Martina Demuro

Dr Martina Demuro

ARC Externally-Funded Research Fellow (B)

School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


I am a luminescence dating specialist currently working on reconstructing Quaternary environmental, palaeontological and archaeological histories in southwest Europe.

I obtained my PhD at the University of Wollongong in 2009. The research focussed on quartz OSL dating of Late Pleistocene perennially-frozen loess deposits from the Yukon Territory and Alaska (eastern Beringia). OSL chronologies generated during my doctorate were used to improve tephro-chronological frameworks in the region and resolve ancient DNA (aDNA) histories of extinct fauna.

In 2011 I was awarded a three year Marie Curie grant (IRG 276810) to undertake postdoctoral research at the CENIEH (Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, Spain). This research focussed on the development and application of extended-range luminescence dating techniques (post-IR IRSL and single-grain TT-OSL approaches) at Early/Middle Pleistocene archaeological and palaeontological sites from southwest Europe, particularly the UNESCO World Heritage site of Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain).

I recently completed an ARC DECRA Research Fellowship (DE160100743) at the University of Adelaide. That research utilised extended-range luminescence dating techniques to reconstruct early human evolutionary histories and cultural turnovers at a range of archaeological and fossil sites across the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal).I have worked under an ARC Linkage grant to apply these luminescence dating techniques to cave sedimentary sequences at Naracoorte Caves palaeontological sites (South Australia) to investigate the timing of megafaunal extinctions in the Australian continent.

I am currently an ARC Future Fellow researching Neanderthal histories in southwest Europe.

I am a luminescence dating specialist currently working on reconstructing Quaternary environmental, palaeontological and archaeological histories in southwest Europe.

I obtained my PhD at the University of Wollongong in 2009. The research focussed on quartz OSL dating of Late Pleistocene perennially-frozen loess deposits from the Yukon Territory and Alaska (eastern Beringia). OSL chronologies generated during my doctorate were used to improve tephro-chronological frameworks in the region and resolve ancient DNA (aDNA) histories of extinct fauna.

In 2011 I was awarded a three year Marie Curie grant (IRG 276810) to undertake postdoctoral research at the CENIEH (Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, Spain). This research focussed on the development and application of extended-range luminescence dating techniques (post-IR IRSL and single-grain TT-OSL approaches) at Early/Middle Pleistocene archaeological and palaeontological sites from southwest Europe, particularly the UNESCO World Heritage site of Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain).

I recently completed an ARC DECRA Research Fellowship (DE160100743) at the University of Adelaide. That research utilised extended-range luminescence dating techniques to reconstruct early human evolutionary histories and cultural turnovers at a range of archaeological and fossil sites across the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal).I have worked under an ARC Linkage grant to apply these luminescence dating techniques to cave sedimentary sequences at Naracoorte Caves palaeontological sites (South Australia) to investigate the timing of megafaunal extinctions in the Australian continent.

I am currently an ARC Future Fellow researching Neanderthal histories in southwest Europe.

  • Appointments

    Date Position Institution name
    2021 - ongoing ARC Future Fellow The University of Adelaide
    2019 - 2021 ARC Research Fellow The University of Adelaide
    2016 - 2019 ARC DECRA Research Fellow The University of Adelaide
    2011 - 2014 Post-doctoral Researcher (Marie Curie program) Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH)
  • Language Competencies

    Language Competency
    Spanish; Castilian Can read, write, speak and understand spoken
  • Education

    Date Institution name Country Title
    2005 - 2009 University of Wollongong Australia PhD (Geochronology, Earth and Environmental Sciences)

2011-2014       Marie Curie International Reintegration Grants (PIRG08-GA-2010-276810), European Research Agency, entitled Archives of Early Human Occupation in Western Europe: OSL Chronologies beyond the Middle Pleistocene in the Iberian Peninsula.

2016-2019       Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) (DE160100743), Australian Research Council, entitled Luminescence dating of Middle Pleistocene human histories in Europe.

2020-2025       Future Fellowship (FT) (FT200100816), Australian Research Council, entitled Shedding light on Neanderthal histories using luminescence chronologies.

2022-2024 Discovery – Linkage Project (LP210200704), Australian Research Council, entitled Deep time extinctions and environments in Australian underwater caves.

  • Position: ARC Externally-Funded Research Fellow (B)
  • Phone: 83130475
  • Email: martina.demuro@adelaide.edu.au
  • Fax: 83134380
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Mawson, floor 1
  • Org Unit: Earth Sciences

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