Professor Innocent Pikirayi is professor in archaeology at the University of Pretoria. His research focuses on the development of complex societies in southern Africa since 1000 AD. He is currently conducting geoarchaeological investigations around Great Zimbabwe to document the ancient city's water resources, and to assess the role of water in socio-political formation. He uses human environmental relations to engage with developments in selected parts of sub-Saharan Africa such as the Lake Chad Basin and the foothills of Mt Kilimanjaro to better understand the present human condition. He is a member of the World Archaeological Congress (WAC), an organisation committed to redressing global inequities in archaeology and protecting the heritage of indigenous peoples across the globe. He is also a member of the Integrated History and future of People on Earth (IHOPE) initiative, a global network of researchers and research projects that link human and Earth system history through the integration of knowledge and resources from the biophysical and the social sciences and the humanities. Since 2013, he has served as a member of the Shanghai Archaeology Forum (SAF). In September 2017, he was appointed ambassador for the journal Antiquity: A Review of World Archaeology, to develop locally relevant strategies to mentor young scholars in Africa. He is a member of the advisory board of the journal Anthropocene Review. In November 2020, he became a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).
