Amy Prendergast

Dr Amy Prendergast is a Senior Lecturer and DECRA Fellow in the School of Geography, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences (SGEAS) at the University of Melbourne. She previously held a McKenzie Fellowship at the University of Melbourne (2016-2019) and an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Mainz in Germany (2014-2016).
Amy’s research focuses on exploring the relationship between humans and environmental change. She studies how humans and our hominin ancestors responded to rapid environmental changes over the past several million years. She has worked at sites across North Africa, Western Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia.

Amy employs geochemical records in combination with growth increment analyses (sclerochronology) from biogenic carbonates such as mollusc shells to generate high-resolution records of environmental change and seasonality. She focuses on generating records from archaeological sites to facilitate reconstructions of human-environment interaction. She is involved in both proxy development and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction.