Dr Annemieke Milks
-
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship
Researcher on a British Academy funded project: Reverse Engineering Pleistocene Spears: interdisciplinary perspectives on raw materials and performance.
Areas of interest
- Pleistocene weaponry
- Wood Technologies in human evolution
- Neanderthal behaviours and technologies
- Experimental Archaeology
- The Archaeology of Children
- Teaching and Learning Complex Skills
- Decolonising Palaeolithic Archaeology
Research centres and groups
Research projects
Hand-thrown spears: Ballistics, accuracy and learning to hunt among BaYaka Congo Basin foragers.
Background
Annemieke Milks is a Palaeolithic archaeologist. Her current postdoctoral research focuses on the transition from wooden spears to stone-tipped weapons during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Annemieke is also an active member of the research team working on the wood remains from Schöningen.
She specialises in early hunting weaponry and experimental archaeology, the use of wood for tools, and the archaeology of children. Her research has been funded by the British Academy, the Leakey Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, The European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association, and UCL’s Centre for Humanities Interdisciplinary Research Projects. Annemieke’s work has featured in several documentaries including for the BBC, CBC and History Hits.
Annemieke is a member of:
- European Association of Archaeologists (co-chair of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Community)
- European Society for the study of Human Evolution
- Forager Child Studies Research Network
Websites/blogs
Publications
-
Russo, G.
,
Milks, A.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0779-6200
,
Leder, D.
,
Koddenberg, T.
,
Starkovich, B.
,
Duval, M.
,
Zhao, J.
,
Darga, R.
,
Rosendahl, W.
,
Terberger, T.
(2023)
First direct evidence of lion hunting and the early use of a lion pelt by Neanderthals.
Scientific Reports
, 13
ISSN:
2045-2322
|
doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-42764-0
-
Milks, A.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0779-6200
(2023)
Hominins built with wood 476,000 years ago.
Nature
, 622
(7981).
pp.
34-36.
ISSN:
0028-0836
|
doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02858-1
-
Milks, A.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0779-6200
,
Lehmann, J.
,
Leder, D.
,
Sietz, M.
,
Koddenberg, T.
,
Böhner, U.
,
Wachtendorf, V.
,
Terberger, T.
(2023)
A double-pointed wooden throwing stick from Schöningen, Germany: results and new insights from a multianalytical study.
PLoS ONE
, 18
(7).
ISSN:
1932-6203
|
doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287719
-
Lew-Levy, S.
,
Bombjakova, D.
,
Milks, A.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0779-6200
,
Ntamboudila, F.
,
Kline, M.
,
Broesch, T.
(2022)
Costly teaching contributes to the acquisition of spear hunting skill among BaYaka forager adolescents.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences
, 289
(1974).
ISSN:
1471-2954
|
doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0164
-
Milks, A.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0779-6200
,
Lew-Levy, S.
,
Lavi, N.
,
Friesem, D.
,
Reckin, R.
(2021)
Hunter-gatherer children in the past: an archaeological review.
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
, 64
pp.
1-24.
ISSN:
0278-4165
|
doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2021.101369
-
Lew-Levy, S.
,
Milks, A.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0779-6200
,
Ntamboudila, F.
,
Broesch, T.
,
Kline, M.
(2021)
BaYaka adolescent boys nominate accessible adult men as preferred spear hunting models.
Current Anthropology
, 62
(5).
pp.
631-640.
ISSN:
1537-5382
|
doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1086/716853
-
Milks, A.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0779-6200
(2020)
Yew wood, would you? An exploration of the selection of wood
for Pleistocene spears.
In:
Berihuete-Azorin, M.
,
Martin Seijo, M.
,
Lopez-Bulto, O.
,
Pique, R.
, (eds.)
The Missing Woodland Resources: Archaeobotanical studies of the use of plant raw materials.
Advances in Archaeobotany
, 6.
Barkhuis Publishing
(6).
, Groningen.
pp.
5-22.
ISBN:
9789493194359
-
Lew-Levy, S.
,
Milks, A.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0779-6200
,
Lavi, N.
,
Pope, S.
,
Friesem, D.
(2020)
Where innovations flourish: an ethnographic and archaeological overview of hunter–gatherer learning contexts.
Evolutionary Human Sciences
, 2
ISSN:
2513-843X
|
doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2020.35
-
Milks, A.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0779-6200
(2020)
A review of ethnographic use of wooden spears and implications for Pleistocene hominin hunting.
Open Quaternary
, 6
(12).
pp.
1-20.
ISSN:
2055-298X
|
doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.5334/oq.85
-
Milks, A.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0779-6200
(2019)
Skills shortage: a critical evaluation of the use of human participants in early spear experiments.
EXARC Journal
, 2019
(2).
pp.
1-11.
ISSN:
2212-8956
|
doi:
https://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10426
-
Milks, A.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0779-6200
,
Parker, D.
,
Pope, M.
(2019)
External ballistics of Pleistocene hand-thrown spears: experimental performance data and implications for human evolution.
Scientific Reports
, 9
(1).
ISSN:
2045-2322
|
doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-37904-w
-
Milks, A.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0779-6200
(2018)
Making an impact.
Nature Ecology & Evolution
, 2
pp.
1057-1058.
ISSN:
2397-334X
|
doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0600-9
-
Milks, A.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0779-6200
,
Dinnis, R.
,
Pope, M.
(2016)
Morpho-Metric Variability of Early Gravettian Tanged “Font-Robert” Points, and Functional Implications.
In:
Iovita, R.
and
Sano, K.
, (eds.)
Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Stone Age Weaponry.
Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series
Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology
pp.
135-146.
ISSN:
1877-9085
ISBN:
9789401776028
|
doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7602-8_9
-
Milks, A.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0779-6200
,
Champion, S.
,
Cowper, E.
,
Pope, M.
,
Carr, D.
(2016)
Early spears as thrusting weapons: isolating force and impact velocities in human performance trials.
Journal of Archaeological Science
, 10
pp.
191-203.
ISSN:
0305-4403
|
doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.09.005