Victor Iminjili
IMPRS
Main Focus
Victor Iminjili is a PhD student at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. Victor’s PhD project is titled “Human adaptations to climatic unpredictability during the Pastoral Iron Age of eastern Africa.” Victor intends to use a multidisciplinary approach to test postulates on the connection between climate and human adaptations (migration, pastoralism, agriculture, and diet among others) during the historical peopling of eastern Africa (last 2,000 years). His multidisciplinary approach will mainly involve the use of archaeological fieldwork, isotope biochemistry, zooarchaeology, and archaeobotany. Apart from sites within Nakuru: Hyrax Hill, Deloraine, and Lanet, this study will also obtain data from Laikipia and the Lake Victoria region in Kenya. Victor is also the assistant director of the Lwak and Yiro archaeological projects in the Lake Victoria region. These projects are directed by Dr. Gilbert Oteyo, a research fellow with the British Institute in eastern Africa. All these projects that Victor is involved in will be critical in developing strategies for sustainable food security and peaceful coexistence among eastern African ethnic groups. Victor is working under the supervision of Dr. Nicole Boivin and Dr. Steve Goldstein. His mentor and role model, Prof. Dr. Paul Lane of Cambridge University is also closely involved in these projects.
Curriculum Vitae
Victor Iminjili holds a BA degree in Anthropology from Moi University (Kenya), and an MA degree in Anthropology from the University of Georgia (USA). His MA thesis titled “The utility of refined δ13C values in hominin paleoecology”, provides an approach based on refined δ13C values to reconstruct faunal speciation patterns and hominin paleoecology more precisely. Victor is a talented excavator and has participated in various archaeological excavations in Kenya (Koobi For a, Laikipia, Lake Victoria Basin, Baringo, and Amboseli) and Britain (Marcham Frilford). He also has vast laboratory experience from the National Museums of Kenya. Victor is also an inspiring teacher and has taught different courses in anthropology, archaeology, history, and social and development studies in various universities in Kenya.
Publications
Lock, G., Gosden, C., Daly, P., Bukach, D, Kamash, Z., Levick, P, Majewski, J., Raven, S., Bendall, L., Harrison, J., Lewis, H., Otiende, E., Iminjili, V. and Yeates, S. (2006) The Vale and Ridgeway Project: Excavations at Marcham/Frilford 2005. South Midlands Archaeology, 36.
Iminjili V, Chirchir H, and Bobe R. 2009. The significance of systematic sampling in paleoenvironmental reconstruction: A case from Koobi Fora, Kenya. American Journal of Physical Anthropology Supplement (48):154.
Iminjili VM. 2012. The utility of refined δ13C values in hominin paleoecology [MA in Anthropology]. Georgia: University of Georgia. 155 p. https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/iminjili_victor_m_201205_ma.pdf