Position: Associate Professor and Director of the Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, University of Waikato.
Field: Radiocarbon dating1.
Associate Professor Fiona Petchey is Director of the Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory based at the University of Waikato. Currently, her research is focused on the dating of bone2 and shell from sites in Aotearoa3 New Zealand and the Pacific, specifically marine C-14 reservoir offsets and the influence of diet on human bone C-14. Fiona has a particular interest in using shell and bone artefacts to better refine the conversion of C-14 dates on marine samples to calendar years. Fiona’s research is underpinned by wanting to better understand the movement of ancient people around these areas and the environments in which they lived – particularly how environmental conditions4 may have influenced human movement.
If we were to just … to make predictions based on what people think is going to happen rather than actually looking back at the past and seeing what has happened, there’ll be things that we miss. So it is very important to look back at the past and see how we’ve dealt with it to stop us making the same mistakes again
Associate Professor Fiona Petchey
Fiona has been involved in dating some of the earliest known sites of human habitation across the Pacific and Aotearoa. She has contributed to a variety of research looking at how early people lived, where they lived and how they moved and spread out across the Pacific. In Ancestral Māori adapted quickly in the face of rapid climate change read about Fiona's contribution to research that has refined dates to give a precise timeline for the arrival and settlement of Māori ancestors into Aotearoa.
Fiona trained in archaeology and geology5 at the University of Auckland where she completed a master’s degree looking at Lapita ceramics from Samoa. Fiona obtained her PhD6 in radiocarbon dating at Waikato University.
Sometimes the past amazes us at how different it was and how resilient people were and how they came up with different ideas for different things.
Associate Professor Fiona Petchey
In early 2021, Fiona was promoted to Associate Professor and Director of the Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory. The University of Waikato acknowledged her promotion with the following summary of her work: “Fiona’s research centres on the interpretation of radiocarbon dates of animals that uptake carbon7 from both marine and terrestrial8 sources. By investigating the interaction between natural ecosystems9 and human economies, she has tackled some of Pacific archeology’s most difficult chronological problems.”
Associate Professor Fiona Petchey
Fiona (pictured here in 2009) with collagen extracted from a moa bone, for dating. Extracting the most reliable form of carbon from a sample is key to the work of the lab. Fiona was promoted to Director of the Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Lab in 2021 and she continues to play a hands on role in the laboratory while also working on her own research.
In November 2021, Fiona and her team were awarded a Marsden Royal Society grant to research improving the reliability of dating marine shells from New Zealand archaeological contexts.
Related content
The following articles feature Fiona’s research:
- Radiocarbon calibration curves
- Refining dates for human habitation in the South Pacific
- Lapita cultural complex
Carbon-1410 was used by Fiona to date artefacts of historical importance in archaeological digs.
Read about Fiona's contribution to new research that shows ancestral Māori adapted quickly in the face of rapid climate change.
Understand the difference between conventional radiocarbon dating and AMS in the video Comparing radiocarbon dating methods.
Activity idea
The activity Exploring Lapita pottery through observation and art is a cross-curricular activity that uses Lapita pottery as the context for enhancing scientific observation by recreating designs on paper or in clay11.
Useful link
Visit the Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory for more information about their research.
This article is based on information current in 2023.
- radiocarbon dating: Working out the approximate age of a very old object, such as bones or seeds, by measuring the amount of carbon 14 (C-14) it contains. When an organism dies, it no longer absorbs C-14. The C-14 it does contain in its tissues then starts to decay at a constant rate (half-life of 5,730 ± 40 years). The approximate date at which an organism died can be calculated by measuring the amount of C-14 left.
- bone: A specialised form of connective tissue. The presence of the mineral hydroxyapatite helps to give bone its strength and density.
- Aotearoa: The Māori name for New Zealand, meaning Land of the Long White Cloud.
- condition: An existing state or situation; a mode or state of being.
- geology: Study of the origin, history and structure of the Earth; the geological features of an area.
- PhD: Abbreviation of Doctor of Philosophy – a degree normally obtained after a concentrated period of research. This is the highest level of degree that involves supervision by academic staff at a university.
- carbon: A non-metal element (C). It is a key component of living things.
- terrestrial: Belonging or from the land. This term is often used to describe plants and animals, meaning they live on the land.
- ecosystem: An interacting system including the biological, physical, and chemical relationships between a community of organisms and the environment they live in.
- carbon-14: An isotope of carbon that is radioactive and used in carbon dating.
- clay: A naturally occurring fine-grained material formed from the chemical weathering of feldspar minerals found in rocks.
