Esteban Alama, Irene
Postdoctoral,University of WitwatersrandPresentation
Beatriu de Pinós Postdoctoral Research Fellow. ERAAUB, University of Barcelona, 2021 – present.
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow. University Research Council. Evolutionary Studies Institute. University of the Witwatersrand, 2019-2021
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow. NRF - Center of Excellence in Palaeoscience. Evolutionary Studies Institute. University of the Witwatersrand, 2017-2019.
PhD in Prehistory, University of Barcelona, 2016.
Master’s in human biology, University of Barcelona/Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, 2011.
Bachelor’s in history, University of Valencia, 2010.
My research expertise unites archaeobotany (through the study of a botanical micro-remain, phytoliths) and infrared spectroscopy to explore the interaction between human behaviours and past environments throughout the Quaternary. I study archaeological sites using phytoliths and FTIR (Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) to answer questions related to human behaviour (i.e. plant foraging strategies and people’s use of plants) and pyrotechnology (plant-fuels and hearth functioning), and its coupled response to climate and environmental change. Additionally, I conduct botanical surveys to collect modern plants and surface soils from extant habitats to create phytolith reference collections that are used as proxy to improve plant identification and interpretation of the fossil record.
I am co-Principal Investigator of the Pondoland Palaeoclimate, Palaeoenvironment, Palaeoecology, and Palaeoanthropology Project (P5), and co-director of the archaeological excavations at Waterfall Bluff rockshelter, Eastern Cape, South Africa. In addition to this, I also collaborate at several archaeological sites in South Africa and western Europe: Abrigo de la Quebrada, Valencia, Spain; Boomplaas, Western Cape, South Africa; Border Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; Cova de les Cendres, Alicante, Spain; Cova Negra, Valencia, Spain; Elandsfontein, Western Cape, South Africa; Knysna Eastern Heads 1, Western Cape, South Africa; Mwulu´s Cave, Limpopo, South Africa; Umhlatuzana, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; Witberg 1, Northern Cape, South Africa.
While most of my work focuses on southern African sites dating from the Middle Pleistocene to the Early Holocene, the versatility of the microarchaeological techniques I use has enabled me to work in a wide variety of settings (archaeological caves, rock-shelters and open-air sites; urban archaeology; agricultural terraces; terrestrial sediment cores), chronological periods (Middle and Upper Palaeolithic/Stone Age; Neolithic; Iron Age; Medieval and Contemporary times; pre-Columbian times) and geographic regions (Southern Africa; Western Europe; India; South America).
(co)Leading Funded Projects
– Firewood investigation of plant-remains: Coupling ethnography with experimental archaeology to disentangle aspects of South African prehistory. The Leakey Foundation – Research Grant. PI/coPIs: Irene Esteban (University of the Witwatersrand), Marion Bamford, Jan de Vynck, Christine Sievers, Isabelle Théry-Parisot.
– Taking archaeology to the people of Pondoland and beyond through the Archaeology Comic Book project. NRF – Priority Research Area Public Engagement. PI/coPIs: Justin Pargeter (New York University), Irene Esteban, Hayley Cawthra, Erich Fisher, Patricia Groenewald.
– Taking archaeology to the people in Eastern Pondoland through the Archaeology Comic Book project. Centre of Excellence in Palaeoscience - COEOP2020-1. PI/coPIs: Justin Pargeter (New York University), Irene Esteban, Hayley Cawthra, Erich Fisher, Nomonde Makaula, Patricia Groenewald.
– Modern analogs as proxies for plant identification and vegetation characterization of the South African archaeological phytolith record. Palaeontological Scientific Trust – Research Grant. PI: Irene Esteban (University of the Witwatersrand).
– Human occupation and adaptation in a persistent coastal environment. US National Science Foundation - 1827326. PI/coPIs: Erich Fisher (Arizona State University), Hayley Cawthra, Irene Esteban, Justin Pargeter.
Selected publications
Braun, D., Faith, J.T., Douglass, M., Davies, B., Power, M., Aldeias, V., Conard, N., Cutts, R., DeSantis, L., Dupont, L., Esteban, I., Kandel, A., Levin, N., Luyt, J., Parkington, J., Pickering, R., Quick, L., Sealy, J., Stynder, D., 2021. Ecosystem Engineering in the Quaternary of the West Coast of South Africa. Evolutionary Anthropology, 30(1): 50-62.
