Timothy Canessa, MPhil

Timo Canessa is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology at the University of Vienna. His research project aims to understand the idiosyncratic pattern of modern human settlement in the Iberian Peninsula through the lithic artefact assemblages attributed to the Early Upper Palaeolithic. He is interested in the relationship between, on the one hand, mobility and lithic technological strategies and, on the other hand, the character and composition of these lithic artefact assemblages. As a starting point, he will explore whether expedient technology was a feature of human occupation during this time and if this has any bearing on the “indeterminate” nature of some Early Upper Palaeolithic assemblages.

• Palaeolithic Archaeology
• Lithic technology
• Forager Mobility and Settlement Organisation

• 2023 – 2025, John Mackintosh Trust Grant
• 2024, DSHCS Travel Grant
• 2023 – 2026, Gibraltar Government Scholarship

• Canessa T, de la Peña P (2026) Unpacking lithic assemblage variability in the Early Upper Palaeolithic: A multivariate approach to the structure of the Iberian Aurignacian. PLoS One 21(3): e0345202. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0345202
• Canessa, T. (2021). Mobility and settlement strategies in southern Iberia during the Last Glacial Maximum: Evaluating the region’s refugium status. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 37, p. 102966. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.102966

• 2018–2019 MPhil in Archaeology, University of Cambridge
• 2015–2018: BA (Hons) Anthropology and Archaeology, Durham University