Maxime Aubert

Maxime Aubert is Professor of Archaeological Science at Griffith University, Australia, specialising in geochemical dating of early rock art and hominin fossils. He is a National Geographic Explorer and ARC Future Fellow whose discoveries have twice (2014 & 2020) been selected among the top-10 scientific breakthroughs by the journal Science. His research centres on uranium-series and other micro-analytical techniques to illuminate the timing and context of human evolution, early symbolic behaviour and the colonisation of Wallacea and Sahul.

Education

• PhD Earth Sciences (Uranium-isotope Geochemistry), Université du Québec / INRS, 2009

Research Interests

Aubert develops and applies cutting-edge geochemical methods to key questions in human evolution:

• Dating of Palaeolithic cave art and rock engravings
• Geochronology of hominin fossils and archaeological deposits
• Early human dispersals through Island Southeast Asia and into Australia
• Conservation science for Pleistocene rock-art heritage

His recent publications reveal 51,200-year-old narrative art in Sulawesi, 1.04-million-year-old hominin sea-crossings to the same island, and the world’s earliest known surgical amputation (31,000 BP, Borneo), collectively reshaping global timelines of art, technology and medicine.

Scientific Recognition

• Science journal Top-10 Scientific Breakthroughs 2014 & 2020
• National Geographic Explorer
• ARC Future Fellowship

Grants & Projects

Aubert has secured > AUD 6 million in competitive funding, including ARC Discovery and Linkage projects, National Geographic grants, and industry partnerships with Google Arts & Culture. Current major projects investigate early art and occupation along the northern route to Australia, Aboriginal rock-art management in Cape York Peninsula, and the archaeology of the Great Papuan Plateau.

Doctoral Supervision & Team Science

He currently supervises Griffith doctoral candidates working on oxalate dating of Australian rock art and Tasmanian hand-stencil heritage, and has previously led or co-supervised PhD projects on Sulawesi underwater archaeology, Indonesian prehistoric migration, Siberian rock art, and Philippine cave archaeology. His team collaborates closely with Indonesian, Australian and European institutions, conducting large-scale field programs in Sulawesi, Borneo and Papua New Guinea.