Ina Plug

Ina Plug (née Post) (born 5 August 1941) is a South African archaeozoologist (or zooarchaeologist), and teacher. Her long career included field research and in museums such as Transvaal Museum (now the Ditsong: National Museum of Natural History) and for the University of Pretoria on southern African mammals, starting with the animals from Iron Age sites at the Kruger National Park. Her work resulted in her publishing 130 scientific papers mostly on the skeletal remains of animals. She also published a book titled What Bone Is That? A Guide to the Identification of Southern African Mammal Bones.

During her research work Plug traveled widely to many countries to enhance her knowledge base and participated in many meetings of the International Council of Archaeozoologists (ICAZ) of which she is now a Council member.

Plug held the post of deputy director at the Transvaal Museum and was also the Head Curator of the Department of Archaeozoology, until she retired in 1999. During her career, apart from writing papers and books based on her research which covered Early Stone Age, the Middle Stone Age, and the hunter-gatherers of the Later Stone Age, she was also involved in training many students in the field of anthropology, history, archaeology and wildlife from different institutions across the country.

For her research work, Plug received financial support from the Foundation for Research Development, now the National Research Foundation, the Transvaal Museum, and the Human Sciences Research Council in Pretoria.

Post-retirement After retirement, Plug taught, part-time, at the University of Pretoria on subjects of archaeozoology and museology for many years. In 2005, she was made a research fellow in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology of the University of South Africa and in 2008 was honoured with the status of Professor Extraordinarius. She continues to be associated with archaeozoological research not only in South Africa but also in Lesotho.

Memberships Plug has held memberships in many scientific institutions and societies such as: The African Museums Associations The Farm Animal Conservation Trust The South African Archaeological Society The Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists, The International Council for Archaeozoology (ICAZ)