Igor Djakovic is a PhD candidate in the Neanderthal Legacy research project.

More information about Igor Djakovic

Office days

Monday to Thursday

Research

Broadly speaking, Igor is interested in the relationship between human migration, interaction, and the diffusion of technological knowledge and practices across the landscape. With a particular focus on western Europe, and as part of the Neandertal Legacy VICI project, his PhD research is aimed at shedding new light on the inter-group transmission of technical traditions in stone artefact production during the transition from Neanderthals to Homo sapiens in Europe between 46 and 40 thousand years ago. Igor is currently involved in an ongoing excavation at the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic site of Quinçay, France, which is his central region of study.

From a methodological perspective: Igor's research combines fieldwork and excavation, spatio-temporal analyses, and the development of novel analytical tools for quantifying procedural relationships in lithic artefact production between assemblages. Drawing from variation-space approaches, including 3D geometric morphometrics and network-based analyses, his PhD research emphasises an ‘emergent’ approach to evaluating trends and relationships within transformational technological landscapes linked to Palaeolithic migration events. 

Curriculum vitae

Igor Djakovic completed his Bachelor of Archaeology degree at the University of Queensland, Australia in 2017. Immediately following sitting his final examination, he spent the next 14 months working on various Palaeolithic projects across Australia, France, Israel, Germany, and the Netherlands. After his return home, he worked briefly as a project archaeologist for an archaeology and cultural heritage consultancy service.

In 2018, he was awarded the Leiden University Raymond and Beverly Sackler Scholarship to pursue a Research Masters at the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University. In 2020, he graduated cum laude with a thesis titled ‘Squeezing blood from stone? The Châtelperronian laminar technology from Quinçay, France and the (initial) Upper Palaeolithic phenomenon’ which investigated technological change at the onset of the Upper Palaeolithic in France and its relevance to contemporaneous bio-cultural transformations in eastern and central Europe. During this time, he was involved in research and fieldwork projects in France, Germany and Mongolia.

In 2020, Igor was granted a PhD position within the NWO-funded Neandertal Legacy VICI project – aimed at identifying and evaluating cultural interaction scenarios between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals in Europe between 50 and 40 thousand years ago.

Publications