Dr Bastiaan van Dalen

bastiaan van dalen
Research Associate
Sponsor: Prof Peter Mitchell and Dr Alexander Geurds

Research Interests
Archaeology of sustainability; Deep-time sustainability dynamics; Sustainability science; Human ecodynamics; Historical ecology; Tropical forest archaeology; Island archaeology; Understudied biodiversity hotspots; São Tomé and Príncipe (Gulf of Guinea); Quantitative analysis (R & GIS); Applied archaeology

Geographic Areas
Tropical forests around the world, with a specific interest in the Gulf of Guinea and the Neotropics.
 

Research Profile

Bastiaan is a Research Associate at the School of Archaeology, University of Oxford and also active as a professional archaeologist at EARTH Integrated Archaeology. His academic research focuses on advancing our understanding of deep-time sustainability dynamics by integrating paleoecology, archaeology, and sustainability science, with a particular emphasis on tropical forest ecosystems.

He undertook an MPhil in Archaeology at the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Applied Landscape Archaeology at the University of Oxford, and a PhD at the University of Exeter. With his doctoral research, Bastiaan developed novel data-driven methodologies to systematically analyse sustainability – encompassing environmental, economic, and social dimensions – across temporal and spatial scales. He has also led and participated in fieldwork across the Americas, Africa, and the Middle East, and has engaged with the media through regional television and radio appearances, print articles, and various social media platforms.

Building on this foundation, his current research focuses on human-environment dynamics in understudied biodiversity hotspots – specifically São Tomé and Príncipe – within the Gulf of Guinea and applying historical perspectives to contemporary challenges in collaboration with local stakeholders.

Selected Publications
van Dalen, B. & Roberts, P. (2023). Prehistoric Human Development and Sustainability. In R. Brinkmann (Ed.) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Sustainability (pp. 1-40). Cham: Springer.

Cruz, M. D., Castilla-Beltrán, A., van Dalen, B., Swanborn, D., Bosco, L. B., de Lima, R. F. & Nogué, S. (2024). First paleoenvironmental and archaeological investigations in the Gulf of Guinea Islands and their potential to reveal land use change and human impacts. In C. Costa, Rufà, A., García-Suárez, A. & Kabukcu, C. (Eds.), Cross-disciplinary research in Environmental Archaeology. Faro: ICArEHB.

van Dalen, B., Swanborn, D. & Fuenteslopez, C. (2024). Príncipe island: A high-resolution model system for studying human ecodynamics in biodiversity hotspots [Manuscript submitted for publication].