Congratulations to the Winners of the 2025 Kiernan Experimental Archaeology Award

Many congratulations to Helen Hampton and Pedro García-Villa, the winners of the 2025 Kiernan Experimental Archaeology Award!

Helen is about to begin her first year of a Ph.D. in Archaeology at the University of York, UK. Her project, "Searching for the origins of complex clothing: Testing the potential of Neanderthal stone flakes and tools as awls for making complex clothing", will test the functional capacities of Neanderthal technology for piercing hides and compare these with bone awls. It will fill gaps in current research through comparison of tools and perforations, comparison of working action, and creation of utilised experimental tools for further study.

Pedro is a Ph.D. student at Universidad de La Laguna, Canary Islands, Spain. His project, "Reference Collection of Ash Pseudomorphs from Native Woody Taxa in Tenerife, Canary Islands" aims to initiate a reference collection of ash pseudomorphs derived from calcined branches of the main native woody taxa found in Tenerife. The reference dataset generated will enhance future interpretations of combustion features in archaeological contexts across the Canary Islands, offering a valuable complement to charcoal and phytolith analysis.