Climate change in the abandonment of islands: a high-resolution case study from the tropical Pacific. Climate change in the last 1000 years is thought to have had negative environmental and societal consequences in the Pacific, particularly in Palau through the occupation and abandonment of limestone islands. This project uses high-resolution data to establish the palaeoclimate and the cultural mechanisms used to cope with climate events.
Out of Africa: human prehistory in southwestern China. This project aims to establish the timing and processes of human settlement in East Asia during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Through studying a series of key archaeological sites in southwest China using the most recent innovative scientific approaches in luminescence dating, sedimentary DNA and lithic analysis, we expect to provide new insights into the human prehistory of East Asia over the last 300,000 years. This should provide signi ....Out of Africa: human prehistory in southwestern China. This project aims to establish the timing and processes of human settlement in East Asia during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Through studying a series of key archaeological sites in southwest China using the most recent innovative scientific approaches in luminescence dating, sedimentary DNA and lithic analysis, we expect to provide new insights into the human prehistory of East Asia over the last 300,000 years. This should provide significant contribution to addressing major debates about the timing, rate and route of dispersal of modern humans out of Africa, across south Asia and into Australia. Read moreRead less
The emergence of farming beyond the Fertile Crescent at Boncuklu Höyük, Central Turkey. International collaborative research at Boncuklu Höyük will identify when farming first spread beyond Asia's Fertile Crescent 10,500 years ago. In answering whether migrating farmers caused this key event in global history it will refine our knowledge of the link between migration and culture change relevant to understanding both past and present.
Excavating MacGregor: re-connecting a colonial museum collection. Sensing the impacts of colonisation, the first Administrator of British New Guinea William MacGregor made a significant collection of objects specifically for its future citizens. This comprehensive legacy of 13 000 objects did not remain in the country but was dispersed to three Australian and six overseas museums. Our aim is to re-assemble and re-connect this material by 'excavating' its private and official components. This res ....Excavating MacGregor: re-connecting a colonial museum collection. Sensing the impacts of colonisation, the first Administrator of British New Guinea William MacGregor made a significant collection of objects specifically for its future citizens. This comprehensive legacy of 13 000 objects did not remain in the country but was dispersed to three Australian and six overseas museums. Our aim is to re-assemble and re-connect this material by 'excavating' its private and official components. This research aims to focus on the makers and traders to disentangle the social relationships embedded in the objects. Using material-centred, assemblage-based archaeological approaches, we aim to investigate how indigenous groups used objects to negotiate with the new colonial government.Read moreRead less
The historical archaeology of the post-European period in the Pilbara, Western Australia. This project aims to investigate the archaeology of the Pilbara, Western Australia, immediately preceding and following European settlement (1860s). The project develops a regional framework within a fieldwork program of site survey and recording, analysis of documentary sources and oral testimony. Central themes of the investigation are identifying different populations (ie: Malay, Japanese, European) and ....The historical archaeology of the post-European period in the Pilbara, Western Australia. This project aims to investigate the archaeology of the Pilbara, Western Australia, immediately preceding and following European settlement (1860s). The project develops a regional framework within a fieldwork program of site survey and recording, analysis of documentary sources and oral testimony. Central themes of the investigation are identifying different populations (ie: Malay, Japanese, European) and Aboriginal adaptations to changes in environment, economics, population and work resulting from a range of European activities. Specific themes of investigation include the pastoral industry, mining and maritime industries. This research contributes to the archaeology of cultural contact, Aboriginal history and interpretations of historic-period archaeological resources.Read moreRead less
How archaeology can transform living in space. This project aims to investigate human engagement with material culture in the extreme environment of space by applying archaeological methods to the habitation design of the International Space Station. The project will use NASA data to record astronaut interactions with objects and spaces over time. The project expects to remedy deficiencies in previous psychological and engineering design research by taking a deep-time perspective on how a cultur ....How archaeology can transform living in space. This project aims to investigate human engagement with material culture in the extreme environment of space by applying archaeological methods to the habitation design of the International Space Station. The project will use NASA data to record astronaut interactions with objects and spaces over time. The project expects to remedy deficiencies in previous psychological and engineering design research by taking a deep-time perspective on how a culture develops in a microgravity environment. The results are intended to identify how humans adapt to space technology and can be applied in the future design of long duration space missions to maximise both survival and efficiency.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100530
