Began his research work in Eastern Spain in 1970, studying animal bones from Parpalló and excavating the Cueva del Niño. He went on to a series of positions in Australia from Lecturer to Professor from 1974 to his retirement in 2008 when he took up the Chair of Australian Studies in Harvard, teaching a course on rock art. Since then he has worked in Cultural Heritage, including a visiting position at the Universidad de Magallanes in Punta Arenas in 2015. He has written 5 books (the latest on the relations between art and the archaeology of art), edited 8 others, and published more than 180 articles. He has published on animal bones, prehistoric economy, language, art, stone tools, collaboration with Aboriginal people, archaeological comparisons across the world, and culture. He has worked with several Indigenous groups in Australia, often in making recommendations about their heritage to mining companies.