Dr Kira Westaway

Macquarie University – Kira was jointly named the 2009 NSW Tall Poppy of the Year

Kira uses bone evidence at archaeological sites to reconstruct and date the environments experienced by early humans to provide archaeologists with a better understanding of how our early ancestors lived and died. As part of a research team, she is currently investigating the ‘Hobbit’ site at Liang Bua cave, Indonesia, and other sites in the Southeast Asian region. This research has greatly influenced our understanding of human evolution and what constituents ‘being human’ and has challenged many of our established ideas about human dispersal across the globe.

  • Geochronology
  • Earth Science