tools we lifted today from the >400 ka levels at Amanzi Springs Area 7 in South Africa.
November 16, 2024 at 3:00 PM
One of the many large cutting tools we lifted today from the >400 ka levels at Amanzi Springs Area 7 in South Africa.
400,000 (MIS 11) wood associated with Acheulian stone tools being excavated from Amanzi Springs Area 7 in South Africa by La Trobe Univetsity and the University of Johannesburg
November 16, 2024 at 9:27 AM
400,000 (MIS 11) wood associated with Acheulian stone tools being excavated from Amanzi Springs Area 7 in South Africa by La Trobe Univetsity and the University of Johannesburg
The floor of Acheulian artefacts we are getting close to lifting from Amanzi Springs Area 7 in South Africa. They are older than 400,000 years old.
November 16, 2024 at 9:10 AM
The floor of Acheulian artefacts we are getting close to lifting from Amanzi Springs Area 7 in South Africa. They are older than 400,000 years old.
Some of the Large Cutting tools being unearthed by joint La Trobe University & University of Johannesburg excavations from a new layer at Amanzi Springs Area 7, older than 400,000 years.
November 15, 2024 at 3:15 AM
Some of the Large Cutting tools being unearthed by joint La Trobe University & University of Johannesburg excavations from a new layer at Amanzi Springs Area 7, older than 400,000 years.
As we head towards (4 weeks away) the 2024
La Trobe, University of Johannesburg, Wustl Palaeoanthropology Field School at Drimolen in South Africa here are some shots from last years excavations:
La Trobe student Wiktoria finds the first hominin, a Paranthropus partial maxilla.
La Trobe, University of Johannesburg, Wustl Palaeoanthropology Field School at Drimolen in South Africa here are some shots from last years excavations:
La Trobe student Wiktoria finds the first hominin, a Paranthropus partial maxilla.
May 13, 2024 at 6:15 AM
As we head towards (4 weeks away) the 2024
La Trobe, University of Johannesburg, Wustl Palaeoanthropology Field School at Drimolen in South Africa here are some shots from last years excavations:
La Trobe student Wiktoria finds the first hominin, a Paranthropus partial maxilla.
La Trobe, University of Johannesburg, Wustl Palaeoanthropology Field School at Drimolen in South Africa here are some shots from last years excavations:
La Trobe student Wiktoria finds the first hominin, a Paranthropus partial maxilla.
Liberator
March 16, 2024 at 11:19 PM
Liberator
Just over a week till ASAP returns to Amanzi Springs in South Africa to excavate more of Area 2. After the first discovery of MSA artefacts last year at Area 2 we will be excavating layers younger than 290 ka to fully understand this period
October 19, 2023 at 10:18 PM
Just over a week till ASAP returns to Amanzi Springs in South Africa to excavate more of Area 2. After the first discovery of MSA artefacts last year at Area 2 we will be excavating layers younger than 290 ka to fully understand this period
NEW ~2 Ma HOMININ FOSSILS from DRIMOLEN: Our latest open access paper publishing the dental remains from the Drimolen Main Quarry in South Africa. This includes the first hominin I found at the site, DNH 122, isn't it a beauty! tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....
October 10, 2023 at 2:00 AM
NEW ~2 Ma HOMININ FOSSILS from DRIMOLEN: Our latest open access paper publishing the dental remains from the Drimolen Main Quarry in South Africa. This includes the first hominin I found at the site, DNH 122, isn't it a beauty! tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....
Similar aged ~2 million year old juvenile Homo erectus (DNH 134) from Drimolen & juvenile Paranthropus robustus (KW 9000/9600) from Kromdraai #fossilfriday
October 6, 2023 at 11:15 AM
Similar aged ~2 million year old juvenile Homo erectus (DNH 134) from Drimolen & juvenile Paranthropus robustus (KW 9000/9600) from Kromdraai #fossilfriday
When a new fossil find of Paranthropus robustus from Drimolen becomes a tattoo on the student who found it. Not sure this is how I planned to change people's lives.
October 1, 2023 at 11:12 AM
When a new fossil find of Paranthropus robustus from Drimolen becomes a tattoo on the student who found it. Not sure this is how I planned to change people's lives.