1

Katerina Douka
School of Archaeology
Research Laboratory for Archaeology & the History of Art (RLAHA)
University of Oxford
Dyson Perrins Building
South Parks Road, OX1 3QY
Oxford, United Kingdom
Email: katerina.douka@rlaha.ox.ac.uk
Website: http://www.katerinadouka.com
Phone: +44 (0)1865 285203

Current Positions
2013-2018

Postdoctoral Researcher
PalaeoChron (Precision Dating of the Palaeolithic of Eurasia) project
European Research Council Advanced Grant, ERC-2012-AdG324139
RLAHA, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, U.K.

2014-2017

William Golding Junior Research Fellow

Brasenose College, University of Oxford, U.K.

Previous Employment
2011-2014

Junior Research Fellow and Fellows Fellow

Linacre College, University of Oxford, U.K.

2011-2013

Postdoctoral Researcher in Archaeological Science

AHOB3 (Ancient Human Occupation of Britain 3) project
Leverhulme Trust
RLAHA, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, U.K.

2005

Museum conservator, National Archaeological Museum, Madrid, Spain.

2004

Field conservator, Kephallonia, Ministry of Culture, Greece

Education
20062011

D.Phil. in Archaeological Science

RLAHA, University of Oxford, U.K.
Thesis title
Investigating the Chronology of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Transition in
Mediterranean Europe by Improved Radiocarbon Dating of Shell Ornaments
Supervisor: Prof. R.E.M. Hedges

Katerina Douka

2005-2006

M.Sc. in Archaeological Science

RLAHA, University of Oxford, U.K.
Dissertation title
Seasonality of Neanderthal Occupation at Vanguard Cave, Gibraltar

1999-2004

B.Sc. in Archaeological Conservation

Technological University of Athens, Greece

Other academic projects and collaborations

2014-2016

A revised chronology for the Palaeolithic of Late Pleistocene Thailand (PI)

Evans Fund, Cambridge University, in collaboration with Prof. R. Shoocongdej,
Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.

2012-2015

Construction of a new chronological framework for the start of the Neolithic in

the Aegean (PI)
University of Oxford Fell Fund and the British School at Athens

2011-2016

Dynamic Landscapes, Coastal Environments and Human Dispersals

(DISPERSE) (external collaborator)
ERC-funded project, collaboration with the University of York (Prof. G. Bailey)

2012-2014

Coastal transitions: A comparative approach to the processes of neolithization

in Atlantic Europe (COASTTRAN) (external collaborator)
Collaboration with the University of Cantabria (Prof. P. Arias) and University of
Salamanca (Dr. E. lvarez-Fernndez)

2008-2013

Late Iberian Neanderthal subsistence patterns and their seasonal round

through oxygen isotope analysis of malacological food remains (co-PI)
Collaboration with the University of Barcelona (Prof. J. Zilho)

2009-2011

Examination of the effects of pretreatment chemistry to the radiocarbon dating

of old charcoal samples, associated with the Campanian Ignimbrite tephra (~39
ka BP) (co-PI)
Collaboration with the University of Nottingham

2008-2010

Digital recording and restoration of the Greek Cemetery of Alexandria

(Egypt) (Co-PI)
Collaboration with the University of Athens (Prof. E. Nobilakis) and University
of Lamia (Prof. T. Ganetsos), Greece. EU-funded initiative.

Teaching / supervision
2014-2015

Masters co-supervisor (1 student)

2011-2014

Linacre College graduate student advisor (12 students)

2009-2012

Undergraduate tutor, University of Oxford.

Modules taught: Science-based Archaeology, Dating methods.

Katerina Douka

2008-2009

Part-time tutor for the Oxford Programme for Undergraduate Studies (OPUS),
University of Oxford.
Module taught: Palaeolithic Archaeology and Modern Human Origins.

Grants, Awards, Scholarships

2014-2015

Evans Fund Award, Cambridge University, U.K. 2,500

2014-2015

Postdoctoral membership, Jesus College, University of Oxford, U.K. (declined)

2013

15th Tbingen Prize for PhD research on Early Prehistory and Quaternary
Ecology. Award 5,000

2012-2013

British School at Athens, Early Career Fellowship. 3-month residential

fellowship.

