Becca Peixotto | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Education |
|
Known for | Discovery of Homo naledi[2] |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Anthropology Archaeology |
Institutions | American University |
Thesis | Against the Map: Resistance Landscapes of the Great Dismal Swamp |
Doctoral advisor | Dr. Daniel O. Sayers |
Rebecca (Becca) Peixotto is an American archaeologist who is best known for her contribution to the Rising Star Expedition as one of the six Underground Astronauts, a group of scientists tasked with excavating the Rising Star Cave System.[3] She has also participated in the Great Dismal Swamp Landscape Study and is an experienced wilderness educator.[4]
Peixotto received her Ph.D. in Anthropology, Archaeology Specialization, in 2017 from American University with her dissertation Against the Map: Resistance Landscapes of the Great Dismal Swamp.[5] Peixotto obtained a B.A. in Slavic Area Studies and Mathematics from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.[1] She pursued further studies abroad at the University of Amsterdam, obtaining an M.A. in Discourse and Argumentation Studies.[citation needed] She returned to the U.S. to attend the American University in Washington, DC, where she earned a M.A. in Public Anthropology, Archaeology Specialization, in 2013.[citation needed]
In October 2013, Peixotto and five others were chosen to be part of a specialized excavation team for the Rising Star Expedition.[6] The purpose of the 21-day expedition, sponsored by The National Geographic Society and the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, was to excavate fossils which had been recently found in a deep cave complex in the Rising Star Cave System, near Johannesburg, South Africa.[7]
The critical skills and physical attributes sought for the excavation team by lead scientist and University of the Witwatersrand professor Lee Berger were a "master's degree or higher in palaeontology, archeology or an associated field; caving experience; and the ability to fit through an 18-centimeter (about 7-inch) space."[8] The six women scientists were crucial in the successful "excavation of arguably one of the most important fossil finds in human history – a new species referred to as Homo naledi."[9]
Peixotto, Hannah Morris, Marina Elliott, Alia Gurtov, K. Lindsay Eaves, and Elen Feuerriegel, along with a team of sixty international scientists, excavated "one of the richest collections of hominin fossils ever discovered—some 1,550 fossil fragments, belonging to at least 15 individual skeletons."[6]
Since this expedition, Peixotto has continued to work with a team to learn more about Homo naledi.[10] As of 2021, this team has discovered two dozen naledi individuals and evidence that suggests this cave system might have served as burial grounds for Homo naledi.[10]
As a child, Peixotto enjoyed searching her grandparents’ old Vermont farmhouse for artifacts.[16][17] She initially studied engineering at college, but according to Peixotto, "When I took my first archaeology course, it was like a lightbulb turned on! I could combine all my experiences and interests in science, the outdoors, teaching, and history, to learn more about our collective human past."[16]
Peixotto was a Girl Scout.[17]