The UCT Department of Archaeology is proud of its student body, which represents the diversity of researchers from South Africa and Africa.

Meet our students in the following cohorts:

Honours students

Cuan Grant Durler
MSA, LSA, lithics and experimental archaeology 

Jack Nicholas Dicey Rutherford

Lahliwe Kumalo
Rock art, human evolution and zooarchaeology

Lyle Petersen 
Bioarchaeology, forensic archaeology

Ongezwa Njongwe
Iron age, LiDAR, earth works, geochemical samples 

Rio Anders 
Forensic, cognitive, bioarchaeology, and paleopathology

Sivarniah Moodley 
Stable isotopes, hydrogen and oxygen isotopes, astroarchaeology

Tariq Miller

Master’s students

Akira Banwari 
Osteoporosis and Paget's disease in South Africa: case studies from the pre-colonial era
Supervisors: Professor Rebecca Rogers Ackermann, Dr Tessa Campbell

Amber Wilson
Using sulphur isotopes as a potential proxy for freshwater fish consumption in hunter gatherer diets 
Supervisors: Professor Judith Sealy, Louisa Hutton 

Bianca Van Harmelen 
An experimental study into the use of drone imagery in researching rock engravings in the Northern Cape
Supervisors: Professor Simon Hall, Dr Vuyiswa Lupuwana

Erin Smith 
Cranial trauma in the South African later stone age: a survey of injury patterns and experimental approaches to weapon identification 
Supervisor:  Associate Professor Deano Stynder 

Henry Keyter
A functional investigation of potential projectile usage at grassridge rock shelter during the late Pleistocene and Holocene occupations
Supervisor: Dr Yonatan Sahle

Jenna Larangeira
Micro-scale perspectives of rural pastoral economies: an investigation of the late 19th and early 20th century karoo corbelled house dwellings, Laxton, Northern Cape 
Supervisors: Dr Vuyiswa Lupuwana, Professor Simon Hall, Patricia Kramer

Juliette Rabie 
Paintings of bags in Western Cape San rock art 
Supervisors: Professor Judith Sealy, Dawn Green 

Keane Wanza 
Comparative palaeoproteomics analysis of ca.3.2 ma faunal material from Hadar, Ethiopia
Supervisor: Professor Rebecca Rogers Ackermann

Kelly-Anne Shaw
A new perspective on the fingers and toes of Homo naledi: a comparative study of the hands and feet of hybrid Macaca malatta
Supervisor: Professor Rebecca Rogers Ackermann

Kirsten Van Der Heyden
Sex estimation using enamel proteomics in early Holocene Khoisan dental remains from Klasies River Mouth 
Supervisor: Professor Rebecca Rogers Ackermann,

Ashley Christowitz
A sense of place: landscape archaeology of Wolwekraal Nature Reserve, Prince Albert 
Supervisor:  Professor John Parkington

Malesela Mogale
An experimental study of the performance of ethnographically known compound adhesives and their implication for archaeology 
Supervisor: Dr Yonatan Sahle

Refiloe Moliea
A continued analysis of a Late Iron Age jewellery cache from Alpha Farm, Heilbron, Free State 
Supervisors: Dr Vuyiswa Lupuwana, Professor Simon Hall

Siobhan Forbes-Wilkinson
³⁴S/³²S as a tracer of aquatic resources in central South Africa
Supervisor: Professor Judith Sealy 

Zarah Abrahams
High resolution analysis of the macrofaunal taphonomy of Boomplaas Cave, Western Cape 
Supervisors:  Associate Professor Deano Stynder, Justin Pargeter, Tyler Faith and Patrick Fahey

Doctoral fellows

Dawit Tibebu
Tracing the origin of early prepared-core technologies 
Supervisor: Dr Yonatan Sahle 

Louisa Hutten
Unravelling pastoralist husbandry: dental analyses
Supervisor: Associate Professor Deano Stynder 

Malefeu Lethuba
Mesowear, microwear and stable isotope analyses of middle Pleistocene elephant teeth 
Supervisors: Associate Professor Deano Stynder, Dr Yonatan Sahle & Dr Julie Luyt

Karyn Moshe
Rocking the boat: a critical analysis of the of the state of maritime archaeology in South Africa; present, past and future perspectives 
Supervisors: Dr Vuyiswa Lupuwana & Professor Simon Hall Professor Amanda Esterhuysen

Christina Mutinda
Paleoecology of Paranthropus boisei as suggested by fossil fauna from Chesowanja, Kenya 
Supervisor: Professor Rebecca Rogers Ackermann

Bedone Mugabe
Beyond provenance: rethinking copper-bronze metallurgy, materiality, use and circulation in Iron Age southern Africa
Supervisors: Dr Vincent Hare & Professor Petrus Le Roux, Dr Jay Stephens

Dawn Green
Personhood and relationship marking practices in rock art of the Maloti-Drakensberg & northeastern Stormberg 
Supervisors: Professor Judith Sealy & Dr Sven Ouzman

Patricia Groenewald
Bone collagen turnover rates in modern humans and their application to archaeology and forensics
Supervisors: Professor Judith Sealy, & Dr Vincent Hare

Leesha Richardson
Middle Stone Age bird and seal exploitation at Klasies River
Supervisor: Professor Judith Sealy

Stephen Wessels
Turning digital space into meaningful place in 3D digital replicas of archaeological sites
Supervisor: Professor John Parkington

Postdoctoral fellows

Dr Anna Kudriavtseva

Dr Behailu Habte
Obsidian geochemical provenancing
Supervisor: Dr Yonatan Sahle 

Dr Maximilian Spies 
Stable isotopes for forensic and archaeological applications in southern Africa
Supervisor: Professor Judith Sealy