Dr Mica Jones

Mica is a zooarchaeologist and field archaeologist studying the interwoven histories of people and animals. He’s especially interested in the ways our relationships with the non-human world have shaped — and been shaped by — large-scale social and environmental changes. As part of the New Bantu Mosaics Project, Mica investigates how the spread of early farming and the rise of large-scale food systems transformed southern Africa’s cultural and ecological landscapes over the past two millennia.

To reconstruct ancient herding and hunting lifeways, he draws on a wide range of evidence, from animal bone data (taxonomic diversity, age profiles, butchery marks) to isotopic and genetic analyses. Through a focus on past human-animal relationships, his research also contributes to ongoing discussions around food security, migration, and sustainable resource use.

Originally from central Maine (USA), Mica earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Southern Maine before spending several years in the food industry. He completed his PhD at Washington University in St. Louis in 2020 and stayed on as a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Zooarchaeology Lab. In 2021, he joined the University of Oxford’s School of Archaeology, where he is now a postdoctoral research fellowship.

ORCID