Investigating Holocene India - Australia Connections using Ancient Genomics. A number of studies of human migration suggest that after initial colonisation of Australia around 45,000 years ago, these people remained largely isolated until the arrival of Europeans. In contrast recent studies have suggested that a wave of migration from India into Australia occurred approximately 4,230 years ago. However, a major drawback of these recent studies is that sequence data used was from modern indigenou ....Investigating Holocene India - Australia Connections using Ancient Genomics. A number of studies of human migration suggest that after initial colonisation of Australia around 45,000 years ago, these people remained largely isolated until the arrival of Europeans. In contrast recent studies have suggested that a wave of migration from India into Australia occurred approximately 4,230 years ago. However, a major drawback of these recent studies is that sequence data used was from modern indigenous Australians who were potentially admixed with Europeans. To address this issue we will sequence complete genomes from sub-fossil bones of ancient Indian and Indigenous Australian people and directly investigate this possible India-Australia connection.Read moreRead less
Divergent pathways to tropical agriculture in Australasia and Wallacea. The project aims to address a major question in world archaeology: why did some people develop agriculture, while others did not? It plans to establish plant macrofossil and microfossil reference collections for three wet tropical regions: highland Papua New Guinea, Moluccas in eastern Indonesia, and western Arnhem Land in Australia. It then plans to use previously excavated archaeobotanical assemblages to establish robust p ....Divergent pathways to tropical agriculture in Australasia and Wallacea. The project aims to address a major question in world archaeology: why did some people develop agriculture, while others did not? It plans to establish plant macrofossil and microfossil reference collections for three wet tropical regions: highland Papua New Guinea, Moluccas in eastern Indonesia, and western Arnhem Land in Australia. It then plans to use previously excavated archaeobotanical assemblages to establish robust plant-use chronologies for these regions. In this way, the project seeks to develop capacity for tropical archaeobotany within Australia and to revolutionise concepts of plant exploitation, domestication and cultivation in tropical Australasia and Wallacea during the Holocene (last c.11 500 years).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
Denisovans, Neanderthals and modern humans in southern Russia. This project will endeavour to yield new insights into human evolution by addressing the critical question of when Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans occupied the Altai region of Russia: the only place on Earth where these three groups of humans are known to have existed. No consensus exists on the timing of key events, the nature of any interactions or the impact of environmental changes. This project plans to use optical dat ....Denisovans, Neanderthals and modern humans in southern Russia. This project will endeavour to yield new insights into human evolution by addressing the critical question of when Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans occupied the Altai region of Russia: the only place on Earth where these three groups of humans are known to have existed. No consensus exists on the timing of key events, the nature of any interactions or the impact of environmental changes. This project plans to use optical dating to construct a highly resolved timescale for the archaeological and human fossil assemblages over the last 800 000 years. This may transform our understanding of the spatial and temporal patterns of human occupation by these three groups and their behaviours in similar or different environments.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100202
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$468,027.00
Summary
Colour change: Artistic/ritual responses to climate flux in Australasia . Art and ritual connect people socially and help them manage stress. Throughout human history, evidence for this is preserved by the collection and use of ochres (coloured earth minerals). Characterising ancient ochre records across Sunda, Wallacea and Sahul, this project aims to understand people’s use of art and ritual in the most climatically dynamic region on Earth. Furthering Australia's reputation for innovative archa ....Colour change: Artistic/ritual responses to climate flux in Australasia . Art and ritual connect people socially and help them manage stress. Throughout human history, evidence for this is preserved by the collection and use of ochres (coloured earth minerals). Characterising ancient ochre records across Sunda, Wallacea and Sahul, this project aims to understand people’s use of art and ritual in the most climatically dynamic region on Earth. Furthering Australia's reputation for innovative archaeological science, expected outcomes will include the first large-scale interdisciplinary investigations into how art and ritual were used to help mediate climate flux, generating significant new narratives of past cultural resilience to benefit people currently grappling with climate vulnerabilities.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL120100156
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,147,123.00
Summary
Understanding modern human dispersal, adaptation and behaviour en route to Australia. This project will investigate modern human dispersal, adaptations and behaviour along the maritime route to Australia. Using strategic testing of archaeological and biotic deposits, museum collections and predictive modelling, it will help us understand the unique adaptive and cognitive abilities that were required to make this journey.
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: DE180101288
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$384,983.00
Summary
Strategic resources and human cooperation in the rise of social complexity in Arabian archaeology. This project will conduct the first systematic archaeological analysis of the behavioural strategies humans adapted following metal resource depletion and trade in southeastern Arabia. It will examine how social complexity in metal production records of several sites within Oman compares with other regions in Cyprus and Turkey. This will provide greater knowledge of how people settled this region a ....Strategic resources and human cooperation in the rise of social complexity in Arabian archaeology. This project will conduct the first systematic archaeological analysis of the behavioural strategies humans adapted following metal resource depletion and trade in southeastern Arabia. It will examine how social complexity in metal production records of several sites within Oman compares with other regions in Cyprus and Turkey. This will provide greater knowledge of how people settled this region and subsequently responded to dynamic environmental changes over the past 5,000 years.Read moreRead less
The archaeology of Sulawesi: a strategic island for understanding modern human colonization and interactions across our region. This project will investigate the archaeology and palaeoenvironment of Sulawesi over the past 50,000 years. Sulawesi is strategically positioned to test competing models of initial modern human expansion, and trajectories of cultural change and interaction, across our region. It also addresses the National Research Program goal of responding to climate change.
Early art, culture and occupation along the northern route to Australia. This project aims to uncover archaeological evidence for early humans in Indonesia's northern island chain (from Borneo to West Papua). This poorly known region harbours the world's earliest known figurative cave art (>45,500 years old), and it is also the most likely maritime route used by modern humans during the initial peopling of Australia ~65,000 years ago. The project aims to use cave excavations and rock art dating ....Early art, culture and occupation along the northern route to Australia. This project aims to uncover archaeological evidence for early humans in Indonesia's northern island chain (from Borneo to West Papua). This poorly known region harbours the world's earliest known figurative cave art (>45,500 years old), and it is also the most likely maritime route used by modern humans during the initial peopling of Australia ~65,000 years ago. The project aims to use cave excavations and rock art dating to fill the 20,000 year gap between the earliest known archaeological evidence from these islands and the oldest human site in Australia. Expected outcomes include new insight into the ancient past of Indonesia and a greatly improved understanding of the art and cultural lifeways of the ancestors of the First Australians.Read moreRead less