Professor Mark Moore
ARC Future Fellow; Director, Stone Tools and Cognition Hub , Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology - School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
orcid.org/0000-0003-4768-5329Biography
Mark Moore is an ARC Future Fellow in the Department of Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology. His research explores how the evolution of hominin cognition—the way that humans think—is reflected in the way they organised their stone-flaking techniques to produce tools. He explores both extremes of stone working complexity, including tools made by non-modern hominins (such as Homo floresiensis, the ‘hobbits’ of Indonesia) and tools made by modern Homo sapiens in various parts of the world, including Australia, Indonesia, Arabia, Europe, India, and North America. The mechanical restrictions of stone flaking can cause similarities in outputs in the absence of complex intentions, a phenomenon he calls the ‘spandrels effect’, and Prof Moore’s theoretical and experimental research documents the nature and implications of this. He is an expert flintknapper, and he uses insights from stone-flaking experiments in reconstructing complex reduction sequences practiced by flintknappers from throughout prehistory. Prof Moore applies his research by collaborating with Aboriginal communities to rediscover and reclaim the stone-working practices on traditional country.
Qualifications
PhD (University of New England, 2006)
MA (Ball State University, 1990)
BA (Indiana University, 1987)
Awards
ARC Future Fellowship
Teaching Areas
Unit Coordination
- ARPA 107 Human Evolution and Archaeology
- ARPA 384/584 Stone Tools: Analysis and Interpretation
- ARPA 302/502 Aboriginal Archaeology
- ARPA 307/507 Experimental Archaeology
Primary Research Area/s
Stone Tools; Cognitive Archaeology; Aboriginal ArchaeologyResearch Interests
My research explores how the evolution of hominin cognition—the way that hominins structured their thought—is reflected in the way they organised their stone-flaking techniques to produce tools. I explore both extremes of evolutionary complexity, including tools made by non-modern hominins (such as Homo floresiensis) and tools made by modern Homo sapiens in various parts of the world, including Australia, Indonesia, Arabia, Europe, India, and North America. The mechanical restrictions of stone flaking can cause similarities in outputs in the absence of complex intentions, a phenomenon I call the ‘spandrels effect’, and my theoretical and experimental research documents the nature and implications of this. I also use my stone-flaking skills in studying complex reduction sequences practiced by flintknappers from throughout prehistory.
- Reduction sequence analysis
- Experimental flintknapping
- Cognitive archaeology
- Stone tools and hominin evolution
Publications
Selected Publications
Moore, Mark W., Lloyd Weeks, Charlotte Cable, Yaaqoub Youssef Ali-Ali, Mansour Boraik, and Hassan Zein 2020. Bronze Age microliths at Saruq al-Hadid, Dubai. In Bretzke, K., Crassard, R., and Hilbert, Y.H., Stone Tools of Prehistoric Arabia. Supplement, Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 50: 149-166..
Moore, Mark W. 2020. Hominin stone flaking and the emergence of ‘top-down’ design in human evolution. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 2020: 1-18. doi: 10.1017/S0959774320000190
Moore, Mark W., Kira Westaway, June Ross, Kim Newman, Yinika Perston, Samantha Keats, Kandiwal Aboriginal Corporation, and Michael J. Morwood 2020. Archaeology and art in context: Excavations at the Gunu Site Complex, Northwest Kimberley, Western Australia. PLoS One 15(2): e0226628. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226628
Moore, Mark W. 2019. Flake-making and the ‘cognitive Rubicon’: insights from stone-knapping experiments. In Squeezing Minds from Stones: Cognitive Archaeology and the Evolution of the Human Mind, edited by K. A. Overmann and F. L. Coolidge, pp. 179-199. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Moore, Mark W., and Yinika Perston. 2016. Experimental insights into the cognitive significance of early stone tools. PLoS One 11(7): e0158803. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0158803
Moore, Mark W. 2015. Bifacial flintknapping in the Northwest Kimberley, Western Australia. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 22:913-951.
Moore, Mark W. 2013. Simple stone flaking in Australasia: Patterns and implications. Quaternary International 285:140-149.
Newman, Kim, and Mark W. Moore. 2013. Ballistically anomalous stone projectile points in Australia. Journal of Archaeological Science 40:2614-2620.
Brumm, Adam, and Mark W. Moore. 2012. Biface distributions and the Movius Line: A Southeast Asian perspective. Australian Archaeology 74:32-46.
Moore, Mark W. 2011. The design space of stone flaking: Implications for cognitive evolution. World Archaeology 43(4):702-715.
Moore, Mark W. 2010. ‘Grammars of action’ and stone flaking design space. In Stone Tools and the Evolution of Human Cognition, edited by A. Nowell and I. Davidson, pp. 13-43. Boulder, CO: Colorado University Press.
Moore, Mark W., and Adam Brumm. 2009. Homo floresiensis and the African Oldowan. In Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Oldowan, edited by Erella Hovers and David R. Braun, pp. 61-69. Springer, New York.
Moore, Mark W., Thomas Sutikna, Jatmiko, Michael J. Morwood, and Adam Brumm. 2009. Continuities in stone flaking technology at Liang Bua, Flores, Indonesia. Journal of Human Evolution 57:503-526.
Moore, Mark W., and Adam Brumm. 2007. Stone artefacts and hominins in island Southeast Asia: New insights from Flores, Eastern Indonesia. Journal of Human Evolution 52:85-102.
Moore, Mark W. 2007. Lithic design space modelling and cognition in Homo floresiensis. In Mental States: Nature, Function and Evolution, edited by Andrea Shalley and Drew Khlentzos, pp. 11-33. John Benjamins, Amsterdam.
Brumm, Adam, and Mark W. Moore. 2005. Symbolic revolutions and the Australian archaeological record. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 15(2):157-175.
Morwood, M. J., R. P. Soejono, R. G. Roberts, T. Sutikna, C. S. M. Turney, K. E. Westaway, W. J. Rink, J.-x. Zhao, G. D. van den Bergh, Rokus Awe Due, D. R. Hobbs, M. W. Moore, M. I. Bird, and L. K. Fifield. 2004. Archaeology and age of a new hominin from Flores in Eastern Indonesia. Nature 431:1087-1091.
Moore, Mark W. 2004. The tula adze: manufacture and purpose. Antiquity 78(299):61-73.
Moore, Mark W. 2003. Flexibility of stone tool manufacturing methods on the Georgina River, Camooweal, Queensland. Archaeology in Oceania 38:23-36.
Moore, Mark W. 2003. Australian Aboriginal blade production methods on the Georgina River, Camooweal, Queensland. Lithic Technology 28:35-63.
Moore, Mark W. 1992. A summary of east-central Indiana prehistoric knapping techniques. In Native American Cultures in Indiana, edited by Ronald Hicks, pp. 92-102. Minnetrista Cultural Center and Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.
