Geraldine Finlayson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Geraldine Finlayson
GMD
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Geraldine Finlayson at John Mackintosh Square during the tercentenary commemoration of the Treaty of Utrecht, 13 July 2013
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| Born | 31 October 1960 |
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| Spouse(s) | Professor Clive Finlayson |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Gibraltar Museum |
| Thesis | Climate, vegetation and biodiversity: a multiscale study of the south of the Iberian Peninsula (2006) |
Geraldine Finlayson (born 31 October 1960) is a scientist from Gibraltar. She is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Gibraltar National Museum. She used to be the director of the John Mackintosh Hall until 2011.
Geraldine Finlayson has played a big part in creating the "Gibraltar method" for archaeological research. This method is especially useful for finding things underwater. She is also part of a team of scientists who have made important discoveries about Neanderthals.
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Early Life and Education
Geraldine Finlayson was born in Gibraltar. She went to the Gibraltar Girls Comprehensive School.
In 2006, she earned her PhD degree from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK. Her special research was about "Climate, vegetation and biodiversity: a multiscale study of the south of the Iberian Peninsula." This means she studied how climate, plants, and different living things are connected in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula.
Career as a Scientist
Geraldine Finlayson worked for the Government of Gibraltar from 1981 to 1993. For many years, she has studied Neanderthals in Gibraltar. She has led many excavations (digs), including some underwater.
From 1993 to 2011, she was the Director of the John Mackintosh Hall. During this time, she helped organize many public events. These included conferences, art shows, and music concerts.
Today, she is the CEO of the Gibraltar National Museum. This means she is in charge of running the museum.
She also helps lead the Underwater Research Unit (URU). This group explores the seabed and caves for the Gibraltar Caves Project. They also create a detailed map of Gibraltar's underwater historical sites. They even survey shipwrecks and other archaeological places before any digging starts.
Geraldine Finlayson is a trained diver and a diving instructor. She also teaches at the Nautical Archaeology Society and the Gibraltar Museum.
What She Studies
Geraldine Finlayson is very interested in how climate, plants, and the land affect different living things. She especially looks at how plants and animals were spread out in the Southern Iberian Peninsula during the Quaternary period (the last 2.6 million years).
She also studies how different cultures have influenced "Gibraltarian cuisine" (food). Another important area for her is exploring Gibraltar's "underwater cultural heritage." This means finding and studying old things found under the sea.
Other Important Work
In 2006, at a big meeting called the Iberian Quaternary Congress, Geraldine Finlayson shared a new way to study Neanderthal homes. She showed how to rebuild in great detail what the Neanderthals' environment looked like outside Gorham's Cave.
In 2008, she visited Malta with her husband, Professor Clive Finlayson, and Dr. Darren Fa. They were invited by Malta's cultural heritage leaders. The team looked at an archaeological dig and gave advice. They also talked about working together in the future, using the "Gibraltar model" in Malta.
In 2009, Geraldine and Clive Finlayson gave a talk about human evolution at the University of Granada. Their lecture was called "The Luck of Man: the role of historical contingency in human evolution." It explained the story of how modern humans, Homo sapiens, evolved over time.
In 2010, Finlayson gave a lecture at a conference in the UK. She talked about "the Gibraltar Method." This method was developed by her and her team in Gibraltar. It is now very important for studying and protecting historical sites found underwater.
In 2012, Geraldine Finlayson appeared on an Austrian TV show called Terra Mater. She played herself in an episode about the secrets of Neanderthals.
That same year, she also gave a lecture in Gibraltar as part of a series called "Hidden Worlds and Our Intangible Heritage." She also led a tour of Gorham's Cave for reporters during the yearly expert exploration.
A "Lost World" in Gibraltar
In 2013, Geraldine Finlayson was one of the authors of a scientific paper published in a journal called Geomorphology. The paper was titled "Key to a lost world in Gibraltar."
She explained to reporters that Gibraltar was once like "a Mediterranean Serengeti." This means it was a wide-open area where animals like deer, wild horses, and cattle grazed. Predators like spotted hyenas, leopards, brown bears, wolves, and lynxes hunted them. She said it was "truly a bit of Africa in Europe."
Finlayson said that the Gibraltar Museum was producing a lot of scientific papers. She felt they were becoming a "Centre of Excellence" for research.
Neanderthals Could Think Symbolically
In September 2012, the Gibraltar Museum team, including Geraldine Finlayson, published an important paper. It was in the journal PLOS One and was called "Birds of a feather."
This paper suggested that Neanderthals were able to think symbolically. This means they could use things like ornaments to represent ideas. Clive Finlayson called this a "huge step forward" in understanding Neanderthals.
The paper showed that Neanderthals were "thinking people." For example, they could cut feathers and inner bones from birds of prey. They would leave the outer shell and use them as decorations, just like other cultures around the world have done.
Honors and Awards
In 2003, Geraldine Finlayson and the Gibraltar Museum team won first prize in a program called "Adopt-a-Wreck." They won for their work on an old armed ship called HMS Erin.
In 2006, Geraldine received the Gibraltar Award in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. This is a special recognition for her contributions.
In 2018, she became an adjunct professor at Liverpool John Moores University. This means she teaches and does research there.
In 2019, Geraldine Finlayson and her husband, Clive, were given the Gibraltar Medallion of Distinction. They received this award for all their important work on Gorham's Cave.
Personal Life
Geraldine Finlayson is married to Clive Finlayson. He is also a scientist who studies how living things change over time. He is the curator at the Gibraltar National Museum.
Both Geraldine and Clive work together on archaeological digs in the Neanderthal caves in Gibraltar and other places. They have written many scientific papers and books together. Clive also writes a blog about their work. They have a son together.
See also
In Spanish: Geraldine Finlayson para niños