2012

John Fell Fund, University of Oxford. 7,200

2009

NRCF (NERC-AHRC) grant for 29 radiocarbon dates (with Snape, Wood,

Higham et al.). 10,000

2008-2010

A.G. Leventis Foundation, postgraduate scholarship. 10,000

2008

NRCF (NERC-AHRC) grant for 55 radiocarbon dates (with Hedges). 18,900

2005-2008

Greek Scholarships Foundation (IKY) Examination-awarded Master & PhD

studentship. 40,000

2006-2008

Edward Hall Memorial scholarship. 3,000

2006-2009

Keble College Association Travel grants (6 successful funding rounds for

fieldwork). 3,000 total

2003-2004

St. Catherines Monastery, Sinai, Egypt. 3-month residential fellowship.

Other skills
Languages

Greek: Native
English: Fluent
French: Good (DALF 2)
Spanish: Good
Italian, Russian, Arabic : Basic reading skills

Computer

Mac & PC user, Microsoft Office, Adobe Illustrator, and other applications

Katerina Douka

Publications
Complete peer-reviewed: 30 | h-index: 14 | total citations: >1000
PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES
1.

Villa, P., Pollarolo, L., Degano, I., Birolo, L., Paserto, M., Biagioni, C., Douka, K.,
Vinciguerra, R., Lucejko, J.J., Wadley, L. Early evidence of tempera paint in the Middle
Stone
Age
of
South
Africa.
PLoS
ONE
10(6):
e0131273.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0131273

2.

Kourampas, N., Shipton, C., Mills, W., Tibesasa, R., Horton, H., Horton, M.,
Prendergast, M., Crowther, A., Douka, K., Faulkner, P., Picornell, L., Boivin, N. 2015.
Late Quaternary speleogenesis and landscape evolution in a tropical carbonate island:
Pango la Kuumbi (Kuumbi Cave), Zanzibar. International Journal of Speleology, 44:
293-314.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.44.3.7

3.

Gavrilov, K.N., Voskresenskaya E.V., Maschenko, E.N., Douka, K. 2015. East

Gravettian Khotylevo 2 site: Stratigraphy, archeozoology, and spatial organization of
the cultural layer at the newly explored area of the site. Quaternary International 359
360, 335346.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2014.08.020

4.

Macario, K.D., Souza, R.C.C.L., Aguilera, O.A., Carvalho, C., Oliveira, F.M., Alves,
E.Q., Chanca, I.S., Silva, E.P., Douka, K., Decco, J., Trindade, D.C., Marques, A.N.,
Anjos, R.M., Pamplona, F.C. 2015. Marine reservoir effect on the Southeastern coast of
Brazil: results from the Tarioba shellmound paired samples. Journal of Environmental
Radioactivity 143: 14-19.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2015.02.002

5.

Higham, T.F.G., Douka, K., Wood, R., Bronk Ramsey, C., Brock, F., Basell, L.,
Camps, M., Arrizabalaga, A., Baena, J., Barroso-Ruz, C., Bergman, C., Boitard, C.,
Boscato, P., Caparrs, M., Conard, N.J., Draily, C., Froment, A., Galvn, B.,
Gambassini, P., Garcia-Moreno, A., Grimaldi, S., Haesaerts, P., Holt, B., IriarteChiapusso, M-J., Jelinek, A., Jord Pardo, J.F., Mallo-Fernndez, J-M., Marom, A.,
Maroto, J., Menndez, M., Metz, L., Morin, E., Moroni, A., Negrino, F.,
Panagopoulou, E., Peresani, M., Pirson, S., de la Rasilla, M., Riel-Salvatore, J.,
Ronchitelli, A., Santamaria, D., Semal, P., Slimak, L., Soler, J., Soler, N., Villaluenga,
A., Pinhasi, R. and Jacobi, R. 2014. The timing and spatio-temporal patterning of
Neanderthal disappearance. Nature 512, 306309.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v512/n7514/full/nature13621.html

6.

