Co-Director
Professor Richard Walter
Archaeology of Oceania with a special interest in Melanesia and Polynesia including Aotearoa:
- Archaeological excavation and survey
- Ethnoarchaeology
- Faunal analysis
- Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
- Material culture analysis
Professor Richard Walter's profile
Co-Director
Associate Professor Karen Greig
Archaeology of Oceania with a special interest in Polynesia including Aotearoa:
- Archaeozoology
- Ancient DNA analysis
- Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
- Heritage conservation.
Senior Laboratory Analyst
Dr Monica Tromp
Monica manages SPAR's archaeological laboratory and research projects.
Monica received an MA from Idaho State University in Archaeological Science and a PhD in Bioarchaeology from the University of Otago. She has primarily worked as a microbioarchaeologist, with a specialisation in plant microparticle analysis and various microscopy techniques including SEM-EDS. Most of her work has focused on the extraction and identification of starch granules and phytoliths from dental calculus and sediments throughout the Pacific, and in Ireland and Germany. Monica also has experience in human osteology, trace element analysis, stable isotope analysis, proteomics, and aDNA analysis.