Esteban, I., Bamford, M.K., House, A., Miller, C.S., Neumann, F.H., Schefuß, E., Pargeter, J., Cawthra, H.C., Fisher, E.C., 2020. Coastal palaeoenvironments and hunter-gatherer plant-use at Waterfall Bluff rock shelter in Mpondoland (South Africa) from MIS 3 to the Early Holocene. Quaternary Science Reviews, 250, 106664. doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106664
Sifogeorgaki, I., Klinkenberg, V., Esteban, I., Murungi, M., Carr, A.S., van den Brink, V.B., Dusseldorp, G.L., 2020. New Excavations at Umhlatuzana Rockshelter, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a Stratigraphic and Taphonomic Evaluation. African Archaeological Review, 37(4): 551-578. doi.org/10.1007/sl 0437-020-09410-w
Esteban, I., Fitchett, F., de la Peña, P., 2020. Plant taphonomy, flora exploitation and palaeoenvironments at the Middle Stone Age site of Mwulu’s Cave (Limpopo, South Africa): an archaeobotanical and mineralogical approach. Archaeological and Anthropological Science, 12(226):1-18. doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01181-4.
Fisher, E.C., Cawthra, H.C., Esteban, I., Jerardino, A., Neumann, F.H., Oertle, A., Pargeter, J., Saktura, R.B., Szabó, K., Zohar, I., 2020. Coastal occupation and foraging during the Last Glacial Maximum and Early Holocene at Waterfall Bluff, eastern Pondoland, South African. Quaternary Research, 97: 1-41. doi.org/10.1017/qua.2020.26
Wadley, L., Esteban, I., de la Peña, P., Wojcieszak, M., Stratford, D., Lennox, S., d’Errico, F., Rosso, D.E., Orange, F., Backwell, L., Sievers, C., 2020. Fire and grass-bedding construction 200 thousand years ago at Border Cave, South Africa. Science 369 (6505), 863-866. doi.org/10.1126/science.abc7239
Esteban, I., Marean, C.W., Cowling, R.M., Fisher, E., Cabanes, D., Albert, R.M., 2020. Palaeoenvironments and plant availability during MIS 6 to MIS 3 on the edge of the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain (south coast, South Africa) as indicated by phytolith analysis at Pinnacle Point. Quaternary Science Reviews 235, 105667. doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.02.022
Villaverde, V., Real, C., Roman, D., Albert, R.M., Badal, E., Bel, M.A., Bergadà, M.M., de Oliveira, P., Eixea, A., Esteban, I., Martínez, A., Martínez Varea, C.M., Pérez-Ripoll, MM., 2019. The Early Upper Palaeolithic of Cova de les Cendres. Quaternary International 515, 92-124. doi.org/10.1016 /j.quaint.2017.11.051
Esteban, I., Marean, C.W., Fisher, E., Karkanas, P, Cabanes, D., Albert, R.M., 2018. Phytoliths as an indicator of early modern humans plant gathering strategies, fire fuel and site occupation intensity during the Middle Stone Age at Pinnacle Point 5-6 (south coast, South Africa). PLoS ONE 13(6): e0198558. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0198558
Esteban, I., Vlok, J., Kotina, E.L., Bamford, M., Cowling, R.M., Cabanes, D., Albert, R.M., 2017. Phytoliths in plants from the south coast of the Greater Cape Floristic Region (South Africa). Review of Paleobotany and Palynology 245, 69–84. doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2017.05.001.
Esteban, I., de Vinck, J., Elzanne, S., Vlok, J., Marean, C.W., Cowling, R.M., Fisher, E.C., Cabanes, D., Albert, R.M., 2017. Modern Soil Phytolith Assemblages used as Proxies for Paleoscape Reconstruction on the South Coast of South Africa. Quaternary International 434 B, 160-179. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2016.01.037
Esteban, I., Albert, R.M., Eixea, A., Zilhao, J., Villaverde, V., 2017. Neanderthal Use of Plants and Past Vegetation Reconstruction at the Middle Paleolithic site of Abrigo de la Quebrada (Chelva, Valencia, Spain). Archaeological and Anthropological Science 9(2), 265-278. doi:10.1007/s12520-015-0279-7.
Albert, R.M., Bamford, M., Esteban, I., 2015. Reconstruction of ancient palm vegetation landscapes using a phytolith approach. Quaternary International. 369, 51-66. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.06.067.
Fisher, E.C., Albert, R.M., Botha, G., Cawthra, H.C., Esteban, I., Harris, J., Jacobs, Z., Jerardino, A., Marean, C.W., Neumann, F.H., Pargeter, J., Poupart, M., Venter, J., 2013. Archaeological Reconnaissance for Middle Stone Age Sites along the Pondoland Coast, South Africa. PaleoAnthropology 2013:104-137. doi:10.4207/PA.2013.ART82
Links
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4850-1715
