Paul Barry Pettitt,FSA is a Britisharchaeologist and academic. He specialises in thePalaeolithic era, with particular focus on claims of art and burial practices of theNeanderthals andPleistoceneHomo sapiens, and methods of determining the age ofartefacts from this time. Since 2013, he has beenProfessor of Archaeology atDurham University. He previously taught atKeble College, Oxford and theUniversity of Sheffield.

Pettitt studiedancient history andarchaeology at theUniversity of Birmingham and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1991. He undertookpostgraduate studies in archaeology at theInstitute of Archaeology,University College London, and graduated with a Master of Arts (MA) degree in 1992.^[1] He undertookpostgraduate research at theUniversity of Cambridge and graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1999. Hisdoctoral thesis was titled "Tool reduction models, primary flaking, and lithic assemblage variability in the Middle Palaeolithic of southwest France".^[2]

In 1995, Pettitt began his academic career as anarchaeologist at theRadiocarbon Accelerator Unit of theUniversity of Oxford; having been promoted to senior archaeologist, he left this position in 2001. From 1997, he was additionally aresearch fellow andtutor in Archaeology andAnthropology atKeble College, Oxford.^[1]

From 2003 to 2012, he taught and researchedPalaeolithicarchaeology at the University of Sheffield. Having started at Sheffield as a Lecturer, he was promoted toSenior Lecturer in 2007, and toReader in Palaeolithic Archaeology in 2010.^[3] In January 2013, he joinedDurham University asProfessor of Archaeology.^[1] In 2022, he was Lady Davis Visiting professor at theHebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.^[4]

Pettitt's research focuses on theMiddle andUpper Palaeolithicin Europe.^[5] In 2003, he co-discovered the earliestcave art in Britain atCreswell Crags.^[1] In 2008, 2009 and 2011, he co-directedexcavations inKents Cavern.^[1][6][7]

He is a member of the editorial board ofWorld Archaeology journal.^[8]

On 19 June 2008, Pettitt was elected aFellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA).^[9]

• Pettitt, Paul;Bahn, Paul; Ripoll, Sergio, eds. (2007).Palaeolithic cave art at Creswell Crags in European context. Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0199299171.
• Bahn, Paul; Pettitt, Paul (2009).Britain's oldest art: the Ice Age cave art of Creswell Crags. Swindon: English Heritage.ISBN 978-1848020252.
• Pettitt, Paul (2010).The Palaeolithic origins of human burial. Londond: Routledge.ISBN 978-0415354899.
• Pettitt, Paul; White, Mark (2012).The British Palaeolithic: hominin societies at the edge of the Pleistocene world. London: Routledge.ISBN 978-0415674546.
• Pettitt, Paul (2022).Homo Sapiens Rediscovered. London, UK: Thames and Hudson.ISBN 978-0-500-25263-5.

• Homepage at Durham University

• Academics of Durham University
• Academics of the University of Sheffield
• Living people
• Fellows of Keble College, Oxford
• Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London
• British prehistorians
• 20th-century British archaeologists
• 21st-century British archaeologists
• Alumni of the University of Cambridge

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• EngvarB from February 2018
• Use dmy dates from February 2018
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