Zenobia Jacobs | |
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Born | South Africa |
Nationality | South African-Australian |
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]
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]