Professor Shanti Pappu is the Founder/Secretary of the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education (SCHE), India, and a former Professor of Prehistory at the Deccan College, Pune, India. She founded the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education in 1999, and along with Dr Kumar Akhilesh has been conducting research programmes, training courses and public outreach programmes for children and teachers in archaeology and associated sciences.

For over 20 years, her team has been investigating aspects of early prehistoric occupation of South Asia, through multidisciplinary efforts involving excavations at the sites of Attirampakkam and Sendrayanpalayam, and studies across parts of northern and southern Tamil Nadu. These projects include establishing and coordinating teams of scientists from India and abroad, facilitating collaborative networks to address questions related to India’s prehistoric past, through intertwined approaches in archaeology, geomorphology, palaeoenvironments, geochronology, remote sensing and ethnoarchaeology.

She has published research papers in peer-reviewed journals, including Nature and Science, has authored a book, and is currently editing a three-volume series on the prehistoric archaeology of Tamil Nadu. She is also interested in the history of prehistoric research in India, and is currently investigating the life and work of 19th century prehistorians in India.