Marlize Lombard is Research Chair of the Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She obtained her PhD in Archaeology from the Science Faculty of the University of Witwatersrand in 2007. She leads the Palaeo-TrACKS (Tracing Ancient Cognition and Knowledge Systems through the Palaeolithic) group, aiming towards the generation of knowledge about Homo sapiens evolution in terms of biology, behaviour and cognition in the sub-Saharan African context. In recent years she received the Vice Chancellor’s Outstanding Researcher of the Year Award from the University of Johannesburg, as well as Distinguished Woman in Science award from the South African Department of Science and Technology. She serves on several editorial boards, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, the Academy of Science of South Africa and the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies.