Johannesburg - Professor Lyn Wadley, honorary professor of archaeology in the school of geography, archaeology and environmental studies at Wits University, has won a TW Kambule NRF-NSTF award.The award is given to an individual for an outstanding contribution to science, engineering and technology through research and its outputs over the last five to 10 years.



This forms part of the prestigious NSTF-BHP Billiton Awards.



Wadley is an NRF A-rated researcher. Her main research interest is ancient cognition and her experimental archaeology is geared towards understanding the mental architecture required for various behaviours.

Experiments include the production and use of compound adhesives and heat treatment of rocks and she has examined the implications of these technologies for cognition.



Modern behaviour

Wadley said that the award would help to highlight archaeology in a way that had not been done before in South Africa.



"We have such an incredible heritage and I think that the average South African is not aware of that.



"Most people realise that Africa is the cradle of humans but not too many people realise that it's also the centre of modern behaviour and technology.



"It was the first place in which technology developed in terms of Stone Age tools. Modern cognition, the modern brain, developed in Africa and through archaeology we're able to see that things like analogy and multi-tasking were used here."





