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Dr Nicole Boivin
Senior Research Fellow
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art
New Barnett House, 28 Little Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX1 2HU
New Barnett House, 28 Little Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX1 2HU
phone: 01865 275377
fax: 01865 285220
email: nicole.boivin@rlaha.ox.ac.uk
Research Interests
Prehistoric archaeology, maritime prehistory, the relationship between human activity and environmental change, archaeological theory, molecular genetics, bridging the sciences and humanities, material culture, ethics and the relevance of archaeology
Primary Geographic Areas
South Asia, Arabia, East Africa, Indian Ocean
Current grants
- 2008-2013 European Research Council (ERC);
- Starting Independent Researcher Grant; “Bridging continents across the sea: Multidisciplinary perspectives on the prehistoric emergence of
long-distance maritime contacts in the Indian Ocean”; – Principal Investigator
- 2008-2012 Australian Research Council;
- Discovery Project; “Assessing lithic evidence for the impact of the Toba Super-eruption (74,000 years ago) on long-term cultural, biological and ecological histories in the Indian subcontinent” – Co-Investigator (with Christopher Clarkson (PI) and Michael Petraglia)
Current projects
- Director, SEALINKS Project (2008-present)
- Co-director, South Deccan Prehistory Project (2002-present)
- Co-director, Kurnool District Archaeological Project, Son Valley Archaeological Project (2003-present)
- Co-director, Iberia-Africa Connections Project, Gibraltar (2007- present)
Publications
Journal Articles & Conference Proceedings
- 2013
- , (2013), Human dispersal across diverse environments of Asia during the Upper Pleistocene, Quaternary International,
- , (2013), Mid-Holocene age obtained for nested diamond pattern petroglyph in the Billasurgam Cave complex, Kurnool District, southern India, Journal of Archaeological Science, 40,1787-1796
- 2012
- , (2012), Old World globalization and the Columbian Exchange: Comparison and contrast, World Archaeology, 44 (3),452-69
- , (2012), A southern Indian Middle Palaeolithic occupation surface sealed by the 74 ka Toba eruption: Further evidence from Jwalapuram Locality 22, Quaternary International, 258,148-164
- , (2012), Exploring agriculture, interaction and trade on the eastern African littoral: Preliminary results from Kenya, Azania, 41 (1),39-63
- , (2012), Lithic Technology and Social Transformations in the South Indian Neolithic: The Evidence from Sanganakallu-Kupgal, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology , 31 (2),156-173
- 2011
- , (2011), Across the Indian Ocean: The prehistoric plants and animals, Antiquity, 85,544-558
- , (2011), Late Acheulean hominins at the Marine Isotope Stage 6/5e transition in north-central India, Quaternary Research, 75: 670-682
- 2010
- , (2010), Systematic transect survey enhances the investigation of rock art in its landscape: An example from the Katavani Kunta valley, Kurnool District, Man and Environment, 34 (2),1-12
- , (2010), The Sealinks Project: Exploring the early Indian Ocean, British Institute in Eastern Africa News, 10,1-12
- , (2010), Out of Africa: new hypotheses and evidence for the dispersal of Homo sapiens along the Indian Ocean rim, Annals of Human Biology, 37(3),288-311
- , (2010), Continuity, change and cultural connections to painted rock art of the Kurnool area, one of south India's little known rock art provinces, Antiquity, 84,335-350
- 2009
- , (2009), Grasping the elusive and unknowable: Material culture in ritual practice, Material Religion, 5(3),266-287
- , (2009), Shell middens, ships and seeds: Exploring coastal subsistence, maritime trade and the dispersal of domesticates in and around the ancient Arabian peninsula, Journal of World Prehistory, 22, 113-180
- , (2009), Zebu are the exclusive legacy of the South Asian Neolithic, Molecular Biology and Evolution, 27(1),1-6
- , (2009), The oldest and longest enduring microlithic sequence in India: 35000 years of modern human occupation and change at the Jwalapuram Locality 9 rockshelter, Antiquity, 83,326-348
- , (2009), Population increase and environmental deterioration correspond with microlithic innovations in South Asia ca. 35,000 years ago, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106,12261-12266
- , (2009), Pleistocene and Holocene occupations of the Kurnool District India: Cave and rockshelter records, the Toba super-eruption and forager-farmer interactions, Journal of Eurasian Prehistory, 6(1-2),119-166
- , (2009), The prehistoric axe factory at Sanganakallu-Kupgal (Bellary District), southern India, Internet Archaeology, 26
- 2008
- , (2008), Successfully negotiating international archaeological collaboration: An East-West example, The SAA Archaeological Record, 8(2),8-11
- , (2008), First farmers in south India: The rol eof internal processes and external influences inthe emergence of the earliest settled societies, Praghara, 18,179-200
- , (2008), Pleistocene and Holocene occupations of the Kurnool District India: Cave and rockshelter records, the Toba super-eruption and forager-farmer interactions, Journal of Eurasian Prehistory,
- 2007
- , (2007), Sensual, material and technological understanding: Exploring prehistoric soundscapes in south India, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 13(2),267-294
- , (2007), Stone axe technology in Neolithic south India: Evidence from the Sanganakallu-Kupgal area, mid-eastern Karnataka, Asian Perspectives, 46(1),65-95
- , (2007), Dating the Neolithic of South India: New radiometric evidence for key economic, social and ritual transformations, Antiquity, 81,755-778
