Dr. Gregor D. Bader

I am focusing on cultural variability of hunter gatherer societies living during the MSA and LSA in Africa. I am specialised in lithic technology combining different approaches, such as attribute analysis and chaîne opératoire, in order to connect qualitative and quantitative data. My main research area is eastern South Africa, where I am about to establish a better regional archaeological framework for the last 40.000 years, respectively the final-MSA and LSA. The three major sites under investigation so far are Umbeli Belli, Sibhudu and Holley Shelter. Furthermore, I am a collaborative partner in a project funded by the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) focused on a reinvestigation of archaeological collections of Eswatini and new excavations of selected sites in the country. On a broader scale we aim to re-establish archaeology in Eswatini both, on the governmental and university scale. This project encompasses several time periods from the MSA and LSA to the Iron Age, and hence, the contact periods between hunter gatherers and farmers. In 2019, a grant by the German research foundation (DFG) was awarded to me focusing on the reinvestigation of Lion Cavern in Eswatini, the oldest ochre mine in the world. The project aims to re-date the archaeological deposits of the site and to test ochre provenance using methods from archaeological sciences. A second DFG grant entitled “Pigment Procurement Use and Meaning in Prehistoric Eswatini” was awarded to me in 2022. I am also involved in the VW-funded project “Evolving human minds”, focused on a reinvestigation of Mumba Rock Shelter in Tanzania and the surrounding area. Besides my work in Africa, I am also involved in projects on the Swabian Jura, Germany, dealing with Middle and Upper Palaeolithic research.