Dr David Witelson

dw
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow
david.witelson@arch.ox.ac.uk

Research interests:

Rock art, image-making practices, performance theory, Ideational Cognitive Archaeology (ICA), archaeological interpretation, hunter-gatherers, ethnography, anthropology, the history of archaeological thought, archaeological paints and ochres, precolonial society and societies without writing systems.

Geographical area:

Southern Africa; South Africa (Eastern Cape and Free State Provinces)

Research Profile

My MSCA-funded project investigates the dual themes of unity and diversity in southern African hunter-gatherers with a focus on the ethnographic, rock art and excavated archaeological evidence. The project aims to build a custom ethnographic database that can be used to answer questions about forager diversity in the mid- to late Holocene.

Previously, I held a three-year Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of the Witwatersrand’s Rock Art Research Institute. My doctoral research developed a performance-theory approach to the study of rock art using San/Bushman hunter-gatherer ethnography and rock paintings in the Stormberg area of South Africa’s north Eastern Cape Province.

Publications