From the Desert to the Sea: Managing Rock Art, Country and Culture. This Project will expand our understanding of Aboriginal settlement and land-use in north-west Australia by investigating how the mythological narratives of Australia’s deserts enable the transmission of knowledge in water-limited environments. Combining traditional ecological knowledge and novel scientific approaches (e.g. anthracology, remote sensing, oxygen-isotopes) will provide new insights into human behaviours at rock art ....From the Desert to the Sea: Managing Rock Art, Country and Culture. This Project will expand our understanding of Aboriginal settlement and land-use in north-west Australia by investigating how the mythological narratives of Australia’s deserts enable the transmission of knowledge in water-limited environments. Combining traditional ecological knowledge and novel scientific approaches (e.g. anthracology, remote sensing, oxygen-isotopes) will provide new insights into human behaviours at rock art site complexes. It will develop management regimes and formal certification for Indigenous rangers while building heritage capacity in these partner communities: enabling intergenerational, culturally appropriate knowledge transfer protocols are in place to ensure sustainable economic heritage futures.Read moreRead less
Archaeology of a Torres Strait reef island community. This archaeology project aims to document the long-term development of socioeconomic strategies by Indigenous Australians to live sustainably on small, drought-prone, tropical reef islands. It uses Tudu in central Torres Strait as a case study. This project will produce new and innovative insights into how Torres Strait Islander reef island communities built cultural and community resilience to environmental stress. It will broaden Australian ....Archaeology of a Torres Strait reef island community. This archaeology project aims to document the long-term development of socioeconomic strategies by Indigenous Australians to live sustainably on small, drought-prone, tropical reef islands. It uses Tudu in central Torres Strait as a case study. This project will produce new and innovative insights into how Torres Strait Islander reef island communities built cultural and community resilience to environmental stress. It will broaden Australian archaeological knowledge of continental rocky islands to include recently formed reef islands. Read moreRead less
Rockshelters and Rock Art in the River Murray Gorge: New Data and Syntheses. This project, undertaken in partnership with the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation, aims to explore Aboriginal rock art and rockshelter occupation deposits in the Upper Murray River Gorge, South Australia. The project will conduct the first archaeological excavations of stratified rockshelter sites in this region in more than 50 years and record a threatened and rapidly diminishing corpus of rock art. The c ....Rockshelters and Rock Art in the River Murray Gorge: New Data and Syntheses. This project, undertaken in partnership with the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation, aims to explore Aboriginal rock art and rockshelter occupation deposits in the Upper Murray River Gorge, South Australia. The project will conduct the first archaeological excavations of stratified rockshelter sites in this region in more than 50 years and record a threatened and rapidly diminishing corpus of rock art. The cultural importance of the located sites will be considered in conjunction with their archaeological significance to produce meaningful narratives. New understandings about Holocene societal and environmental changes will be generated. Traditional owners will benefit from a range of socio-economic capacity-building measures.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101087
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$444,281.00
Summary
10,000 years of Indigenous fisheries informs future Great Barrier Reef. This project aims to document the role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in shaping the fish resources of the Great Barrier Reef over millennia. Using novel analyses of archaeological faunal remains, this project expects to generate new knowledge on how people’s actions transformed marine systems and modified fish communities. Expected outcomes include establishing pre-European baseline data essential for manag ....10,000 years of Indigenous fisheries informs future Great Barrier Reef. This project aims to document the role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in shaping the fish resources of the Great Barrier Reef over millennia. Using novel analyses of archaeological faunal remains, this project expects to generate new knowledge on how people’s actions transformed marine systems and modified fish communities. Expected outcomes include establishing pre-European baseline data essential for managing contemporary fish populations, and a long-term perspective on human exploitation of a dynamic Great Barrier Reef. Benefits include a framework for integrating Indigenous fisheries management into conservation agendas and foregrounding the deep human history of the Reef to support future social-ecological resilience.Read moreRead less
Aboriginal rock art and cultural heritage management in Cape York Peninsula. The Laura Sandstone Basin of Cape York Peninsula hosts one of the richest bodies of rock art in Australia and the world. It documents the life-ways of generations of Aboriginal Australians from their original settlement, through major environmental changes, to European invasion. This vast area, much of which is now jointly managed as National Parks by Traditional Owners, remains virtually unexplored archaeologically. Th ....Aboriginal rock art and cultural heritage management in Cape York Peninsula. The Laura Sandstone Basin of Cape York Peninsula hosts one of the richest bodies of rock art in Australia and the world. It documents the life-ways of generations of Aboriginal Australians from their original settlement, through major environmental changes, to European invasion. This vast area, much of which is now jointly managed as National Parks by Traditional Owners, remains virtually unexplored archaeologically. This project aims to record this unique rock art so that its testimony remains for future generations. This will provide a framework for its sustainable management and findings will have profound implications for our understandings of the cultural behaviour and dispersal of the earliest modern humans to colonise Australia.Read moreRead less
