Illuminating behavioural and environmental influences on human development. This project aims to investigate prehistoric human population growth by documenting nursing behaviour, developmental stress, and fine-scaled climate variation directly from the teeth of ancient children. Knowledge of the nexus of early childhood growth and ecological variation will shed light on modern human health and fertility, which in turn impact planetary health. Outcomes will provide further insight into humanity’s ....Illuminating behavioural and environmental influences on human development. This project aims to investigate prehistoric human population growth by documenting nursing behaviour, developmental stress, and fine-scaled climate variation directly from the teeth of ancient children. Knowledge of the nexus of early childhood growth and ecological variation will shed light on modern human health and fertility, which in turn impact planetary health. Outcomes will provide further insight into humanity’s unprecedented evolutionary success while augmenting multidisciplinary collaborative networks. This will further strengthen Australia’s pioneering role in the development of innovative technologies, and build key workforce capabilities of benefit for diverse fields such as public health and environmental science.Read moreRead less
New bioarchaeological perspectives on pre-contact lifeways in Sahul . This project aims to establish a new bioarchaeology research program to study socio-economic changes in the Australia-New Guinea continent Sahul and provide new insights into the complexity of societies from diverse environments. Bioarchaeology provides a unique lens for interpreting the past, however research of this nature has largely been inactive due to the sensitivity of studying ancestral remains of Indigenous people. H ....New bioarchaeological perspectives on pre-contact lifeways in Sahul . This project aims to establish a new bioarchaeology research program to study socio-economic changes in the Australia-New Guinea continent Sahul and provide new insights into the complexity of societies from diverse environments. Bioarchaeology provides a unique lens for interpreting the past, however research of this nature has largely been inactive due to the sensitivity of studying ancestral remains of Indigenous people. However, there is growing interest from Aboriginal groups in the narratives that can be reconstructed from their ancestors, and many Aboriginal communities now support research on skeletal remains. In collaboration with Aboriginal communities, the project will apply new developments in bioarchaeology to sensitively assess patterns of mobility and sedentism in three separate populations. This project is expected to initiate a new era of bioarchaeological research and redefine our understanding of the complexity of past Aboriginal and Papuan narratives.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101384
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$440,244.00
Summary
Investigating complex mortuary practices in the Neolithic Near East. The main aim of this project is to investigate complex multi-stage mortuary practices through the integration of archaeo-anthropology, forensic science and ethnology. The methodological principles of funerary archaeology will be expanded by experiments at the only Australian and Canadian body farms, and integrated into the study of Neolithic Near Eastern burials. Combined with ethno-archaeological research in Indonesia, anticip ....Investigating complex mortuary practices in the Neolithic Near East. The main aim of this project is to investigate complex multi-stage mortuary practices through the integration of archaeo-anthropology, forensic science and ethnology. The methodological principles of funerary archaeology will be expanded by experiments at the only Australian and Canadian body farms, and integrated into the study of Neolithic Near Eastern burials. Combined with ethno-archaeological research in Indonesia, anticipated outcomes include new methods for the study of multi-stage mortuary processes, together with refined knowledge about social differentiation and ideology in the world’s first proto-urban settlements. This study will emphasise Australia’s pioneering role in combining archaeo-anthropology with forensic science.
