Radu Iovita

I am a four-field trained anthropological archaeologist with broad interests in the archaeology of human evolution, human-environmental interactions, and stone tool technology. I came to NYU after eight years as a postdoc and eventually Senior Research Scientist at the Leibniz Research Institute for Archaeology in Castle Monrepos, Germany. I got my PhD at Penn under the late Harold Dibble, my Master's at Cambridge with Paul Mellars and my undergraduate at Harvard with Ofer Bar-Yosef (my more ancient academic kinship to be found at Anthropology Tree). Having participated in field projects all over the Old World, I eventually settled on doing my own research in the Eurasian loess steppe. In 2013 I completed a survey project in southeastern Romania and began work in Central Asia. I currently direct the European Research Council-funded PALAEOSILKROAD project in Kazakhstan, which investigates the role of geography and climate in Late Pleistocene human dispersals in central Asia. My Anthrotopography lab here at NYU tries to answer historical questions at different scales, using microscopes to peer into the forensics of ancient tool use and remote sensing to recover past landscapes. 

Center for the Study of Human Origins

Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany

European Research Council Starting Grant (2017-2022) 

ORCID | Google Scholar Profile

As editor (peer-reviewed) 

Iovita, R. and K. Sano (Eds.) (2016) Multidisciplinary approaches to the study of Stone Age weaponry, Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology, Springer, Dordrecht. 

Marreiros, J., Pereira, T., and Iovita, R. (Eds.) (in press) Controlled experiments in lithic technology and function, issue of Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, Springer.

Peer-reviewed articles 

Calandra, I., Schunk, L., Rodriguez, A., Gneisinger, W., Pedergnana, A., Paixao, E., Iovita, R., Marreiros, J. (in press) Back to the edge: relative coordinate system for use-wear analysis. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, Springer.

Pfleging, J., Iovita, R., Buchli, J. (2019) Influence of force and duration on stone tool wear: results from experiments with a force-controlled robot. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. 

Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S., Noack, E.S., Pop, E., Herbst, C., Pfleging, J., Buchli, J., Jacob, A., Enzmann, F., Kindler, L., Iovita, R., Street, M., Roebroeks, W., 2018. Evidence for close-range hunting by last interglacial Neanderthals. Nature: Ecology and Evolution 2, 1087–1092. 

Fitzsimmons, KE, Sprafke, T, Zielhofer, C, Günter, C, Deom, JM, Sala, R, and R Iovita (2018) Loess accumulation in the Tian Shan piedmont: implications for palaeo-environmental change in arid Central Asia. Quaternary International 469:30-43.

Fitzsimmons, K.E., Iovita, R., Sprafke, T., Glantz, M., Talamo, S., Horton, K., Beeton, T., Alipova, S., Bekseitov, G., Ospanov, Y., Deom, J.-M., Sala, R., Taimagambetov, Z. (2017) A chronological framework connecting the early Upper Palaeolithic across the Central Asian piedmont. Journal of Human Evolution 113, 107–126. 

Iovita, R., I. Tuvi-Arad, M.-H. Moncel, J. Despriée, P. Voinchet, and J.-J. Bahain (2017). High handaxe symmetry at the beginning of the European Acheulian: the data from la Noira (France) in context. PLoS One 12(5): e0177063.

Pfleging J, Stücheli M, Iovita R, Buchli J. (2015) Dynamic Monitoring Reveals Motor Task Characteristics in Prehistoric Technical Gestures. PLoS ONE 10(8): e0134570. 

Iovita R., H. Schönekeß, S. Gaudzinski-Windheuser, and F. Jäger (2014) Projectile impact fractures and launching mechanisms: results of a controlled ballistic experiment using replica Levallois points. Journal of Archaeological Science 48: 73-83.

Iovita, R., A. Dobos, K. E. Fitzsimmons, M. Probst, U. Hambach, M. Robu, M. Vlaicu, and A. Petculescu. (2014) Geoarchaeological prospection in the loess steppe: preliminary results from the Lower Danube Survey for Paleolithic  Sites (LoDanS). Quaternary International 351:98-114.

Fitzsimmons, K. E., U. Hambach, D. Veres, and R. Iovita. (2013) The Campanian Ignimbrite eruption: new data on volcanic ash dispersal and its potential impact on human evolution. PLoS ONE.

Iovita, R., K. E. Fitzsimmons, A. Dobos, U. Hambach, A. Hilgers, and A. Zander. (2012) Dealul Guran: evidence of Lower Paleolithic occupation of the southeast European loess steppe. Antiquity 86(334): 973-989. 

Iovita, R. (2011) Shape variation in Aterian tanged tools and the origins of projectile technology: a morphometric perspective on stone fool function. PLoS One 6(12): e29029.

Iovita, R. and S. P. McPherron (2011) The handaxe reloaded: a morphometric reassessment of Acheulian and Middle Paleolithic handaxes. Journal of Human Evolution 61: 61-74. 

Iovita, R. P. (2009) Reevaluating connections between the Early Upper Paleolithic of Northeast Africa and the Levant: technological differences between the Dabban and the Emiran. In Transitions in Prehistory: Papers in Honor of Ofer BarYosef, J. Shea and D. Lieberman (Eds.), pp. 125-142. Oxbow Books, Oxford. 

Iovita, R. P. (2009) Ontogenetic scaling and lithic systematics: method and application. Journal of Archaeological Science 36(7): 14471457. 

Updated February 2019

I am currently working on one major field project in Kazakhstan (PALAEOSILKROAD) and several laboratory projects related to lithic use-­wear and experiments.

In the field, we had a fantastic 2018 field season, discovering and documenting no less than 72 (!) caves and rockshelters in the Qaratau Mountains of South Kazakhstan, as well as several other sites in the southeast region. We are currently in the process of test-excavating them and evaluating their archaeological potential (Spring-Fall 2019).   

Back in the Anthrotopography laboratory, we recently published two papers, on the influence of force and duration on use wear accrual and, with Ivan Calandra from Monrepos (Germany) on relative coordinate systems for use wear analysis (in press, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences). Emily Coco is preparing 3D models of our excavations at Maibulak and simulating recycling in archaeological contexts. Alice Rodriguez and Tabasa Ozawa (CAS '21) are working with Prof. Rakesh Behera (Tandon Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering) to produce wear polishes on lithic surfaces using a tribometer, and we are hoping to publish at least two papers later this year. 

Meanwhile, Jordan Sutter (CAS '19) is finishing up a study scanning secondary fracture characteristics on glass flakes obtained in controlled flaking conditions to their use in determining impact speed.