Before Cook: Contact, Negotiation and the Archaeology of the Tiwi Islands. The narrative of culture contact in Australia is dominated by British colonisation, yet Indigenous Australians in Northern Australia had a much earlier connection with global explorers and traders. We aim to conduct the first systematic maritime and terrestrial archaeological investigations of the Tiwi Islands, alongside the study of material culture, oral history and archival materials associated with early Dutch explore ....Before Cook: Contact, Negotiation and the Archaeology of the Tiwi Islands. The narrative of culture contact in Australia is dominated by British colonisation, yet Indigenous Australians in Northern Australia had a much earlier connection with global explorers and traders. We aim to conduct the first systematic maritime and terrestrial archaeological investigations of the Tiwi Islands, alongside the study of material culture, oral history and archival materials associated with early Dutch explorers, British colonists, and Macassans. This multi-disciplinary approach will broaden our understanding of long-term race relations in Australia, the past presence of foreign visitors to Northern Australia, develop cultural heritage public policy and consolidate Tiwi cultural identity and history into the historical record.Read moreRead less
Warratyi: Cultural Innovation in the Indigenous Settlement of Australia. This project aims to determine the role of cultural innovation in the Indigenous settlement of Australia's arid zone 50,000 years ago. Using innovative methods, it will produce new data on key technologies, symbolic behaviours and human interactions with animals and environment to identify the cultural innovations needed to overcome the challenges of Australia's deserts. Expected outcomes include new understandings of the s ....Warratyi: Cultural Innovation in the Indigenous Settlement of Australia. This project aims to determine the role of cultural innovation in the Indigenous settlement of Australia's arid zone 50,000 years ago. Using innovative methods, it will produce new data on key technologies, symbolic behaviours and human interactions with animals and environment to identify the cultural innovations needed to overcome the challenges of Australia's deserts. Expected outcomes include new understandings of the settlement of the arid zone to inform global debates relating to the dispersal, settlement and lifestyles of early humans in marginal environments. Expected benefits include new information for cultural tourism and education and to support South Australia’s World Heritage nomination for the Flinders Ranges.Read moreRead less
Diving into the Desert. Indigenous and Future Floodplain Management. This project aims to discover how Indigenous communities managed cycles of drought and flood in the Lake Eyre Basin, and to learn from this to manage Australia’s inland rivers sustainably. By integrating archaeology – done underwater, on land and from the air – with Indigenous knowledge and environmental and flow modelling, the project expects to uncover a deep history of Indigenous environmental engineering in one of the worl ....Diving into the Desert. Indigenous and Future Floodplain Management. This project aims to discover how Indigenous communities managed cycles of drought and flood in the Lake Eyre Basin, and to learn from this to manage Australia’s inland rivers sustainably. By integrating archaeology – done underwater, on land and from the air – with Indigenous knowledge and environmental and flow modelling, the project expects to uncover a deep history of Indigenous environmental engineering in one of the world's last unregulated desert river systems . The project's outcomes – an Australian National Maritime Museum touring exhibition plus written, audio and 3D immersive communications – seek to benefit Australia's cultural life and flood mitigation, and to protect the Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation's culture and country. Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200155
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$277,158.00
Summary
Aboriginal Involvement in the Early Development of Australian Archaeology. This project aims to interrogate the importance of Aboriginal knowledge in the development of Australian archaeology. Through a close study of archival and published archaeological literature, the project anticipates generating new knowledge and innovative interpretations of archaeology's history. Expected outcomes include a radical rewriting of a significant chapter of the nation’s history and enhancing the reinterpreta ....Aboriginal Involvement in the Early Development of Australian Archaeology. This project aims to interrogate the importance of Aboriginal knowledge in the development of Australian archaeology. Through a close study of archival and published archaeological literature, the project anticipates generating new knowledge and innovative interpretations of archaeology's history. Expected outcomes include a radical rewriting of a significant chapter of the nation’s history and enhancing the reinterpretation of museum displays and tourism presentation of heritage sites. This reclaiming of the contribution of the First Australians in the development of the current knowledge of 65,000 years of our history, seeks to benefit Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and to contribute to ongoing reconciliation. Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200357
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$261,172.00
Summary
Fire, Flood and Food: People and Landscape Change in Northern Victoria. The project aims to explore how access to water and the use of fire have shaped land use from ancient times to the recent past using the case study of the Loddon River basin, Victoria. By linking Aboriginal and historical archaeology and Aboriginal Studies the project seeks to develop an innovative integrated data set that spans the entirety of human history in Australia. Anticipated outcomes include new knowledge about how ....Fire, Flood and Food: People and Landscape Change in Northern Victoria. The project aims to explore how access to water and the use of fire have shaped land use from ancient times to the recent past using the case study of the Loddon River basin, Victoria. By linking Aboriginal and historical archaeology and Aboriginal Studies the project seeks to develop an innovative integrated data set that spans the entirety of human history in Australia. Anticipated outcomes include new knowledge about how people have responded to environmental and social change and increased capacity for Aboriginal people to achieve their educational and land management goals. This should provide significant benefits that inform contemporary responses to climate change, water security, fire management, and sustainable food production.Read moreRead less