Research Fellow
Dr. Radu P. Iovita
Department for Palaeolithic Studies
Current Projects:
• Lower Danube Survey for Paleolithic Sites (LoDanS). Survey project aimed at the discovery of late Middle and early Upper Paleolithic sites in the Dobrogea province of Romania. In cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig and the Romanian Academy of Science. (Early Human Expansion and the Colonization of Western Eurasia)
• Neandertal Projectile Technology (NeProTech). We propose to investigate ancient projectile technology through controlled ballistic experiments aimed at understanding impact fractures. In cooperation with the German Federal Institute for Metrology (Braunschweig) (Studies on the Emergence and Development of Big-Game Hunting).
• Morphometric reduction trajectories of Aterian points (Studies on the Emergence and Development of Big-Game Hunting)
• Shape variability of bifacial tools from Neumark-Nord 2/0, Sachsen-Anhalt (Studies on the Emergence and Development of Big-Game Hunting)
Research Interests:
Paleolithic Archaeology · Lithics · Quantitative Methods · Geometric Morphometrics · Eastern Europe · Circum-Mediterranean
Education:
• 2002–2008 University of Pennsylvania. Ph.D. in Anthropology. Thesis: "Ontogenetic scaling in stone tools and its application to European Middle Paleolithic systematics." Abstract
• 2001–2002 St John’s College, University of Cambridge. M.Phil. in Archaeology (with distinction). Thesis: "The Initial Upper Palaeolithic at Ksar Akil (Lebanon) and Haua Fteah (Libya)"
• 1997–2001 Harvard University. A. B. in Anthropology, magna cum laude. Thesis: "The Initial Upper Palaeolithic at Ksar Akil (Lebanon)"
Publications
Peer-reviewed
• Iovita, R. P. and S. P. McPherron (in review) “The handaxe reloaded: a morphometric reassessment of Acheulian and Middle Paleolithic handaxes”, Journal of Human Evolution.
• Iovita, R. P. (2010) Quantifying and comparing stone tool resharpening trajectories with the aid of Elliptical Fourier Analysis. In Lycett, S., and P. Chauhan (Eds.), New Perspectives on Old Stones: Analytical Approaches to Palaeolithic Technologies. Springer/Kluwer. pp. 235-253, doi: 10.1007/978-1-4419-6861-6_10 Article
•Iovita, R. P. 2009a. Ontogenetic scaling and lithic systematics: method and application. Journal of Archaeological Science 36(7): 1447–1457. Article
•Iovita, R. P. 2009b. “Re-evaluating connections between the Early Upper Paleolithic of Northeast Africa and the Levant: technological differences between the Dabban and the Emiran,” in Transitions in Prehistory: Papers in Honor of Ofer Bar-Yosef, edited by John Shea and Daniel Lieberman. Cambridge: American School of Prehistoric Research. Article
•Dibble, H.L., U. A. Schurmans, R. P. Iovita, and M. McLaughlin 2005. “The measurement and interpretation of cortex in lithic assemblages” American Antiquity 70(3): 545–560. Article
•Iovita, R. P. and T. G. Schurr 2004. “Reconstructing the Origins and Migrations of Diasporic Populations: the Case of the European Gypsies”. American Anthropologist 106(2):267–281. Article
Non-peer-reviewed
•Iovita, R. P. 2006. Review of Hovers, E. and S. L. Kuhn (eds.) - “Transitions before The Transition: Evolution and Stability in the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age”, in Paleoanthropology (2006), pp. 86–88. Article
•Augenblick, E., A. Heuvelink, R. Iovita, and, G. Ritchie 2005 "The emergence of differentiating signals within groups." Complex Systems Summer School Final Project Papers, Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM. Article
Current Teaching
2009–2010
Lithic Analysis Seminar. Modul D2, Pleistocene Archaeology 2: The hunters and the hunted, University of Mainz, Germany.
Contact:
Forschungsbereich Altsteinzeit des RGZM
Schloß Monrepos
D-56567 Neuwied
Tel: +49(0)26319772-23
Fax: +49(0)263176357