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  • E-mailElizabeth.Velliky@uib.no
  • Phone+47 55 58 23 22
  • Visitor Address
    Øysteins gate 3
    5007 Bergen
  • Postal Address
    Postboks 7805
    5020 Bergen

I am a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Bergen SFF Centre for Early Sapiens (SapienCE) in Bergen, Norway. Within the larger field of prehistoric Archaeology, I specialize in researching mineral pigments and human behaviour, rock art, and archaeometry. My current research focuses on the ochre assemblage from the Middle Stone Age of Blombos Cave, South Africa, and how ochre and pigments can inform us on the earliest forms of symbolic expression and the implications for the emergence of behavioural modernity. I am particularly interested in the acquisition and use of mineral pigments, not only from the traditional perspective of qualitative artefact categorization but within a framework of interdisciplinary and comprehensive field and laboratory analyses. This framework views mineral pigments from different angles by combining theory and methods from fields such as geology and geomorphology, anthropology and ethnography, experimental archaeology and archaeometry to explore the nuances and depth of ancient pigment-related behaviours.

During the last 10 years, I have worked on ochre-related projects from the European Upper Palaeolithic (specifically southwestern Germany), the South African MSA, the late MSA/LSA transition in eSwatini, and Holocene hunter-gatherers in British Columbia, Canada. I have worked on general archaeological field projects in the USA, Canada, Germany, Norway, Oman, Israel, South Africa and eSwatini. 

Selected publications
  • Velliky, Elizabeth; Barbieri, Alvise; Porr, Martin; Conard, Nicholas j.; Macdonald, Brandi lee. 2019. A preliminary study on ochre sources in Southwestern Germany and its potential for ochre provenance during the Upper Paleolithic. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 27. 14 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2023). Resisting Nature.
  • Show author(s) (2023). Mineral pigment provisioning and rock art in Stone Age Eswatini.
  • Show author(s) (2023). Clearing the brush of time: a re-examination of the Dikbosch 1 rockshelter legacy material and the Later Stone Age of the interior of South Africa.
  • Show author(s) (2022). Pilot fires: Preliminary Report from Interdisciplinary Actualistic Fire Experiments. EXARC Journal. 10 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2022). Ochre and pigment behaivours throughout the Upper Palaeolithic (ca. 43.5-12.5 kya) in the Swabian Jura of Southwestern Germany.
  • Show author(s) (2022). New insights into ochre features and their associated behaviours from the Howieson’s Poort layers at Klipdrift Shelter.
  • Show author(s) (2022). Current perspectives on ochre behaviors in the LSA of eSwatini.
  • Show author(s) (2021). The ochre workshop: past and present-day perspectives on colour and human behaviour. 99-113. In:
    • Show author(s) (2021). The Palimpsest. Universitetet i Oslo.
  • Show author(s) (2021). The Palimpsest. Universitetet i Oslo.
  • Show author(s) (2021). The MAMOR Database: Measuring Anthropogenic Markings on 3D Ochre Surface Renderings.
  • Show author(s) (2021). The Forgotten Kingdom: New investigations in the prehistory of Eswatini. Journal of Global Archaeology.
  • Show author(s) (2021). Ochre Provenance in Eswatini: Geochemical Insights on MSA/LSA Ochre Procurement.
  • Show author(s) (2021). Ochre Across Deep Time: A conversation exploring ochre's enduring role in human behavior and evolution, and in protecting Earth-systems knowledge.
  • Show author(s) (2021). Early anthropogenic use of hematite on Aurignacian ivory personal ornaments from Hohle Fels and Vogelherd caves, Germany. Journal of Human Evolution. 12 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2021). Characterizing microscopic ochre fragments at Middle Stone Age sites: implications for evaluating prehistoric ochre use and deposition.
  • Show author(s) (2021). Characterizing microscopic ochre fragments at Middle Stone Age sites: Implications for evaluating in-situ ochre processing and use.
  • Show author(s) (2021). Archaeological, archaeometric and ethnographic perspectives on ochre behaviours in Eswatini.
  • Show author(s) (2020). When Homo sapiens became like us: The Origins of Symbolism and how we define Modern Human Behaviour.
  • Show author(s) (2020). The past wasn’t black & white: the role of colour in the story of humans.
  • Show author(s) (2020). Hidden in plain sight: A microanalytical study of a Middle Stone Age ochre piece trapped inside a micromorphological block sample. Geoarchaeology. 31 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2020). First large-scale provenance study of pigments reveals new complex behavioural patterns during the Upper Palaeolithic of southwestern Germany. Archaeometry.
  • Show author(s) (2020). First large-scale provenance study of pigments reveals new complex behavioural patterns during the Upper Palaeolithic of south-western Germany. Archaeometry. 173-193.
  • Show author(s) (2019). Pigments and people in a changing landscape: Investigating ochre behaviors in Southwestern Germany during the Upper Paleolithic (ca. 44-12.5 kcal BP).
  • Show author(s) (2019). A preliminary study on ochre sources in Southwestern Germany and its potential for ochre provenance during the Upper Paleolithic. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 14 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2018). The use of ochre and painting during the Upper Paleolithic of the Swabian Jura in the context of the development of ochre use in Africa and Europe. Open Archaeology. 185-205.
  • Show author(s) (2018). The selection and exploitation of ancient pigments: Identifying diachronic trends in ochre use through NAA at Hohle Fels Cave, Germany.
  • Show author(s) (2018). Ochre and pigment use at Hohle Fels cave: Results of the first systematic review of ochre and ochre-related artefacts from the Upper Palaeolithic in Germany. PLOS ONE. 40 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2018). Identifying diachronic changes in ochre behaviours throughout the Upper Palaeolithic (ca. 40-12.5kya) of Southwestern Germany.
  • Show author(s) (2017). Sixth annual meeting of the European Society for the Study of Human Evolution. Evolutionary Anthropology (print). 7-8.
  • Show author(s) (2017). Rötel- und Ockerartefakte aus dem Hohle Fels: Farbpigmente und Kunst von der Schwäbischen Alb.
  • Show author(s) (2016). Identifying anthropogenic modification on archaeology ochre materials by early hominin populations.

