Zenobia Jacobs

Zenobia Jacobs
Born	South Africa
Alma mater	University of Stellenbosch Aberystwyth University, Wales
Occupation(s)	archaeologist and earth scientist

Zenobia Jacobs is a South African-born archaeologist and earth scientist specialising in geochronology. She is a professor at the University of Wollongong, Australia. ^[1]

Education and career

Jacobs graduated from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, in 1998, studying archaeology and geography, and received her PhD from Aberystwyth University, Wales, in 2004.^{[ citation needed ]} She joined the University of Wollongong as a research fellow in 2006 and is currently a professor in the Centre for Archaeological Science and the School of Earth of Environmental Sciences. ^[1] She is also an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow and chief investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage.^{[ citation needed ]} She was awarded the International Union for Quaternary Research's Sir Nick Shackleton Medal in 2009. ^[2]

Jacobs' research traces the evolutionary history of humans using single-grain optically stimulated luminescence dating. ^{[3] [4]} Her work on the Denisovans and Neanderthals has helped establish a timeline of when the two groups of archaic humans were present in southern Siberia and the environmental conditions they faced before going extinct. ^{[5] [6]} She has also contributed to reconstructions of past environments in Africa, ^[7] using ancient high sea-levels as analogues for future trends, ^{[8] [ clarification needed ]} and studies of the ecological footprint of the first humans to reach Australia ^[9] and Madagascar. ^[10]

Selected publications

• Zhang, Dongju; Xia, Huan; Chen, Fahu; Li, Bo; Slon, Viviane; Cheng, Ting; Yang, Ruowei; Jacobs, Zenobia; Dai, Qingyan; Massilani, Diyendo; Shen, Xuke (30 October 2020). "Denisovan DNA in Late Pleistocene sediments from Baishiya Karst Cave on the Tibetan Plateau" . Science. 370 (6516): 584–587. doi:10.1126/science.abb6320. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   33122381. S2CID   225956074.
• Douka, Katerina; Slon, Viviane; Jacobs, Zenobia; Ramsey, Christopher Bronk; Shunkov, Michael V.; Derevianko, Anatoly P.; Mafessoni, Fabrizio; Kozlikin, Maxim B.; Li, Bo; Grün, Rainer; Comeskey, Daniel (2019). "Age estimates for hominin fossils and the onset of the Upper Palaeolithic at Denisova Cave". Nature. 565 (7741): 640–644. Bibcode:2019Natur.565..640D. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0870-z. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   30700871. S2CID   59525455.

References

1. "Professor Zenobia Jacobs - Scholar Profile - University of Wollongong". scholars.uow.edu.au. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
2. "Awards - International Union for Quaternary Research". INQUA. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
3. "Unlocking the history of human evolution, one grain of sand at a time". Times Higher Education (THE). 30 April 2019. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
4. Jacobs, Zenobia; Roberts, Richard G. (2007). "Advances in optically stimulated luminescence dating of individual grains of quartz from archeological deposits" . Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews. 16 (6): 210–223. doi:10.1002/evan.20150. ISSN   1520-6505. S2CID   84231863.
5. "New Studies Reveal Deep History of Denisovans and Neanderthals in Southern Siberia". www.shh.mpg.de. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
6. Gibbons, Ann (29 October 2020). "DNA tracks mysterious Denisovans to Chinese cave, just before modern humans arrived nearby". Science. AAAS. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
7. Jacobs, Zenobia; Roberts, Richard G.; Galbraith, Rex F.; Deacon, Hilary J.; Grün, Rainer; Mackay, Alex; Mitchell, Peter; Vogelsang, Ralf; Wadley, Lyn (31 October 2008). "Ages for the Middle Stone Age of Southern Africa: Implications for Human Behavior and Dispersal". Science. 322 (5902): 733–735. Bibcode:2008Sci...322..733J. doi:10.1126/science.1162219. hdl: 1885/32902 . ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   18974351. S2CID   206514762.
8. Roberts, David L.; Karkanas, Panagiotis; Jacobs, Zenobia; Marean, Curtis W.; Roberts, Richard G. (2012). "Melting ice sheets 400,000 yr ago raised sea level by 13m: Past analogue for future trends" . Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 357–358: 226–237. Bibcode:2012E&PSL.357..226R. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2012.09.006.
9. Clarkson, Chris; Jacobs, Zenobia; Marwick, Ben; Fullagar, Richard; Wallis, Lynley; Smith, Mike; Roberts, Richard G.; Hayes, Elspeth; Lowe, Kelsey; Carah, Xavier; Florin, S. Anna (2017). "Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago". Nature. 547 (7663): 306–310. Bibcode:2017Natur.547..306C. doi:10.1038/nature22968. hdl: 2440/107043 . ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   28726833. S2CID   205257212.
10. Dewar, Robert E.; Radimilahy, Chantal; Wright, Henry T.; Jacobs, Zenobia; Kelly, Gwendolyn O.; Berna, Francesco (30 July 2013). "Stone tools and foraging in northern Madagascar challenge Holocene extinction models". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 110 (31): 12583–12588. Bibcode:2013PNAS..11012583D. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1306100110 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   3732966 . PMID   23858456.