Career
Babalola works at the British Museum as an anthropological archaeologist, as of 2025 [update] . He works with material science to research the "history of technological development in premodern West Africa". [2] He is the lead archaeologist for the Museum of West African Art's Archaeology Project in Benin City, Nigeria. [3] [4]
His research, based on work in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, has shown that West African glass production had been developed centuries before European colonialism, challenging prior notions about the history of African technology. [3] [4] The Dan David Prize organisers also noted his public outreach in Nigeria, bringing knowledge from archaeological research to the communities connected to his work. [3] His team found 12,000 glass beads and other production materials from between the 11th and 15th centuries at the Igbo Olokun site, made with high levels of lime and alumina, which only exists in that region. This showed Yoruba scientific and artistic development used local materials, such as feldspar and snail shells. [4]
He has held fellowships at several institutions between 2016 and 2024, including at the University of Cambridge, Harvard University, University College London-Doha, and the Cyprus Institute [1] [4]