- , (2007), Middle Palaeolithic assemblages from the Indian subcontinent before and after the Toba super-eruption, Science, 317,114-116
- 2006
- , (2006), Shamanism and Indian rock art. Comment on Lewis-Williams “Shamanism: A contested concept in archaeology”, Before Farming, 2006/4,article 2
- , (2006), Further research on the Southern Neolithic and the Ashmound Tradition: The Sanganakallu-Kupgal Archaeological Research Project interim report, Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in History and Archaeology, 2(1),63-92
- , (2006), Signs of life: Engraved stone artefacts from Neolithic south India, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 16(2),165-190
- 2005
- , (2005), Post-textual archaeology and archaeological science, Archaeometry, 47(1),175-179
- , (2005), Orientalism, ideology and agency: Examining caste in South Asian archaeology, Journal of Social Archaeology, 5(2),225-252
- , (2005), Fire, cattle and domestication in prehistoric India: Report on the 2004 Southern Neolithic conference in Cambridge, Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in History and Archaeology, 1(2),149-152
- 2004
- , (2004), Landscape and cosmology in the south Indian Neolithic: New perspectives on the Deccan ashmounds, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 14(02),235-257
- , (2004), Rock art and rock music: petroglyphs of the South Indian Neolithic, Antiquity, 78 (229),38-53
- 2003
- , (2003), Megalithic markings in context: graffiti marks on burial pots from Kudatini, Karnataka, South Asian Studies, 19, 1-12
- , (2003), Skeletal remains from the Kudatini sarcophagus burial, Puratattva, 33,74-83
- 2002
- , (2002), Exploring Neolithic and Megalithic South India: the Bellary District Archaeological Project, Antiquity, 76,937-8
Published Books
- 2008
- , (2008), Material Cultures, Material Minds: The Role of Things in Human Thought, Society and Evolution, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- 2004
- , (2004), Soils, Stones and Symbols: Cultural Perceptions of the Mineral World, London: University College London Press
Contributions to Edited Books
- 2012
- , (2012), Rock art research in India: Historical approaches and recent theoretical directions: in “A Companion to Rock Art (eds. McDonald, J., & Veth, P.)”, pp 179-196, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
- 2011
- , (2011), The prehistoric axe factory at Sanganakallu-Kupgal (Bellary District), Southern India: in “Stone Axe Studies III (eds. Davis, V. & Edmonds, M.)”, pp , London: Oxbow.
- 2010
- , (2010), Indian lithic technology prior to the 74,000 BP Toba super-eruption: Searching for an early modern human signature: in “Upper Palaeolithic Revolution in Global Perspective: Essays in Honour of Paul Mellars (eds. C. Boyle, C. Gamble & O. Bar-Yosef, O). ”, pp 73-84, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research: Cambridge.
- , (2010), The malice of inaminate objects: Material agency: in “The Oxford Handbook of Material Culture Studies (eds. Hicks, D. and Beaudry, M.)”, pp 333-351, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- 2009
- , (2009), Archaeological, linguistic and historical sources on ancient seafaring: A multidisciplinary approach to the study of early maritime contact and exchange in the Arabian peninsula: in “The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia, eds. M. Petraglia & J. Rose”, pp 251-278, New York: Springer.
- , (2009), Re-examining rock art studies in India: A case study from Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh: in “Recent Research Trends in South Asian Archaeology; K. Paddayya, P.P. Joglekar, K.K. Basa & R. Sewant”, pp 261-278, Pune: Deccan.
- , (2009), Crops, cattle and commensals across the Indian Ocean: Current and potential archaeobiological evidence: in “Etudes Océan Indien no 42/43: Plantes et Sociétés”, pp , Paris : Centre d’Études et de Recherche sur L’ Océan Indien Occidental (CEROI).
- 2007
- , (2007), Anthropological, historical, archaeological and genetic perspectives on the origins of caste in south Asia: in “The Evolution and History of Human Populations in South Asia; eds. M. Petraglia & B. Allchin”, pp 341-361, New York: Springer.
- , (2007), Comments on the incised stone axe found in Tamil Nadu in 2006 and the claim that it contains an inscription in the classical Indus script: in “Linguistics, Archaeology and the Human Past, ed. T. Osada. Indus project, Occasional Paper 2”, pp 13-20, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan.
- 2004
- , (2004), From veneration to exploitation: Human engagement with the mineral world: in “Soils, Stones and Symbols: Cultural Perceptions of the Mineral World; eds. N. Boivin & M. Owoc”, pp 165-86, London: UCL Press.
- , (2004), Mind over matter? Collapsing the mind-matter dichotomy in material culture studies: in “Rethinking Materiality: The Engagement of Mind with the Material World; eds. E. DeMarrais, C. Gosden, & C. Renfrew”, pp 63-71, Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monograph.
- , (2004), Geoarchaeology and the goddess Laksmi: Rajasthani insights into geoarchaeological methods and prehistoric soil use.: in “Soils, Stones and Symbols: Cultural Perceptions of the Mineral World; eds. N. Boivin & M. Owoc”, pp 1-30, London: UCL Press.
- 2002
- , (2002), Beyond description and diffusion: A history of processual theory in the archaeology of South Asia: in “Indian Archaeology in Retrospect, Volume IV: Archaeology and Historiography; eds. S. Settar & R. Korisettar”, pp 161-90, New Delhi: Manohar.
- , (2002), Beyond description and diffusion: A history of processual theory in the archaeology of South Asia: in “Indian Archaeology in Retrospect, Volume IV: Archaeology and Historiography, eds. S. Settar & R. Korisettar”, pp 161-190, New Delhi: Manohar.