Fu, Q., Li, H., Moorjani, P., Jay, F., Slepchenko, S.M., Bondarev, A.A., Johnson,
P.L.F., Aximu-Petri, A., Prfer, K., Filippo, C., Meyer, M., Zwyns, N., Salazar-Garcia,
D., Kuzmin, Y.V., Keates, S.G., Kosintsev, P., Razhev, D.I., Richards, M.P., Peristov,

Katerina Douka

N.V., Lachmann, M., Douka, K., Higham, T.F.G., Slatkin, M., Hublin, J.J., Reich, D.,
Kelso, J., Viola, T.B., Pbo, S. 2014. Genome sequence of a 45,000-year-old modern
human from western Siberia. Nature 514, 445-450.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v514/n7523/full/nature13810.html
7.

Douka, K., Grn, R., Jacobs, Z., Lane, C., Farr, L., Hunt, C., Inglis, R.H., Reynolds, T.,
Albert, P., Aubert, M., Cullen, V., Hill, E., Kinsley, L., Roberts, R.G., Tomlinson, E.L.,
Wulf, S., Barker, G. 2014. The chronostratigraphy of the Haua Fteah cave (Cyrenaica,
northeast Libya). Journal of Human Evolution 66, 3963.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.10.001

8.

Douka, K., Higham, T.F.G., Wood, R., Boscato, P., Gambassini, P., Karkanas, P.,
Peresani, M., Ronchitelli, A. 2014. On the chronology of the Uluzzian. Journal of
Human Evolution 68, 1-13.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.12.007

9.

Higham C.F., Higham, T.F.G., Douka, K. 2014. The Chronology and status of Non Nok
Tha, Northeast Thailand. Journal of Indo-Pacific Archaeology 34, 6175.
http://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/JIPA/article/view/14719/12347

10.

Ronchitelli, A., Benazzi, S., Boscato, P., Douka, K., Moroni, A. 2014. Comments on
Human-climate interaction during the Early Upper Paleolithic: Testing the hypothesis
of an adaptive shift between the Proto-Aurignacian and the Early Aurignacian by
William E. Banks, Francesco d'Errico, Joo Zilho. Journal of Human Evolution 73,
107111.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.12.010

11.

Douka, K. 2013. Exploring the great wilderness of prehistory: The chronology of

the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic transition in the northern Levant. Mitteilungen der
Gesellschaft fr Urgeschichte 22, 1140.
http://www.geo.uni-tuebingen.de/2013/011-040_GFU_Mitteilungen22_2013_Web.pdf

12.

Douka, K., Bergman, C.A., Hedges, R.E.M., Wesselingh, F.P., Higham, T.F.G. 2013.
Chronology of Ksar Akil (Lebanon) and implications for the colonization of Europe by
anatomically modern humans. PLoS ONE 8(9): e72931.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0072931

13.

Douka, K. and Spinapolice, E. 2012. Neanderthal shell tool production: Evidence from
Italy and Greece, Journal of World Prehistory, 25 (2): 45-79.
http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1007/s10963-012-9056-z

14.

Douka, K., Grimaldi, S., Boschian, G., del Lucchese, A., Higham, T.F.G. 2012. A new
chronostratigraphic framework for the Upper Palaeolithic of Riparo Mochi (Italy).
Journal of Human Evolution 62 (2): 286299.
http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.11.009

15.

Wood, R.E., Douka, K., Boscato, P., Haesaerts, P., Sinitsyn, A., Higham, T.F.G. 2012.
Testing the ABOx-SC method: dating known age charcoals associated with the
Campanian Ignimbrite. Quaternary Geochronology 9: 1626.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2012.02.003

Katerina Douka

16.

Ramos Fernndez, J., Douka, K., Pike, A.W.G, Thomas, L., Van Calsteren, P., Zilho,
J. 2011-2012. Dating of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition at the Abrigo 3 del
Humo (Mlaga, Spain). Revista Mainake XXXIII, 275-284.

17.

Douka, K., Perls, C., Valladas, H., Vanhaeren, M., Hedges, R.E.M. 2011. Franchthi
Cave revisited: the age of the Aurignacian in south-eastern Europe. Antiquity 85 (330):
11311150.
http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/085/ant0851131.htm

18.

Benazzi, S., Douka, K., Fornai, C., Bauer, C.C., Kullmer, O., Svoboda, J., Pap, I.,
Mallegni, F., Bayle, P., Coquerelle, M., Condemi, S., Ronchitelli, A., Harvati, K.
Weber, G.W. 2011. Early dispersal of modern humans in Europe and implications for
Neanderthal behaviour. Nature 479 (7374): 525528.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature10617

19.

