Monsoon extremes, environmental shifts, and catastrophic volcanic eruptions: quantifying impacts on the early human history of southern Australasia. The coincidence of a long, diverse Australasian human history with Earth's greatest climate systems presents the Australian and Indonesian communities with unrivalled opportunities for scientific discovery. Our study will improve understanding of global climate change, environmental shifts, volcanic catastrophes, and their role in early human disper ....Monsoon extremes, environmental shifts, and catastrophic volcanic eruptions: quantifying impacts on the early human history of southern Australasia. The coincidence of a long, diverse Australasian human history with Earth's greatest climate systems presents the Australian and Indonesian communities with unrivalled opportunities for scientific discovery. Our study will improve understanding of global climate change, environmental shifts, volcanic catastrophes, and their role in early human dispersal, and extinction, in Australasia. The significance of the results will extend to the modern world, where human behaviour modifies, and is modified by, climate and environment. Integration of research strengths in Australia and Indonesia will contribute to an improved bilateral relationship in science, education, and training, and engage the public in the excitement of scientific discovery.Read moreRead less
Multi-proxy fingerprinting, absolute dating, and large-scale modelling of Quaternary climate-volcano-environment impacts in southern Australasia. The discovery of Homo floresiensis (the Hobbit) revealed the surprising diversity of early humans and opened new ways for Australians and Indonesians to make tremendous scientific advances. Deployment of world-best analytical capabilities to untapped speleothem resources in Indonesia will put us at the forefront in understanding global climate change, ....Multi-proxy fingerprinting, absolute dating, and large-scale modelling of Quaternary climate-volcano-environment impacts in southern Australasia. The discovery of Homo floresiensis (the Hobbit) revealed the surprising diversity of early humans and opened new ways for Australians and Indonesians to make tremendous scientific advances. Deployment of world-best analytical capabilities to untapped speleothem resources in Indonesia will put us at the forefront in understanding global climate change, volcanic catastrophes, and environmental impacts on deep-time cultures shared by our nations. Our findings will extend to the modern world, where humans modify climates and landscapes at unprecedented rates. Integration of Australian and Indonesian research strengths will showcase bilateral science, education, and training, and engage the public in the excitement of scientific discovery.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.
The Missing Millennium and the Origins of Agriculture in Southeast Asia. This project aims to investigate the missing millennium – a significant gap in our understanding of the arrival of food producing populations into northern Vietnam between 5000 and 4000 years ago, before their expansion across the rest of Mainland Southeast Asia. Substantial new insights will include information on cultural development and population ancestry, an enhanced archaeological chronology, and details of the subsis ....The Missing Millennium and the Origins of Agriculture in Southeast Asia. This project aims to investigate the missing millennium – a significant gap in our understanding of the arrival of food producing populations into northern Vietnam between 5000 and 4000 years ago, before their expansion across the rest of Mainland Southeast Asia. Substantial new insights will include information on cultural development and population ancestry, an enhanced archaeological chronology, and details of the subsistence economies of both farmers and hunter-gatherers in the region. Significant benefits are expected in understanding the population history behind modern Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100070
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$370,807.00
Summary
Radiocarbon dating enamel and the first domestic pigs in South East Asia. This project aims to develop techniques to radiocarbon date archaeological tooth enamel. In warm environments, it is rarely possible to date bone, as the protein targeted degrades rapidly. Without direct dates on skeletal material, chronologies underpinning archaeological studies across much of Australia and South East Asia (SEA) are insecure, hindering the study of numerous archaeological questions. Enamel is relatively s ....Radiocarbon dating enamel and the first domestic pigs in South East Asia. This project aims to develop techniques to radiocarbon date archaeological tooth enamel. In warm environments, it is rarely possible to date bone, as the protein targeted degrades rapidly. Without direct dates on skeletal material, chronologies underpinning archaeological studies across much of Australia and South East Asia (SEA) are insecure, hindering the study of numerous archaeological questions. Enamel is relatively stable, but it does degrade during burial. The effect of degradation on the radiocarbon age of archaeological teeth will be studied to identify the least altered areas for dating. Using these outcomes, a chronology for the spread of pigs through SEA will then be developed, testing models that explain how early farming practices developed.Read moreRead less
Origins, health and demography of ancestral Southeast Asians: 2500 BC to 1000 AD. This project will investigate the origins, demography and health of ancestral Southeast Asian peoples, particularly during and after the Neolithic revolution. This crucial and transformative period in prehistory ushered into Southeast Asia the first farmers, novel technological changes, waves of new migrants and hitherto unknown diseases.
Earth mounds in Northern Australia: archaeological and environmental archives of the mid to late holocene. Earth mounds, created and occupied by humans, are a common feature of Australia's northern coastal plains. They can offer unique insights into the formation of this recent landscape, and shed light on climatic and environmental change, and human/environmental interaction. This study will provide important new data for climate change models.
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
Landscape archaeology at Lake Mungo. The southern tip of the Mungo lunette is an icon of Australia's Indigenous past. Despite its international significance, the archaeological traces have disintegrated as the lunette has eroded over the past 30 years. In this interdisciplinary project, collaboration with Elders from the Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area is expected to reconstruct the history of environmental changes and the life-ways of the first humans to settle this region. The focus ....Landscape archaeology at Lake Mungo. The southern tip of the Mungo lunette is an icon of Australia's Indigenous past. Despite its international significance, the archaeological traces have disintegrated as the lunette has eroded over the past 30 years. In this interdisciplinary project, collaboration with Elders from the Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area is expected to reconstruct the history of environmental changes and the life-ways of the first humans to settle this region. The focus will be on stitching together the archaeological traces scattered through space and time, and on measuring processes of modern sediment erosion and deposition so as to develop management strategies for the future protection of this unique archive of Australia's past.Read moreRead less
The archaeology of cultural interaction: The working lives of Greek colonists and indigenous Syrians in Seleucid Syria. The discovery of the unique importance of Jebel Khalid is well known internationally and the project has brought considerable overseas recognition of the contribution of Australian archaeology to Levantine studies. The project fosters research collaboration between Australian and Syrian researchers and institutions and establishes Australia as a major centre for the study of th ....The archaeology of cultural interaction: The working lives of Greek colonists and indigenous Syrians in Seleucid Syria. The discovery of the unique importance of Jebel Khalid is well known internationally and the project has brought considerable overseas recognition of the contribution of Australian archaeology to Levantine studies. The project fosters research collaboration between Australian and Syrian researchers and institutions and establishes Australia as a major centre for the study of the archaeology of Syria. It also fosters goodwill between Australia and an important member of the Arab world and contributes to improving local perceptions of that region.Read moreRead less