Margaret Adebisi Sowunmi
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Margaret Adebisi Sowunmi | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 24, 1939 |
| Died | April 28, 2025 (aged 85) Ibadan Oyo state |
| Citizenship | Nigerian She attended St Anne's School Ibadan for her secondary school education |
| Occupation | Environmental archaeologist |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University College Ibadan |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Archaeology, botany |
| Sub-discipline | Palynology, paleobotany, archaeobotany |
| Institutions | Uppsala University University College Ibadan UCL Institute of Archaeology |
Margaret Adebisi Sowunmiⓘ (née Jadesimi) (September 24, 1939 - April 28, 2025) was a Nigerian botanist and environmental archaeologist.[1][2] She was Professor of Palynology and Environmental Archaeology at the University of Ibadan. She pioneered the study of environmental archaeology and palaeoethnobotany in Nigeria[3][4] and was the founder and president of the Palynological Association of Nigeria.[3]
Sowunmi was born in Kano, Northern Nigeria on September 24, 1939. Her father was a pastor in the Church of Nigeria. She attended St Anne's School Ibadan for her secondary school education. She studied for a BSc in Special Botany in the Department of Botany, at University College Ibadan, graduating in 1962. She received a postgraduate scholarship in 1963 to undertake Phd research in palynology. In order to undertake research in palynology, Sowunmi travelled to Sweden to study with Gunnar Erdtman, who supervised her PhD: "On the Pollen Morphology of the Palmae and its bearing on Taxonomy"[2]. She earned her PhD in botany from the University of Ibadan in 1967.[3]
Career
In 1967 Sowunmi was appointed a post-doctoral research fellow in the Archaeology Unit at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan. In 1971 she established the Nigerian University Palynology Laboratory. Sowunmi was appointed Professor of Palynology and Environmental Archaeology in 1982. Throughout her career Sowunmi held various visiting positions, in 1997 in the Department of African Archaeology, Uppsala University, and in 1998 at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London and the Departments of African Archaeology and African Archaeobotany, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität.[3] During the course of her career she supervised eight PhD students,[3][2] and is noted for being an inspirational teacher.[5] Sowunmi has worked on gender issues in archaeology in Nigeria, including modifying androcentric course titles.[6]
Sowunmi was the founder and president of the Palynological Association of Nigeria, and president of the West African Archaeological Association.[3]
Sowunmi retired in 2004.[3] However, she continued teaching palynology courses and supervising BSc and MSc students until she turned 80 in 2019.[2]
Research
Sowunmi's research achievements include the first identifications of the age and paleoenvironment of the Gwandu Formation, the first descriptions of Eocene pollen of the Ogwashi-Asaba Formation,[7] the first study of Late Quaternary vegetation and environmental history of Nigeria,[8] and the first study of pollen from an archaeological site in Nigeria.[3]
