In Memoriam

Robert Allen Mahaney: 1977-2016

 

Robert Mahaney worked at The Stone Age Institute from 2008-2016. He was one of the emerging new scholars in cognitive archeology, and his career showed great potential. He passed away in Colorado in March 2016.

Robert received a Ph.D. in Anthropology at Indiana University, Bloomington in 2015, focusing on Paleoanthropology and Cognitive Science. He received a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs in 2008. Robert's research interests were in experimental archaeology, using EEG and neuroimaging techniques to describe the neurocogntive systems related to stone-toolmaking. He was involved with the application of geometric morphometric techniques in evolutionary studies of the brain and skull in Dr. Tom Schoenemann's Human Brain Evolution Laboratory. At the Glenn A. Black Laboratory (GBL) of Archaeology at Indiana University, Robert studied the raw material distribution and geomorphology of Indiana's White River drainage system. He also played a key role in the re-organization, re-curation, and expansion of GBL's Midwest Lithic Repository.

Robert was a research and graduate fellow at the Institute throughout most of his years at Indiana University. With the completion of his dissertation and his Ph.D. in Anthropology in December 2015, his career and future looked bright. During the Spring 2016 semester, Robert was teaching a Human Origins and Prehistory class at Indiana University. He became a postdoctoral research fellow at The Stone Age Institute, and was going to be an integral member of the archaeological research team at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.

Our condolences go out to Robert's family and friends.
He will be deeply missed.

Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick,
Co-Directors, Stone Age Institute

Robert Mahaney