Traditions, Transformations and Technology in Aboriginal Australia. This project aims to understand the development and spread of technological systems in pre-contact Aboriginal Australia and the connection between that diffusion process and the major expansion of Pama-Nyungan languages spoken over much of our country. Fundamental change occurred in Aboriginal societies over the last ten millennia, as new technologies and languages were adopted during a period of climatic shifts. Using archaeolo ....Traditions, Transformations and Technology in Aboriginal Australia. This project aims to understand the development and spread of technological systems in pre-contact Aboriginal Australia and the connection between that diffusion process and the major expansion of Pama-Nyungan languages spoken over much of our country. Fundamental change occurred in Aboriginal societies over the last ten millennia, as new technologies and languages were adopted during a period of climatic shifts. Using archaeological observations and statistical methods from evolutionary biology, the project plans to map the spread of ancient technologies across the continent and compare the direction and sequence of that expansion to the reconstructed pattern of language spread. The result is expected to be a new understanding of the evolution of Aboriginal cultural systems.Read moreRead less
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 Inception of Criminal Deportation in Colonial Australia . This project aims to undertake the first comprehensive study of criminal deportation in colonial Australia. Expected outcomes include new knowledge on freely arrived colonists who were tried, sentenced to transportation, and criminally deported within the Australian colonies. The project spans the disciplines of history and criminology, developing a new methodological framework that aims to facilitate important insights on the societa ....The Inception of Criminal Deportation in Colonial Australia . This project aims to undertake the first comprehensive study of criminal deportation in colonial Australia. Expected outcomes include new knowledge on freely arrived colonists who were tried, sentenced to transportation, and criminally deported within the Australian colonies. The project spans the disciplines of history and criminology, developing a new methodological framework that aims to facilitate important insights on the societal attitudes, systems, and circumstances that led to criminal deportation. This should provide significant benefits by articulating the unexplored deep history of Australian criminal deportation practices. The project also aims to preserve fragile colonial documents foundational to the nation’s history.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130101816
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$348,088.00
Summary
Palaeoenvironments and human adaptation in the late quaternary of the semi-arid Murray River Valley, northwestern Victoria. This project involves a multidisciplinary approach to investigating Indigenous settlement and subsistence strategies along the Murray River in northweast Victoria during the last Ice Age. It will examine the palaeoecology and palaeoenvironment of the region, with particular focus on how people and animals responded to climatic varibility.
Megalithic Connections: Imperilled Cultural Heritage in Laos and India. This interdisciplinary project aims to document and explore the cultural connections between the geographically disparate megalithic cultures of Laos and India and create an enduring digital record of these threatened cultural assets. Integrating archaeological science and pioneering data capture technologies, the project will create globally significant new knowledge; advance heritage management processes including transfer ....Megalithic Connections: Imperilled Cultural Heritage in Laos and India. This interdisciplinary project aims to document and explore the cultural connections between the geographically disparate megalithic cultures of Laos and India and create an enduring digital record of these threatened cultural assets. Integrating archaeological science and pioneering data capture technologies, the project will create globally significant new knowledge; advance heritage management processes including transferrable exploratory technologies; and help underpin economic, social and cultural benefit in these regions. With an increasing awareness of the need to conserve global cultural assets, Australia will take the lead in developing breakthrough technological solutions and new cross-country research and practitioner capability.Read moreRead less
Re-evaluating forager-farmer plant use in Anatolia’s neolithic transition. This project aims to apply new techniques of archaeological residue analysis to artefacts, sediments, tools and skeletal remains from early Turkish forager-farmer and critically evaluate the role of crops and wild plant foods in the earliest development of farming outside southwest Asia’s Fertile Crescent. Results will allow a new understanding of how cropping came to dominate ancient economies and evaluate the validity o ....Re-evaluating forager-farmer plant use in Anatolia’s neolithic transition. This project aims to apply new techniques of archaeological residue analysis to artefacts, sediments, tools and skeletal remains from early Turkish forager-farmer and critically evaluate the role of crops and wild plant foods in the earliest development of farming outside southwest Asia’s Fertile Crescent. Results will allow a new understanding of how cropping came to dominate ancient economies and evaluate the validity of existing methods and understandings of this phenomenon. Drawing on and developing international collaborations, the project will enhance Australia's visibility in agricultural origins research, increase research capacity in this field and develop cultural, education and economic opportunities with and in Turkey.Read moreRead less
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
Painting Country: the life and legacy of western Arnhem Land rock painters. This project aims to generate new understandings of Australia’s past by exploring the lives and legacies of known Aboriginal rock art artists. It addresses key questions in global archaeology relating to when, where and why rock art was created. Using innovative methodologies, this project intends to create a unique archive of 20th century rock art and oral history recordings from western Arnhem Land. The anticipated out ....Painting Country: the life and legacy of western Arnhem Land rock painters. This project aims to generate new understandings of Australia’s past by exploring the lives and legacies of known Aboriginal rock art artists. It addresses key questions in global archaeology relating to when, where and why rock art was created. Using innovative methodologies, this project intends to create a unique archive of 20th century rock art and oral history recordings from western Arnhem Land. The anticipated outcomes will include new internationally significant knowledge concerning the impacts of colonisation on artistic practices in Australia. Furthermore, the project aims to contribute new information and data that can be used to inform cultural heritage management and education programs both locally and across Australia. Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200062
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$273,828.00
Summary
Art at a crossroads: Aboriginal responses to contact in northern Australia. This project aims to investigate historical Aboriginal responses to ‘contact’ with newcomers to their land. It will generate new knowledge using systematic recordings of rock art and bark paintings created during the last 400 years in western Arnhem Land. The analysis of these key visual first-hand records of Australia’s history, together with documentation from digital archives and other media, will lead to new ways of ....Art at a crossroads: Aboriginal responses to contact in northern Australia. This project aims to investigate historical Aboriginal responses to ‘contact’ with newcomers to their land. It will generate new knowledge using systematic recordings of rock art and bark paintings created during the last 400 years in western Arnhem Land. The analysis of these key visual first-hand records of Australia’s history, together with documentation from digital archives and other media, will lead to new ways of understanding Aboriginal history. Drawing on multiple forms of media, we will examine how Aboriginal people used graphic systems to navigate threats and opportunities in northern Australia, with the main benefit to Australia being a more comprehensive and inclusive written history.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190101106
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$362,116.00
Summary
Reforming the Roman Republic. This project aims to generate new knowledge of institutional reform in the late Roman republic and the relevance of reform as a concept in ancient Rome. By analysing how Romans spoke and wrote about reform and examining a variety of particular reform efforts, the project seeks evidence of a Roman reform discourse and reform processes capable of producing structural change. Expected outcomes include fresh understanding of republican governance and an alternative to t ....Reforming the Roman Republic. This project aims to generate new knowledge of institutional reform in the late Roman republic and the relevance of reform as a concept in ancient Rome. By analysing how Romans spoke and wrote about reform and examining a variety of particular reform efforts, the project seeks evidence of a Roman reform discourse and reform processes capable of producing structural change. Expected outcomes include fresh understanding of republican governance and an alternative to the conventional view that the republic fell because of its inability to reform itself. This project should benefit the study of Roman history and foster dialogue with interdisciplinary scholarship which has questioned the reformability of ancient societies; it thus also informs the understanding of reform in contemporary societies.Read moreRead less