Robin Torrence

Robin Torrence has made important contributions to international scholarship through new methods and theories for stone tools, particularly concerning risk avoidance, exchange, social differentiation, and use-wear-residue research. Her innovative archaeological projects in Greece, Papua New Guinea and Russia have significantly shaped archaeological approaches to prehistoric exchange and demonstrated the importance of quarries and workshops. Her commitment to inter-disciplinary research and skills in building and inspiring research teams has developed new fields including ancient starch research. Her multi-disciplinary field projects have tracked early colonisation and exchange and the history of human responses to volcanic disasters in New Britain, Papua New Guinea over 40,000 years. Her recent research is expanding archaeological approaches to ethnographic museum collections and the study of colonialism. Through her supervision and mentoring she has guided numerous younger scholars. She has published many books and scholarly papers and is currently a senior editor of the Journal of Archaeological Science.