Geraldine Finlayson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Prof. Geraldine Finlayson GMD
Geraldine Finlayson at John Mackintosh Square during the tercentenary commemoration of the Treaty of Utrecht, 13 July 2013
Born	(1960-10-31) 31 October 1960 (age 64) Gibraltar
Alma mater	Anglia Ruskin University
Known for	Chief Laboratory Scientist of the Gibraltar Museum Director of the Institute for Gibraltarian Studies
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 on October 31, 1960, is a scientist from Gibraltar. She is the CEO of the Gibraltar National Museum. Before this, she was the director of the John Mackintosh Hall until October 2011. Dr. Finlayson has been very important in creating the "Gibraltar method" for studying ancient sites, especially those found underwater. She is also part of a team of scientists who have made exciting discoveries about how Neanderthals lived.

Early Life and Education

Geraldine Finlayson was born in Gibraltar. She went to the Gibraltar Girls Comprehensive School.

In 2006, she earned her PhD from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK. Her special research project was about how climate, plants, and different living things are connected in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula.

Career and Discoveries

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 in the area, including some underwater.

From 1993 to 2011, Finlayson was the Director of the John Mackintosh Hall. During that time, she helped organize many public events, like conferences, art shows, and concerts.

She is currently the CEO of the Gibraltar National Museum.

Underwater Exploration

Geraldine Finlayson is also a co-director of the Underwater Research Unit (URU). This group explores the seabed and caves for the Gibraltar Caves Project. They also survey Gibraltar's underwater historical sites for a special database. They look for shipwrecks and check archaeological sites before any work begins.

She is a trained diver and a diving instructor. She also teaches at the Nautical Archaeology Society and the Gibraltar Museum.

Research Interests

Finlayson is interested in how climate, plants, and land features affect where animals live. She focuses on the Southern Iberian Peninsula and the Quaternary period, which is a recent geological time. She also studies how culture has influenced "Gibraltarian cuisine." Another key interest is exploring Gibraltar's "underwater cultural heritage."

Important Projects and Talks

In 2004, Finlayson gave a talk about the John Mackintosh Hall, a cultural and sports center in Gibraltar. She spoke about its 40-year history.

At a congress in 2006, Finlayson showed a new way to understand the ancient home of Neanderthals outside Gorham's Cave. She could reconstruct their environment in great detail.

In 2008, Finlayson, along with Professor Clive Finlayson and Dr. Darren Fa, visited Malta. They gave advice on an archaeological dig there. They also talked about possibly using the "Gibraltar model" for research in Malta.

Geraldine and Clive Finlayson gave a lecture at the University of Granada in 2009. Their talk was about human evolution and how different events shaped the history of Homo sapiens.

In 2010, Finlayson gave a lecture at Portsmouth University in the UK. She spoke about "the Gibraltar Method," which she and her team developed. This method is now very important for studying and protecting underwater historical sites.

Finlayson appeared on the Austrian TV show Terra Mater in 2012. She was in an episode about the "dark secret of the Neanderthals."

In 2012, she gave another lecture in Gibraltar as part of a series called "Hidden Worlds and Our Intangible Heritage." She also gave media representatives a tour of Gorham's Cave during its yearly exploration.

Gibraltar's "Lost World"

In 2013, Finlayson was one of the authors of a paper called "Key to a lost world in Gibraltar." She explained that Gibraltar was once like a "Mediterranean Serengeti." This means it was a place where animals like deer, wild horses, and cattle grazed. Predators like hyenas, leopards, bears, wolves, and lynxes hunted them. She described it as "a bit of Africa in Europe."

Finlayson said that the Gibraltar Museum was producing a lot of scientific work, similar to top universities. She was thankful for the support from the Government of Gibraltar.

Neanderthal Thinking Skills

In September 2012, the Gibraltar Museum team, including Geraldine Finlayson, published an important paper. It suggested that Neanderthals could think in symbolic ways. This meant they might have used ornaments.

Clive Finlayson called this a "huge step forward" in understanding Neanderthals. The paper suggested that Neanderthals were "thinking people." They could use things from their environment, like cutting feathers from birds of prey to use as decorations. This was similar to how other cultures around the world used ornaments.

Books and Articles

Geraldine Finlayson has written or helped write several books and many academic articles. These works often focus on climate, ancient environments, and human populations, especially Neanderthals.

Some of her books include:

• The Coastal Shelf of the Mediterranean and Beyond: Corridor and Refugium for Human Populations in the Pleistocene (edited with other scientists)
• Biogeography of human colonisations and extinctions in the Pleistocene (with Clive Finlayson and Darren Fa)
• The Homo habitat niche: Using the avian fossil record to depict ecological characteristics of Palaeolithic Eurasian hominins (with Clive Finlayson and others)
• Gibraltar at the end of the millennium: a portrait of a changing land (with Clive Finlayson), published in 1999

Her academic articles have appeared in scientific journals like Quaternary Science Reviews and PLOS One. These articles cover topics such as:

• How ancient birds can show us about early human environments.
• The earliest known use of ocean resources by Neanderthals.
• How caves in Gibraltar show changes in climate and environment.
• The long survival of Neanderthals in Gorham's Cave, Gibraltar.
• The idea that modern humans might not have caused Neanderthal extinction.

Awards and Recognition

In 2003, Finlayson and the Gibraltar Museum team won first prize in a program for their work on a ship called HMS Erin. In 2006, Geraldine received the Gibraltar Award in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

In 2018, Finlayson became an adjunct professor at Liverpool John Moores University's Faculty of Science.

In 2019, she and her husband, Clive, received the Gibraltar Medallion of Distinction. This award recognized their important work on Gorham's Cave.

Personal Life

Geraldine Finlayson's husband is Professor Clive Finlayson. He is an expert in how living things change over time and is a curator at the Gibraltar National Museum. Both Geraldine and Clive work together on archaeological digs in the Neanderthal caves in Gibraltar and other places. Clive writes a blog about their activities. They have also worked together on many scientific papers and writings. Clive is the author of a book about Neanderthals and modern humans. They have a son together.

See also

In Spanish: Geraldine Finlayson para niños