Naomi joined Far Western as a Senior Archaeologist in 2023. Prior to this, she worked as a Paleolithic archaeologist, zooarchaeologist, and bone technology specialist in academic settings throughout Europe, the Levant, and South Africa.
She received her Ph.D. in 2019 from the University of California, Davis, with research emphases on the evolution and use of bone technology by Neanderthals and our own species, Homo sapiens. Naomi applied innovative methods to study ancient bone tools including confocal microscopy and 3D surface texture analysis to quantitatively assess modification traces on bone surfaces, as well as non-destructive Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry to identify the animal species used to make bone tools. Naomi has conducted postdoctoral research under the NSF SBE Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and the Fulbright US Scholar Grant in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, New Bulgarian University, and the University of Tulsa.
She has also taught archaeological analysis, human evolution, and zooarchaeology to undergraduate students as an Associate Instructor and Adjunct Professor at the University of California, Davis and the University of Tulsa.
Naomi has contributed to numerous projects for Far Western by writing proposals, permit applications, archaeological survey reports, evaluations, and data recovery reports. She has also conducted data analysis, archival research, field survey, as well as numerous project management tasks.
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Naomi’s Featured Publications
Sinet-Mathiot, V., W. Rendu, T. E. Steele, R. Spasov, S. Madelaine, S. Renou, M. C. Soulier, N. L. Martisius, M. Soressi, V. Aldeais, E. Endarova, H. L. Dibble, P. Goldberg, S. J. P. McPherron, Z. Rezek, D. Sandgathe, N. Sirakov, S. Sirakova, T. Tsanova, A. Turq, J. J. Hublin, F. Welker, and G. M. Smith
2023 Identifying the Unidentified Fauna Enhances Insights into Hominin Subsistence Strategies during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Transition. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 15:139. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01830-4.
Steele, T. E., A. Mackay, A. Blackwood, S. E. Lagle, N. L. Martisius, P. J. McNeill, J. Orton, and M. Stahlschmidt
2023 Varsche Rivier (VR003), South Africa. Handbook of Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa: Hominin Behavior, Geography, and Chronology.
Martisius, N. L.
2022 Accessing the Ephemeral using Multiscale 3D Microscopy of Bone Microwear. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 45:03634. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103634
Martisius, N. L., R. Spasov, G. M. Smith, E. Endarova, V. Sinet-Mathiot, F. Welker, V. Aldeias, P. Horta, J. Marreiros, Z. Rezek, S. P. McPherron, N. Sirakov, S. Sirakova, T. Tsanova, and J. J. Hublin
2022 Initial Upper Paleolithic Bone Technology and Personal Ornaments at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria). Journal of Human Evolution 167:103198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103198
Mackay, A., S. J. Armitage, E. M. Niespolo, W. D. Sharp, M. C. Stahlschmidt, A. F. Blackwood, K. C. Boyd, B. M. Chase, S. E. Lagle, C. F. Kaplan, M. A. Low, N. L. Martisius, P. J. McNeill, I. Moffat, C. A. O’Driscoll, R. Rudd, J. Orton, and T. E. Steele
2022 Environmental Influences on Human Innovation and Behavioural Diversity in Southern Africa 92–80 Thousand Years Ago. Nature Ecology & Evolution 6:361-369.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01667-5
Sinet-Mathiot, V., N. L. Martisius, E. Schulz-Kornas, A. Van Casteren, T. R. Tsanova, N. Sirakov, R. Spasov, F. Welker, G. M. Smith, and J. J. Hublin
2021 The Effect of Eraser Sampling for Proteomic Analysis on Palaeolithic Bone Surface Microtopography. Scientific Reports 11:23611. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02823-w
Smith, G. M., R. Spasov, N. L. Martisius, V. Sinet-Mahiot, V. Aldeias, Z. Rezek, K. Ruebens, S. Pederzani, S. P. McPherron, S. Sirakova, N. Sirakov, T. Tsanova, and J. J. Hublin
2021 Subsistence Behaviour during the Initial Upper Palaeolithic in Europe: Site Use, Dietary Practice, and Carnivore Exploitation at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria). Journal of Human Evolution 161:103074. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103074
Martisius, N. L., S. P. McPherron, E. Schulz-Kornas, M. Soressi, and T. E. Steele
2020 A Method for the Taphonomic Assessment of Bone Tools Using 3D Surface Texture Analysis of Bone Microtopography. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 12:251. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01195-y
Martisius, N. L., F. Welker, T. Dogandžić, M. N. Grote, W. Rendu, V. Sinet-Mathiot, A. Wilcke, S. P. McPherron, M. Soressi, and T. E. Steele
2020 Non-destructive ZooMS Identification Reveals Strategic Bone Tool Raw Material Selection by Neandertals. Scientific Reports 10:7746. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64358-w
Hublin, J. J., N. Sirakov, V. Aldeias, S. Bailey, E. Bard, V. Delvigne, E. Endarova, Y. Fagault, H. Fewlass, M. Hajdinjak, B. Kromer, I. Krumov, J. Marreiros, N. L. Martisius, L. Paskulin, V. Sinet-Mathiot, M. Meyer, S. Pääbo, V. Popov, Z. Rezek, S. Sirakova, M. M. Skinner, G. M. Smith, R. Spasov, S. Talamo, T. Tuna, L. Wacker, F. Welker, A. Wilcke, N. Zahariev, S. P. McPherron, and T. Tsanova
2020 Initial Upper Palaeolithic Homosapiens from Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2259-z
Fewlass, H., S. Talamo, L. Wacker, B. Kromer, T. Tuna, Y. Fagault, E. Bard, S. P. McPherron, V. Aldeias, R. Maria, N. L. Martisius, L. Paskulin, Z. Rezek, V. Sinet-Mathiot, S. Sirakova, G. M. Smith, R. Spasov, F. Welker, N. Sirakov, T. Tsanova, and J. J. Hublin
2020 A 14C Chronology for the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Transition at Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria. Nature Ecology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1136-3
Martisius, N. L., I. Sidéra, M. N. Grote, T. E. Steele, S. P. McPherron, and E. Schulz-Kornas
2018 Time Wears On: Assessing How Bone Wears Using 3D Surface Texture Analysis.
PLoS ONE 13(11): e0206078. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?type=
printable&id=10.1371/journal.pone.0206078
Soressi, M., S. P. McPherron, M. Lenoir, T. Dogandžić, P. Goldberg, Z. Jacobs, Y. Maigrot, N. L. Martisius, C. E. Miller, W. Rendu, M. Richards, M. M. Skinner, T. E. Steele, S. Talamo, and J. P. Texier
2013 Neandertals Made the First Specialized Bone Tools in Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110(35):14186–14190. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1302730110
Martisius, N. L. (J. W. Eerkens and D. G. Smith, faculty mentors)
2011 Ancient DNA and Genetic Relations at a 4000-Year-Old Archaeological Site (CA-CCO-548) in the California Delta. Explorations: The UC Davis Undergraduate Research Journal, Vol. 14. http:// undergraduateresearch.ucdavis.edu/explorations/2011/martisius-n.html