More information in national current research information system (CRIStin)

Velliky, E.C., A. Barbieri, M. Porr, N.J. Conard, B.L. MacDonald (2019) A preliminary study on ochre sources in Southwestern Germany and its potential for ochre provenance during the Upper Paleolithic. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 27:101977.

Floss, H., R. Blumentritt, Ch. Hoyer, N. Huber, E.C. Velliky, N.J. Conard (2018): Palaeolithic Cave Art in the Swabian Jura? In: Floss, H. and Pastoors, A. (Eds.) 2018: Palaeolithic rock and cave art in Central Europe ? Session 31 of the XIX International Rock Art Conference IFRAO 2015 „Symbols in the Landscape: Rock Art and its Context“ Cáceres (Spain) 31.08 – 04.09.2015, Verlag Marie Leidorf (Rahden/Westf. 2018), p. 107-122.

Velliky, E.C., M. Porr and N.J. Conard (2018) Ochre and pigment use at Hohle Fels cave: Results of the first systematic review of ochre and ochre-related artefacts from the Upper Palaeolithic in Germany. PLOS ONE 13(12):e0209874.

Wolf, S., R. Dapschauskas, E.C. Velliky, N.J. Conard, H. Floss, & A.W. Kandel (2018) The Use of Ochre and Painting During the Upper Paleolithic of the Swabian Jura in the Context of the Development of Ochre Use in Africa and Europe. Open Archaeology 4(1), 185-205.

Karakostis, Fotios Alexandros, Elizabeth C. Velliky and Andrew W. Kandel (2017) Sixth annual meeting of the European Society for the Study of Human Evolution. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 26(1):7-8.

Velliky, Elizabeth (2016) Identifying anthropogenic modification on archaeology ochre materials by early hominin populations. SAS Bulletin, 39(2):4-6.

Velliky, Elizabeth and Rudy Reimer (2013) Rock Paintings of Squamish Valley, British Columbia: Geochemical Analysis of Pigments Using Portable ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (pXRF). American Indian Rock Art 39:130-141.

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