Research Interests
My research focuses on developing high-resolution chronological frameworks that allow records of environmental and landscape change to be compared across different regions. I use volcanic ash (tephra) layers to synchronise sedimentary records (e.g., lakes and marine cores) in order to investigate the timing and drivers of past climate variability, volcanic activity, and landscape processes. I specialise in the identification of cryptotephra layers (non-visible tephra), that require laboratory density-extraction techniques. My research also uses distal ash deposits to reconstruct past eruptive histories, including eruption timing and ash dispersal patterns.
Current research
I am currently Principal Investigator on a UKRI AHRC Catalyst Award, Reliance or Resilience? Volcanism and the Ancient Maya, which uses annually laminated (varved) lake sediments from the Yucatán Peninsula to investigate the multifaceted relationship between volcanism and the ancient Maya. This project combines cryptotephra analysis with compositional analysis of ceramics to examine how volcanic activity and environmental change intersected with land use and resource exploitation in the Maya lowlands. This work is conducted in collaboration with the San Claudio Varves Project and the Fukui Prefectural Varve Museum.
Alongside this work, I continue to develop research arising from my completed Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship, which focused on synchronising Palaeolithic archaeological and marine environmental records across Northwest Africa. As part of the CAVES Project, this involved extensive fieldwork in the Azores and Canary Islands, as well as tephra identification within North Atlantic marine sediment cores and Moroccan archaeological sites.
I also remain actively involved in the Lake Suigetsu Varved Sediment Project, a globally important reference archive for Quaternary climate change. My contributions include the development of high-resolution (crypto-)tephra frameworks and the use of Lake Suigetsu as a key archive for synchronising terrestrial and marine climate records across East Asia and beyond. I have also assisted in several sampling campaigns, generating reference glass geochemical datasets for correlating the major silicic eruptions.
Teaching
I contribute to graduate teaching and graduate (MSc/DPhil) project supervising at the University of Oxford in Archaeological Science, with particular emphasis on sedimentary archives, tephra analysis, and dating methods.
Outreach and Widening Participation
I am interested in participating in research-led outreach activities (e.g., Dating the Past) and contribute to widening participation, for example through the UNIQ+ summer internship programme and IntoUniversity local learning centres.
External Websites
