Nicola Stern

Biography

Nicola Stern studied archaeology at the University of Sydney and Harvard University, where she honed her interests in the contribution that archaeology makes to our understanding of humanity’s deep time history.  She teaches and researches in the Department of Archaeology and History at La Trobe University and has studied the earliest archaeological traces in Africa as well as the archaeology of Aboriginal Australia.

Her research focuses on ancient technologies, the way regional archaeological records form, and the way the passage of time and its measurement influences archaeological interpretation. She has a particular interest in the way these fine-grained empirical studies shape grand narratives of the human past. Since 2007 she has worked in partnership with the Barkindji/Pakaantyi, Mutthi Mutthi and Ngiyampaa Nations to build a picture of the changing cultural landscapes at Lake Mungo, in the Willandra Lakes region, widely regarded as Australia’s foremost Pleistocene archive.