Tim Forssman is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Mpumalanga in Cultural and Heritage Studies. He is a current recipient of the South African National Research Foundation’s African Origins Platform Grant, which will fund his research into forager technologies, innovations, and indigenous knowledge systems during the rise of the Mapungubwe state. His research interests include forager-farmer interactions, forager economies, trade dynamics, landscape archaeology, and rock art. Tim’s work is carried out under the Hunter-Gatherer Archaeological Research Project.
Experience
2022–present
Senior lecturer, University of Mpumalanga
2019–2021
Senior lecturer, University of Pretoria
2018–2019
Project leader, PGS Heritage
2016–2019
Heritage specialist, HRMS
2016–2016
Postdoctoral fellow, University of the Witwatersrand
2014–2015
Postdoctoral fellow, University of Pretoria
Education
2014
University of Oxford, Doctorate
2010
University of the Witwatersrand, Masters
2008
University of the Witwatersrand, Honours
2007
University of the Witwatersrand, BA
Publications
2020
Foragers in the middle Limpopo Valley: trade, place-making, and complexity, Archaeopress
2012
Bushman rock art: an interpretive guide, 30 Degrees South
Grants and Contracts
2022
African Origin Platform
Role:
Principle investigator
Funding Source:
National Research Foundation
2020
Competitive Programme for Rated Researchers
Role:
Principle investigator
Funding Source:
National Research Foundation
2019
Scatterlings of Africa
Role:
Principle investigator
Funding Source:
Palaeontological Scientific Trust
Professional Memberships
Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists