Zenobia Jacobs is a South African-born archaeologist and earth scientist specialising in geochronology. She is a professor at the University of Wollongong, Australia.[1]

Zenobia Jacobs
Born
South Africa
NationalitySouth African-Australian
Alma materUniversity of Stellenbosch
Aberystwyth University, Wales
Occupation(s)archaeologist and earth scientist

Education and career

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Jacobs graduated from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, in 1998, studying archaeology and geography, and received her PhD from Aberystwyth University, Wales, in 2004.[citation needed] She joined the University of Wollongong as a research fellow in 2006 and is currently a professor in the Centre for Archaeological Science and the School of Earth of Environmental Sciences.[1] She is also an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow and chief investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage.[citation needed] She was awarded the International Union for Quaternary Research's Sir Nick Shackleton Medal in 2009.[2]

Jacobs' research traces the evolutionary history of humans using single-grain optically stimulated luminescence dating.[3][4] Her work on the Denisovans and Neanderthals has helped establish a timeline of when the two groups of archaic humans were present in southern Siberia and the environmental conditions they faced before going extinct.[5][6] She has also contributed to reconstructions of past environments in Africa,[7] using ancient high sea-levels as analogues for future trends,[8][clarification needed] and studies of the ecological footprint of the first humans to reach Australia[9] and Madagascar.[10]

Selected publications

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  • Zhang, Dongju; Xia, Huan; Chen, Fahu; Li, Bo; Slon, Viviane; Cheng, Ting; Yang, Ruowei; Jacobs, Zenobia; Dai, Qingyan; Massilani, Diyendo; Shen, Xuke (30 October 2020). "Denisovan DNA in Late Pleistocene sediments from Baishiya Karst Cave on the Tibetan Plateau". Science. 370 (6516): 584–587. doi:10.1126/science.abb6320. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 33122381. S2CID 225956074.
  • Douka, Katerina; Slon, Viviane; Jacobs, Zenobia; Ramsey, Christopher Bronk; Shunkov, Michael V.; Derevianko, Anatoly P.; Mafessoni, Fabrizio; Kozlikin, Maxim B.; Li, Bo; Grün, Rainer; Comeskey, Daniel (2019). "Age estimates for hominin fossils and the onset of the Upper Palaeolithic at Denisova Cave". Nature. 565 (7741): 640–644. Bibcode:2019Natur.565..640D. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0870-z. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 30700871. S2CID 59525455.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Professor Zenobia Jacobs - Scholar Profile - University of Wollongong". scholars.uow.edu.au. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  2. ^ "Awards - International Union for Quaternary Research". INQUA. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  3. ^ "Unlocking the history of human evolution, one grain of sand at a time". Times Higher Education (THE). 30 April 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  4. ^ Jacobs, Zenobia; Roberts, Richard G. (2007). "Advances in optically stimulated luminescence dating of individual grains of quartz from archeological deposits". Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews. 16 (6): 210–223. doi:10.1002/evan.20150. ISSN 1520-6505. S2CID 84231863.
  5. ^ "New Studies Reveal Deep History of Denisovans and Neanderthals in Southern Siberia". www.shh.mpg.de. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  6. ^ Gibbons, Ann (29 October 2020). "DNA tracks mysterious Denisovans to Chinese cave, just before modern humans arrived nearby". Science. AAAS. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  7. ^ Jacobs, Zenobia; Roberts, Richard G.; Galbraith, Rex F.; Deacon, Hilary J.; Grün, Rainer; Mackay, Alex; Mitchell, Peter; Vogelsang, Ralf; Wadley, Lyn (31 October 2008). "Ages for the Middle Stone Age of Southern Africa: Implications for Human Behavior and Dispersal". Science. 322 (5902): 733–735. Bibcode:2008Sci...322..733J. doi:10.1126/science.1162219. hdl:1885/32902. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 18974351. S2CID 206514762.
  8. ^ Roberts, David L.; Karkanas, Panagiotis; Jacobs, Zenobia; Marean, Curtis W.; Roberts, Richard G. (2012). "Melting ice sheets 400,000 yr ago raised sea level by 13m: Past analogue for future trends". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 357–358: 226–237. Bibcode:2012E&PSL.357..226R. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2012.09.006.
  9. ^ Clarkson, Chris; Jacobs, Zenobia; Marwick, Ben; Fullagar, Richard; Wallis, Lynley; Smith, Mike; Roberts, Richard G.; Hayes, Elspeth; Lowe, Kelsey; Carah, Xavier; Florin, S. Anna (2017). "Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago". Nature. 547 (7663): 306–310. Bibcode:2017Natur.547..306C. doi:10.1038/nature22968. hdl:2440/107043. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 28726833. S2CID 205257212.
  10. ^ Dewar, Robert E.; Radimilahy, Chantal; Wright, Henry T.; Jacobs, Zenobia; Kelly, Gwendolyn O.; Berna, Francesco (30 July 2013). "Stone tools and foraging in northern Madagascar challenge Holocene extinction models". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 110 (31): 12583–12588. Bibcode:2013PNAS..11012583D. doi:10.1073/pnas.1306100110. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 3732966. PMID 23858456.