is Senior Researcher in Prehistory at the National Institute of Archaeology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Maria Gurova was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. She graduated from Sofia University in 1981 with a degree in Archaeology. She obtained her PhD after 4 years of study at the Experimental Laboratory for Use-Wear Analysis of the Institute of Archaeology in Saint-Petersburg. Since April 1989, she has worked at the Institute of Archaeology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In 2004 she received her Habilitation and was promoted to Senior Researcher (Associate Professor) in Prehistory. Her research focuses on Holocene knapped stone assemblages from the Balkans, Southern Levant, and Western Anatolia. With over 260 publications, some in high-ranking scientific journals, she has received several grants for research placements abroad, an award by the Web of Science for excellence in scientific research, and by Clarivate Analytics for outstanding contribution to global scientific research.