Dr. Ella Egberts

Topics

I am a geoarchaeologist interested in palaeo-environmental reconstructions and human-environment interactions. My PhD research focused on reconstructing Pleistocene river terrace formation in the Avon valley (UK) to provide a geo-chronological framework for the Palaeolithic record from the region. Since then, I have been involved in various research projects, focussing on human-environment interactions in one way or another. With theBritish Museum’s Girsu Project I have been investigating the ancient canal system and environmental context of the Sumerian city Girsu, Mesopotamia. I assisted with the ‘Rising from the Depths’ project in recording the maritime heritage in the Zanzibar Archipelago, and with the University of Bonn I investigated raw material accessibility and landscape use in Nicaragua. I have combined these projects with working as a lithic specialist in commercial archaeology and as a surveyor at Iv-Groep (a multidisciplinary engineering company).

For my Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions COFUND ImπACT project at the VUB I am currently reconstructing the timing andenvironmental context of the emergence of water management systems in terraced landscapes in Turkey and Cyprus.

I am also running a pilot project funded by the British Institute for the Study of Iraq, conducting geomorphological and palaeolithic survey in the western desert of Iraq.

Education:

PhD – Geoarchaeology (Bournemouth University, UK)

MSc – Archaeology/Palaeoecology (Leiden University, NL)

Ba – Archaeology/Geography (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, BE)

Keywords:

Geoarchaeology, palaeo-environmental reconstructions, fluvial sedimentology, human-environment interactions, OSL dating