Jessica McNeil is a graduate student in the Archaeology Program of Harvard's Department of Anthropology. A paleoanthropologist, Jessica is engaged with the field regarding modern human behavior - examining the cultural and behavioral aspects of our species that set us apart from our evolutinary lineage. Using stone tool technology as a proxy, she looks at the ways in which Paleolithic modern humans interacted with the landscape and were able to innovatively utilize their environments in order to flourish in various and variable contexts across the world.
Jessica's main research is set across both open-air and shelter sites in southern and eastern Africa, however she has also worked at various early sites in France and Australia to explore similar questions. She is a specialist in the technologist approach to lithic analysis, and is actively engaged with questions regarding the replicability and standardization of analysis techniques, especially as they apply to various raw materials and their properties.
