Contact Information
Email: 
stephens_m(at)usp.ac.fj
Phone: +679 323 2620
Office: Room 19, SGESE Building, Lower Campus
Research interests
Dr Stephens has research interests in tropical palaeoclimate, tropical geomorphology, geoarchaeology and geoconservation. Much of his work is focussed on reconstructing past environments and climatic change from sediments associated with human activity in order to shed light on human–environment interactions. He has used stable isotope analysis and soil micromorphological evidence to tease out climatic and environmental information, and OSL dating to determine the timing of change. He is also interested in the conservation of geologically important heritage sites in the Pacific. Most of his research has been undertaken in the humid tropics of Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo) and Fiji although he has also worked in the United Kingdom, the Ukraine, Armenia and Finland.
Selected publications
Candy, I., Stephens, M., Hancock, J. and Waghorn, R. 2011. Palaeoenvironments of human occupation: the stable isotopic record of terrestrial carbonates. In Ashton, N., Lewis, S., Stringer, C. (eds) The Ancient Human Occupation of Britain. Volume 14 (Developments in Quaternary Science), Elsevier, 23–27.
Pinhasi, R., Gasparian, B., Wilkinson, K., Bailey, R., Bar-Oz, G., Bruch, A., Chataigner, C., Hoffmann, D., Hovsepyan, R., Nahapetyan, S., Pike, A.W.G., Schreve, D.C. and Stephens, M. 2008. Hovk 1 and the Middle and Upper Paleolithic of Armenia: a preliminary framework. Journal of Human Evolution 55, 803–816.
Stephens, M., Mattey, D., Gilbertson, D.D. and Murray-Wallace, C.V. 2008. Shell-gathering from mangroves and the seasonality of the Southeast Asian Monsoon using high-resolution stable isotopic analysis of the tropical estuarine bivalve (Geloina erosa) from the Great Cave of Niah, Sarawak: methods and reconnaissance of molluscs of early Holocene and modern times. Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 2686–2697.
Barker, G., Barton, H., Bird, M., Daly, P., Datan, I., Dykes, A., Farr, L., Gilbertson, D.D., Harrisson, B., Hunt, C.O., Higham, T., Kealhofer, L., Krigbaum, J., Lewis, H., McLaren, S., Paz, V., Pike, A., Piper, P., Pyatt, B., Rabett, R., Reynolds, T., Rose, J., Rushworth, G., Stephens, M., Stringer, C., Thompson, J. and Turney, C. 2007. The ‘human revolution’ in lowland tropical Southeast Asia: the antiquity and behavior of anatomically modern humans at Niah Cave (Sarawak, Borneo). Journal of Human Evolution 52, 243–261.
Stephens, M., Roberts, R.G., Lian, O.B. and Yoshida, H. 2007. Progress in optical dating of guano-rich sediments associated with the Deep Skull, West Mouth of the Great Cave of Niah, Sarawak, Borneo. Quaternary Geochronology 2, 330–336.
Gilbertson, D.D., Bird, M., Hunt, C.O., McLaren, S., Pyatt, B., Rose, J. and Stephens, M. 2005. Past human activity and geomorphological change in a guano-rich tropical cave mouth: the Late Quaternary succession in Niah Cave, Sarawak. Asian Perspectives 44, 16–41.
Stephens, M. and Rose, J. 2005. Modern stable isotopic (d18O, d2H, d13C) variation in terrestrial, riverine, estuarine and marine waters from north-central Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 30, 901–912.
Stephens, M., Rose, J., Gilbertson, D.D. and Canti, M. 2005. The micromorphology of cave sediments in the humid tropics: Niah Cave, Sarawak. Asian Perspectives 44, 42–55.
Barker, G., Barton, H., Beavitt, P., Bird, M., Daly, P., Doherty, C., Gilbertson, D.D., Hunt, C.O., Krigbaum, J., Lewis, H., Manser, J., McLaren, S., Paz, V., Piper, P., Pyatt, B., Rabett, R., Reynolds, T., Rose, J., Rushworth, G. and Stephens, M. 2002. Prehistoric foragers and farmers in South-east Asia: renewed investigations at Niah Cave, Sarawak. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 68, 147–164.
Stephens, M., Krzyszkowski, D., Ivchenko, A.S. and Majewski, M. 2002. Palaeoclimate and pedosedimentary reconstruction of a Middle to Late Pleistocene loess–palaeosol sequence, Prymorske, SW Ukraine. Studia Quaternaria 19, 3–18.
