Elizabeth VellikyUniversity of Bergen | UiB · Department of Archaeology, History, Culture studies and Religion
Elizabeth Velliky
Doctor of Philosophy
About
18
Publications
9,155
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89
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
I am an archaeologist with specializations in Rock Art, mineral studies, ethnography, and geochemical analysis. My regional focuses are British Columbia, Germany, and to a lesser extent, South Africa. My current PhD project is researching the ochre materials recovered from Middle and Upper Palaeolithic contexts in the Swabian Jura of Southewestern Germany using a variety of analytical and theoretical approaches.
Education
October 2015 - October 2018
August 2010 - September 2013
Publications
Publications (18)
Hearth formation processes are complex. They involve multiple actions, reactions, and activities before, during, and after an active fire and can also impact a wide range of materials and sediments at an archaeological site. Archaeologists approach combustion features and formation processes from multiple analytical perspectives. However, many expe...
Extended Exhibition Catalogue on the occasion of the Art exhibition: "Dit it up and Put it in a Bag," at Bergen University Museum. The book is a collection of articles in the intersection between Contemporary Art and Archaeology. It is a part of the Artistic Research Project: Matter, Gesture and Soul.
The Aurignacian (ca. 43–35 ka) of southwestern Germany is well known for yielding some of the oldest artifacts related to symbolic behaviors, including examples of figurative art, musical instruments, and personal ornaments. Another aspect of these behaviors is the presence of numerous pieces of iron oxide (ocher); however, these are comparatively...
A complete Middle Stone Age ochre piece was unintentionally collected and fully preserved within a micromorphological block sample intended to characterise a 74 ± 3 ka occupation horizon at Blombos Cave, South Africa. Previously recovered ochre pieces from the same stratigraphic context (Still Bay) have displayed intricate modification patterns wit...
The use of red iron‐based earth pigments, or ochre, is a key component of early symbolic behaviours for anatomically modern humans and possibly Neanderthals. We present the first ochre provenance study in Central Europe showing long‐term selection strategies by inhabitants of cave sites in south‐western Germany during the Upper Palaeolithic (43–14....
Though many European Upper Palaeolithic sites document early examples of symbolic material expressions (e.g., cave art, personal ornaments, figurines), there exist few reports on the use of earth pigments outside of cave art–and occasionally Neanderthal–contexts. Here, we present the first in-depth study of the diachronic changes in ochre use throu...
A-J. Artefact numbers, contextual details, and statistical tests for corresponding figures.
Table A: Fig 3 (Hohle Fels Aurignacian) artefact descriptions.
Table B: Fig 4 (Hohle Fels Gravettian) artefact descriptions.
Table C: Fig 5 (Hohle Fels Magdalenian) artefact descriptions.
Table D: Fig 10 (Hohle Fels artefacts with residues) artefact descript...
A-C. Previously reported ochre and ochre-related finds from Hohle Fels cave.
Fig A: Modified ochre pieces from Hohle Fels. Previously found Hohle Fels ochre artefacts: a) Specular hematite piece with two facets, #102.630.1; b) Red chalk “crayon” piece with four striated surfaces, #102.555.1 (from [1]) (photos by E. Velliky); c) Rounded Rondelle-sha...
While the earliest evidence for ochre use is very sparse, the habitual use of ochre by hominins appeared about 140,000 years ago and accompanied them ever since. Here, we present an overview of archaeological sites in southwestern Germany, which yielded remains of ochre. We focus on the artifacts belonging exclusively to anatomically modern humans...
Here we present preliminary results from an on-going study of the ochre assemblage from Hohle Fels. Located in the Swabian Jura of southwestern Germany, Hohle Fels contains Middle and Upper Palaeolithic deposits. The site holds an extensive Aurignacian cultural sequence (30 – 37 kyr non-cal. BP), which has yielded numerous artistic and symbolically...
Three pictographs in Squamish were analyzed using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF). Pigments have a specific elemental composition, but X-rays from pXRF penetrate deeper than the paint thickness, which results in the rockwall chemistry altering the pigment data. Using statistical methods to isolate the pigment chemistry, the project determined th...
Rock art is often far removed from its original context. In Squamish, British Columbia., however, this is
not the case. Here, ethnographies and oral histories from the Squamish First Nation provided an elaborate background on the history and stories behind the pictures and places in rock art. Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) is a formal diagnosti...
The goal of this project was to use geochemical data gathered from ochre pigments in rock paintings (pictographs) in Squamish, British Columbia, using portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF), in order to experiment with isolating signature elements of rock art pigments. Pictographs analyzed in-situ with pXRF are heavily influenced by the ch...
Questions
Question (1)
I am coming across a number of studies in foreign languages (esp. in Siberian contexts) where Reindeer teeth incisors are found in burial contexts. I am especially curious as to the specific method for creating these, why they may have been left in the gums, and why they are sometimes covered with red ochre (decoration or to prevent putrefaction?). Archaeologically, this seems to be common in Magdalenian contexts. Any language would be great!
Projects
Projects (4)
Investigating changing patterns of pigment procurement, use and meaning during the Middle and Later Stone Age in Eswatini.
Compositional analysis of rock art pigments from the Later Stone Age of Eswatini.
Investigation of old and new lithic and ochre assemblages from the Middle and Later Stone Age of Eswatini.
