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
War crimes and the Japanese military, 1941-1945. During the Second World War, Japanese military forces in Asia and the Pacific committed extraordinary atrocities against prisoners-of-war, civilian internees and local populations. These atrocities shocked Japan's Western enemies, not least because Japanese military behaviour in the early 20th century had been celebrated as remarkably humane. This project seeks to explain Japanese wartime brutality, identifying the specific circumstances in which ....War crimes and the Japanese military, 1941-1945. During the Second World War, Japanese military forces in Asia and the Pacific committed extraordinary atrocities against prisoners-of-war, civilian internees and local populations. These atrocities shocked Japan's Western enemies, not least because Japanese military behaviour in the early 20th century had been celebrated as remarkably humane. This project seeks to explain Japanese wartime brutality, identifying the specific circumstances in which it occurred and considering the particular wartime context. It challenges the prevalent explanation of Japanese wartime violence which locates the causes of brutality in deeply rooted aspects of Japanese national culture. This research is expected to contribute to understandings of war and violence.Read moreRead less
Understanding Japan's human-centred environmentalism. Japanese environmental activism has influenced attitudes and policymaking on the environment in Japan and worldwide for half a century. This project will demonstrate the strengths and limitations of Japan’s human-centred environmentalism and will encourage us to reconsider the tension between human satisfaction and environmental protection.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100046
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$374,575.00
Summary
Foundations of Island Southeast Asian maritime interaction: unravelling cause and consequence for the transformation of past societies. The successful spread of Neolithic innovations across the world was one of the most important transformations in human history. This project combines the geochemical and technological analysis of stone tools to track the evolution of maritime colonisation in Island Southeast Asia, the foundation for the success of agriculture in this region.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120100474
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Perilous embassies: diplomatic encounters between Europe and Asia, 1600-1800. This project examines a series of European embassies dispatched to the most powerful states in Asia and uses them to reassess the nature of the global encounter between Europe and Asia in the early modern period.
Mapping China's urban crisis: the politics of land and resettlement. This project aims to examine the spatial, political, and social restructuring of the urban margins of Chinese cities by unravelling complexities and tensions involved in the recent rural settlement transition, during which numerous villages were demolished and converted into arable land.
The changing identity and sustainability of the music-cultures and worldviews of the Riau Islands' sea nomads and sedentary Malays. This project explores the music-cultural identity and related socioeconomic dilemmas of remote Sea Nomads vis-à-vis the Muslim Malays in the industrialising Riau Islands. It will further Australians' awareness of the intercultural contexts in which they work and help maintain Australia's leadership role and ongoing engagement with the Asia-Pacific.
Archaeology in the central Caucasus: investigations at Samatvro and Tchkantiskedi. This archaeological project is the strongest Australian cultural link with the Republic of Georgia, a developing country of considerable strategic importance that borders Russia. A study of Georgia's past heritage will provide a deeper understanding of its contemporary social diversity and complex geographical situation.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100068
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$381,268.00
Summary
Bone metabolism change with lifestyle in ancient Asia-Pacific populations. This project aims to address a significant gap in our current knowledge of global change in skeletal health throughout recent human history. By contributing the first bone microstructural data for archaeological humans from across Asia-Pacific, this project aims to map the ways in which these ancient humans grew and adapted to different lifestyles. The project expects to identify new ways of predicting human bone health r ....Bone metabolism change with lifestyle in ancient Asia-Pacific populations. This project aims to address a significant gap in our current knowledge of global change in skeletal health throughout recent human history. By contributing the first bone microstructural data for archaeological humans from across Asia-Pacific, this project aims to map the ways in which these ancient humans grew and adapted to different lifestyles. The project expects to identify new ways of predicting human bone health response to environmental and cultural change, contributing models for the wellbeing of past, living, and future human generations.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100756
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$371,034.00
Summary
New light on Cambodia’s Dark Age (1350 - 1750). This project aims to conduct the first systematic archaeological investigations of Cambodian Middle Period capitals on the banks of the Mekong and Tonle Sap arterial rivers between 1350 and 1750. Whilst the decline of Angkor is one of the most significant events in the history of Southeast Asia, we do not have a precise date for the event that involved the relocation of many hundreds of thousands of people. By determining when the Kings of Angkor m ....New light on Cambodia’s Dark Age (1350 - 1750). This project aims to conduct the first systematic archaeological investigations of Cambodian Middle Period capitals on the banks of the Mekong and Tonle Sap arterial rivers between 1350 and 1750. Whilst the decline of Angkor is one of the most significant events in the history of Southeast Asia, we do not have a precise date for the event that involved the relocation of many hundreds of thousands of people. By determining when the Kings of Angkor moved to the southern capitals we will clarify the end of Angkor, retrieve Cambodian history from a perceived Dark Age, and reveal critical linkages between the celebrated Angkorian past and modern and contemporary Cambodia.Read moreRead less