Associate Professor Catherine J. Frieman

Catherine Frieman is a lecturer in European archaeology in the School of archaeology and anthropology. Previously she was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art at the University of Oxford and a lecturer in archaeology at the University of Nottingham. She received a BA in archaeological studies from Yale University and an M.st and D.phil in archaeology from the University of Oxford. Catherine's D.phil examined the adoption of metal objects and metallurgy in 4th-2nd millennium BC northwest Europe through a close study of various lithic objects long thought to be skeuomorphs of metal.

Her primary research interests include innovation and conservatism, and she is a material culture and technology specialist with a particular specialism in stone tools. She has ongoing fieldwork in the UK, is Lead CI of an ARC Discovery project looking into human mobility and the diffusion of innovations in prehistoric Iberia and the Pacific and she has also worked on lithic material and technology from Neolithic sites in Vietnam. In addition to her research, Catherine is a passionate teacher and her contributions to education at the ANU have been recognised by teaching excellence awards from CASS, the Vice-Chancellor’s office and the Australian Office of Learning and Teaching.