Wouter Bonhof

Wouter Bonhof

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College: College of Humanities
Discipline: Archaeology
Department: Department of Archaeology

Wouter Bonhof is a PhD student in the Department of Archaeology and has an interest in the application of isotopes to reconstruct the mobility and diet of humans and animals in the Upper Palaeolithic.

His NERC funded doctoral research investigates the mobility of woolly mammoths from (sub)Arctic Eurasia and its implications for their availability as prey to Upper Palaeolithic humans. Mammoth molars from archaeological sites are sampled and analysed for intra-tooth variations in oxygen, carbon and strontium isotopes. Comparison of the results with a strontium isoscape can then be used to determine where mammoths were grazing during each season, as well as to determine whether they were seasonal migrants or opportunistic nomads.