About

MSc Archaeological Science (Geoarchaeology) · BA (Hons) First Class (Archaeology) · PhD Candidate
Victorian Cultural Heritage Advisor

Ada Dinckal is a geoarchaeologist with specialist expertise in soil micromorphology, rock and environmental magnetics, and site formation processes. They have worked on archaeological projects across Australia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South-East Asia, ranging from deep-time worldwide prehistoric sequences to recent Australian historical contexts.

Ada trained in geoarchaeology at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen (Germany), where their MSc research focused on micromorphology and chemical diagenesis at Diepkloof rockshelter, South Africa. They are currently completing their PhD through the Universidad de La Laguna (Spain), developing new methods for integrating rock magnetic analysis with archaeological soil micromorphology.

In Australia, Ada holds Heritage Advisor status under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 (Vic) and has over five years of commercial fieldwork experience across Victoria and New South Wales.

Ada has authored and co-authored peer-reviewed publications in Geoarchaeology, the Journal of Archaeological Science, Frontiers in Earth Science, Geology, and Open Archaeology, and has presented their research at the European Association of Archaeologists and the World Archaeology Congress.

Ada during field work on the Canarian Island of La Palma, during the 2021 volcanic eruption

Selected Publications

Dinckal, A., Fisher, E. C., Herries, A. I. R., & Marean, C. W. (2022). Mapping magnetism: Geophysical modelling of stratigraphic features. Geoarchaeology. https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.21924

Dinçkal, A., Carrancho Alonso, A., Hernandez Gomez, C. M. et al. (2024). Magnetic micro-archaeology: a method for conducting rock magnetic microfacies analysis. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 16, 44.

Dinckal, A., Herrejón Lagunilla, Á., Carrancho, A., Hernandez Gomez, C., & Mallol, C. (2024). Improving archaeomagnetic interpretations by reusing oriented magnetic samples. Journal of Archaeological Science.

Dinçkal, A., Feinberg, J., Herrejón Lagunilla, Á., Papavasiliou, D., Carrancho, A., Hernández Gómez, C. M., & Mallol, C. (submitted). The hearth of the matter: A high-resolution magnetic microarchaeological study of a Neanderthal combustion feature using quantum diamond microscopy. Journal of Archaeological Science.