Simon Holdaway’s contribution to the advancement of theoretical knowledge and development of innovative methodologies in Archaeology is unique. His pioneering 2014 and 2017 books challenge the archaeological orthodoxy that the last 10 millennia saw an inevitable shift from simple to complex societies with studies in Australia and Egypt. By examining in-depth case studies, he shows that changes during the last 10,000 years varied because of the local history of social and environmental interactions rather than the existence of a universal cultural historical evolution. His multidisciplinary projects continue to overturn long-accepted interpretations for some of the classic archaeological locations worldwide. His research on stone artefacts, the commonest form of archaeological material culture, has initiated major reassessments worldwide. Challenging archaeology’s foundational assumption of a relationship between complex stone artefacts and more evolved peoples, and the notion that stone artefact manufacture led to a single, desired end-product, he has pioneered large scale stone artefact analysis, writing both the current text on Australian stone artefacts and a series of innovative method and theory papers.