Douka, K. 2011. An Upper Palaeolithic shell scraper from Ksar Akil (Lebanon).
Journal of Archaeological Science 38 (2): 429-437.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2010.09.026

20.

Higham, C., Higham, T., Ciarla, R., Douka, K., Kijngam, A., Rispoli, F. 2011. The
Origins of the Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. Journal of World Prehistory 24 (4), 227274.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10963-011-9054-6

21.

Douka K., Hedges R.E.M., Higham T.F.G. 2010. Improved AMS 14C dating of shell
carbonates using high-precision X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and a novel density
separation protocol (CarDS). Radiocarbon 52 (2): 735-751.

22.

Douka, K., Sinitsyn A., Higham T. 2010. The influence of pretreatment chemistry on
the radiocarbon dating of Campanian Ignimbrite-aged charcoal from Kostenki 14
(Russia). Quaternary Research 73: 583-587.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2010. 01.002

23.

Zilho, J., Angelucci, D.E., Badal-Garca, E., D'Errico, F., Douka, K., (...), Zapata, J.
2010. Symbolic use of marine shells and mineral pigments by Iberian Neandertals.
PNAS 107 (3): 1023-1028.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0914088107

24.

Russo, C.M., Tripp, J.A., Douka, K., Higham, T.F.G. 2010. A new pretreatment
method for molluscan shell using density fractionation of carbonates in Bromoform.
Radiocarbon 52 (3): 13011311.

25.

Barker, G., Antoniadou, A., Armitage, S., Brooks, I., Candy, I., Connell, K., Douka, K.,
() 2010. The Cyrenaican Prehistory Project 2010: the fourth season of investigations
of the Haua Fteah cave and its landscape, and further results from the 2007-2009
fieldwork. Libyan Studies 41: 63-88.

26.

Higham, T., Brock, F., Peresani, M., Broglio, A., Wood, R., Douka, K. 2009. Problems
with radiocarbon dating the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Italy. Quaternary
Science Reviews 28 (13-14): 1257-1267.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev. 2008.12.018

Katerina Douka

CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDITED BOOKS

27.

Douka K. and Higham T.F.G. 2012. Marine resource exploitation and the seasonal
factor of Neanderthal occupation: evidence from Gibraltar, in Barton, R.N.E.,
Finlayson, C. & Stringer, C.B. (eds), Gibraltar Neanderthals in Context. A report of the
1995-98 excavations at Gorhams & Vanguard Caves, Gibraltar. Oxford University
Committee for Archaeology, pp. 266276.

28.

Higham T.F.G., Bronk Ramsey C., Cheney H., Brock, F, & Douka K. 2012.
Radiocarbon chronology, in Barton, R.N.E., Finlayson, C. & Stringer, C.B. (eds),
Gibraltar Neanderthals in Context. A report of the 1995-98 excavations at Gorhams &
Vanguard Caves, Gibraltar. Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, pp. 6276.

29.

Douka K. 2011. The contribution of archaeometry to the study of prehistoric marine

shells, in Ifantides F. and Nikolaidou M. (eds), Spondylus in Prehistory: New Data and
Approaches Contributions to the Archaeology of Shell Technologies. British
Archaeological Reports (BAR International Series) 2216, pp.171-180.

30.

Douka, K., Higham, T.F.G., Hedges R.E.M. 2010. Radiocarbon dating of shell
carbonates: old problems and new solutions. Munibe.Suplemento 31, pp. 18-27.

NON PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES

31.

Higham, T.F.G., Stringer, C.B., Douka, K. 2012. Dating Europes oldest modern
humans. British Archaeology 122, 24-29.

32.

Douka, K., Higham T.F.G. 2006. Assessing the seasonal factor of Neanderthal
occupation through shell growth ring analysis: evidence from Gibraltar, The
Archaeo+Malacology Group Newsletter 10.

IN PRESS/PREPARATION JOURNAL ARTICLES

33.
Douka , K. et al. Dating Knossos and the arrival of the earliest Neolithic in the southern
Aegean.