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Constructing robust climate proxies to explore human and primate evolution. This project will build the requisite foundation to resolve whether variable climate change sparked the origins of humans and our great ape forebears. Scientists endeavor to recover ancient environmental records to examine this influential idea, but have lacked the means to do so at the scale of a human lifespan. This multidisciplinary effort will harness groundbreaking advances pioneered by our collaborative team to pro ....Constructing robust climate proxies to explore human and primate evolution. This project will build the requisite foundation to resolve whether variable climate change sparked the origins of humans and our great ape forebears. Scientists endeavor to recover ancient environmental records to examine this influential idea, but have lacked the means to do so at the scale of a human lifespan. This multidisciplinary effort will harness groundbreaking advances pioneered by our collaborative team to produce the first fine-scaled climate proxies from the teeth of humans’ closest living relatives. Documenting climate variation across diverse landscapes promises to transform studies of prehistoric ecosystems and past behaviour from omnipresent fossilised teeth, providing further insight into humanity’s unprecedented success.Read moreRead less
A real-time biomechanical study of Neanderthal anterior dentition. This project aims to advance understanding of the evolution of human dentition using an innovative approach that integrates sophisticated 3D digital modelling with engineering tools. Neanderthals are our closest extinct human relatives that inhabited Eurasia from about 230,000 to 28,000 years ago. However, their protruding faces, large noses and big anterior teeth, raise questions about why these people look so different from us. ....A real-time biomechanical study of Neanderthal anterior dentition. This project aims to advance understanding of the evolution of human dentition using an innovative approach that integrates sophisticated 3D digital modelling with engineering tools. Neanderthals are our closest extinct human relatives that inhabited Eurasia from about 230,000 to 28,000 years ago. However, their protruding faces, large noses and big anterior teeth, raise questions about why these people look so different from us. This project aims to fill this gap in human knowledge about our evolutionary history, and to enhance the international visibility of Australian research in palaeoanthropology and dental biomechanics.Read moreRead less
Island fauna evolution through deep time: the Flores experiment. This project aims to reveal the evolutionary patterns of insular fauna, including hominins, as exemplified by the island of Flores. Through multidisciplinary analyses of securely dated fossils, artefacts and environmental data spanning 1.4 million years, the project expects to provide a deep and broad reconstruction of faunal adaptations to insular conditions and environmental fluctuations through deep geological time. The signific ....Island fauna evolution through deep time: the Flores experiment. This project aims to reveal the evolutionary patterns of insular fauna, including hominins, as exemplified by the island of Flores. Through multidisciplinary analyses of securely dated fossils, artefacts and environmental data spanning 1.4 million years, the project expects to provide a deep and broad reconstruction of faunal adaptations to insular conditions and environmental fluctuations through deep geological time. The significance of this research includes the first comprehensive testing of hypotheses associated with island dwarfing (where megafauna, over time, become smaller), and providing the first palaeo-ecological context for the only known insular hominin, Homo floresiensis.Read moreRead less
The coming of the dingo and its interaction with Indigenous Australians. This project will identify more precisely the time of the entry of dingoes into Australia and will investigate their impact on the lives of Indigenous Australians. Archaeological and anthropological evidence suggests that Indigenous people rapidly incorporated dingoes into their lives. Dingoes were used for a variety of purposes and were particularly valued as hunters by women, effectively increasing their access to meat. ....The coming of the dingo and its interaction with Indigenous Australians. This project will identify more precisely the time of the entry of dingoes into Australia and will investigate their impact on the lives of Indigenous Australians. Archaeological and anthropological evidence suggests that Indigenous people rapidly incorporated dingoes into their lives. Dingoes were used for a variety of purposes and were particularly valued as hunters by women, effectively increasing their access to meat. Impact would include a re-organisation of gender roles and an associated improvement in women's fecundity. By examining evidence for such changes, this project will significantly contribute to knowledge about implications of the arrival of a living technology in Australia and, more generally, the human/dog relationship.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101383
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$432,953.00
Summary
Hidden histories in teeth: The key to unlocking secrets in ancient Myanmar. The aim of this project is to examine isotopes in the teeth of individuals from three sites in prehistoric central Myanmar to examine diet, the movement and migration of people, and potential patterns in post-marital residence, which are all intricately linked. Built on a strong conceptual framework this project seeks to generate new information in the field of archaeological science. The research outcomes of this projec ....Hidden histories in teeth: The key to unlocking secrets in ancient Myanmar. The aim of this project is to examine isotopes in the teeth of individuals from three sites in prehistoric central Myanmar to examine diet, the movement and migration of people, and potential patterns in post-marital residence, which are all intricately linked. Built on a strong conceptual framework this project seeks to generate new information in the field of archaeological science. The research outcomes of this project will expand our current archaeological knowledge of this focal but under-researched area, which will be of particular benefit in understanding Myanmar in relation to surrounding regions and the wider Southeast Asian context, and in fostering continued collegiality and collaboration with Myanmar scholars and communities.Read moreRead less
The origin of cumulative culture in human evolution. Humans accumulate knowledge and use cumulative culture to transfer it across generations, and identifying the origin of this unique ability is a significant research priority for the study of archaeology and human evolution. This project aims to discover the emergence of cumulative culture by using experiments to evaluate stone tool-making, a technology passed between humans for 3.3 million years. Expected outcomes include international collab ....The origin of cumulative culture in human evolution. Humans accumulate knowledge and use cumulative culture to transfer it across generations, and identifying the origin of this unique ability is a significant research priority for the study of archaeology and human evolution. This project aims to discover the emergence of cumulative culture by using experiments to evaluate stone tool-making, a technology passed between humans for 3.3 million years. Expected outcomes include international collaborations that improve our evolutionary understanding of teaching and learning, and produce new data on early stone artefacts in Indonesia and Australia. This should provide significant benefits for collaborative research and scholarly insight into human evolution and Indigenous knowledge in our region.Read moreRead less