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$456,802.00
Summary
Neanderthal hunting ability and the extinction of archaic humans. This project aims to investigate a critical factor in explaining Neanderthals extinction: their hunting abilities. The research expects to generate new knowledge of archaic humans behaviour using an innovative approach combining traditional archaeological analytical methods with ground-breaking biomolecular techniques. Expected outcomes of this project include the development of new knowledge in human evolutionary history and impr ....Neanderthal hunting ability and the extinction of archaic humans. This project aims to investigate a critical factor in explaining Neanderthals extinction: their hunting abilities. The research expects to generate new knowledge of archaic humans behaviour using an innovative approach combining traditional archaeological analytical methods with ground-breaking biomolecular techniques. Expected outcomes of this project include the development of new knowledge in human evolutionary history and improved techniques to understand past human extinction events. This should provide significant benefits for Australia to become a primary power in studying human past and deep history, while enhancing capacity by becoming the first country in the Southern Hemisphere to implement ancient protein studies in archaeology.Read moreRead less
Extinct hominins and early humans on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. This project aims to research the archaic hominins of Sulawesi and discover when and why they became extinct. Recent discoveries of ancient stone tools on Sulawesi show that an archaic and as-yet unidentified hominin species inhabited this remote Indonesian island before modern humans arrived around 50,000 years ago. This project will search for the earliest traces of habitation, attempt to uncover the Sulawesi hominins’ fos ....Extinct hominins and early humans on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. This project aims to research the archaic hominins of Sulawesi and discover when and why they became extinct. Recent discoveries of ancient stone tools on Sulawesi show that an archaic and as-yet unidentified hominin species inhabited this remote Indonesian island before modern humans arrived around 50,000 years ago. This project will search for the earliest traces of habitation, attempt to uncover the Sulawesi hominins’ fossil record, and look for evidence of hominin-modern human interaction on this island. This project is expected to illuminate a previously unknown chapter in the human story.Read moreRead less
The unknown ‘Ice Age’ artists of Borneo. This project aims to shift the focus of the search for art’s origins onto important new horizons. Who were the first artists? When and why did it become second nature for humans not simply to exist within the natural world, but to encode it with images of things both real and imagined? The discovery of cave paintings in Sulawesi and more recently in Borneo dating to at least 40,000 years ago has altered our understanding of the origins and spread of the f ....The unknown ‘Ice Age’ artists of Borneo. This project aims to shift the focus of the search for art’s origins onto important new horizons. Who were the first artists? When and why did it become second nature for humans not simply to exist within the natural world, but to encode it with images of things both real and imagined? The discovery of cave paintings in Sulawesi and more recently in Borneo dating to at least 40,000 years ago has altered our understanding of the origins and spread of the first painting traditions. This project will build upon these breakthrough discoveries by constructing the first detailed portrait of the cultural and symbolic worlds of the unknown artists of Pleistocene Borneo. By doing so, it will further our knowledge about the process of the emergence of figurative art, one of the most fundamental cultural developments in the evolution of humankind.Read moreRead less
Settlement patterns, craft production, and the rise of early states in China. This project is an international, multidisciplinary archaeological program focused on monitoring the processes which led to the rise of early states in China, through extensive study of settlement patterns in the Yiluo valley, using regional surveys and geoarchaeological investigations. It will make significant contributions in four aspects: evaluation and reformulation of general theoretical and methodological approac ....Settlement patterns, craft production, and the rise of early states in China. This project is an international, multidisciplinary archaeological program focused on monitoring the processes which led to the rise of early states in China, through extensive study of settlement patterns in the Yiluo valley, using regional surveys and geoarchaeological investigations. It will make significant contributions in four aspects: evaluation and reformulation of general theoretical and methodological approaches to the interdisciplinary study of social complexity; enhanced understanding of Chinese cultural history in the light of anthropological theory; articulation of empirical approaches to the study of Chinese civilisation through archaeology; and strengthened collaborative research between archaeologists in Australia and other parts of the world.Read moreRead less