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The historical archaeology of the post-European period in the Pilbara, Western Australia. This project aims to investigate the archaeology of the Pilbara, Western Australia, immediately preceding and following European settlement (1860s). The project develops a regional framework within a fieldwork program of site survey and recording, analysis of documentary sources and oral testimony. Central themes of the investigation are identifying different populations (ie: Malay, Japanese, European) and ....The historical archaeology of the post-European period in the Pilbara, Western Australia. This project aims to investigate the archaeology of the Pilbara, Western Australia, immediately preceding and following European settlement (1860s). The project develops a regional framework within a fieldwork program of site survey and recording, analysis of documentary sources and oral testimony. Central themes of the investigation are identifying different populations (ie: Malay, Japanese, European) and Aboriginal adaptations to changes in environment, economics, population and work resulting from a range of European activities. Specific themes of investigation include the pastoral industry, mining and maritime industries. This research contributes to the archaeology of cultural contact, Aboriginal history and interpretations of historic-period archaeological resources.Read moreRead less
Picturing change: 21st Century perspectives on recent Australian rock art, especially that from the European contact period. Australia, long known for its prehistoric rock art of world heritage value, will now also be known for its unique and diverse body of contact rock art. This project will benefit tourism in remote regions, many of which are or are near World Heritage Areas (eg. Kakadu, Uluru, Blue Mountains). Contemporary indigenous knowledge about important cross-cultural landscapes will ....Picturing change: 21st Century perspectives on recent Australian rock art, especially that from the European contact period. Australia, long known for its prehistoric rock art of world heritage value, will now also be known for its unique and diverse body of contact rock art. This project will benefit tourism in remote regions, many of which are or are near World Heritage Areas (eg. Kakadu, Uluru, Blue Mountains). Contemporary indigenous knowledge about important cross-cultural landscapes will be synthesised along with other new knowledge to assist with the protection of sites, the development of new management plans and applications to place particular groups of sites on a new UNESCO World Heritage rock art list. Aboriginal participants will receive research skills training and both individuals and communities will reconnect to significant remote places.Read moreRead less
Monsoons and migrations: Quaternary climates, landscapes and human prehistory of the Arabian peninsula and the Indian subcontinent. By providing important new data on the initial dispersal of Homo sapiens from Africa to Australia via Arabia and India, this project will improve our knowledge of the time-depth of cultural connections between indigenous Australians and other societies. It will provide a long-term perspective on the impact of climate change on hunter-gatherer communities, and will c ....Monsoons and migrations: Quaternary climates, landscapes and human prehistory of the Arabian peninsula and the Indian subcontinent. By providing important new data on the initial dispersal of Homo sapiens from Africa to Australia via Arabia and India, this project will improve our knowledge of the time-depth of cultural connections between indigenous Australians and other societies. It will provide a long-term perspective on the impact of climate change on hunter-gatherer communities, and will contribute to NRP Safeguarding Australia by increasing our understanding of cultures in Arabia and India. Technical advances made in this study will benefit researchers worldwide, increase capacity for commercial services, and enhance Australia's international standing in the geosciences. We will also train high-quality research students and create new collaborative initiatives.Read moreRead less
Palaeoenvironmental change, resource exploitation and land use relating to a 72,000 year cultural sequence at Liang Bua, Flores, Indonesia. This project, involving international collaborative links between Australian universities and Indonesian universities and institutions, is at the cutting edge of palaeoenvironmental research and will provide valuable training as well as information which will be of great benefit to other researchers in the region. Being focused on prehistoric patterns of res ....Palaeoenvironmental change, resource exploitation and land use relating to a 72,000 year cultural sequence at Liang Bua, Flores, Indonesia. This project, involving international collaborative links between Australian universities and Indonesian universities and institutions, is at the cutting edge of palaeoenvironmental research and will provide valuable training as well as information which will be of great benefit to other researchers in the region. Being focused on prehistoric patterns of resource exploitation, land use and management issues, it is relevant to current important issues about the environment, human impact and sustainability, and will help promote awareness of these issues in the Australian and Indonesian communities.Read moreRead less
ARC Research Network for Understanding and Managing Australian Biodiversity. Biodiversity research is strong in Australia but is highly uncoordinated and, along with recent major breakthroughs in both theory and techniques, has highlighted the need for a Network to properly integrate research and focus it on the most appropriate scale. This Network aims to bring together a diverse spectrum of highly experienced and early career researchers to pool their ideas and expertise to allow them to deter ....ARC Research Network for Understanding and Managing Australian Biodiversity. Biodiversity research is strong in Australia but is highly uncoordinated and, along with recent major breakthroughs in both theory and techniques, has highlighted the need for a Network to properly integrate research and focus it on the most appropriate scale. This Network aims to bring together a diverse spectrum of highly experienced and early career researchers to pool their ideas and expertise to allow them to determine how best to describe Australia's current biodiversity and the biological and environmental history leading up to the present. A major outcome will be the ability to predict the impacts of environmental change on biodiversity to assist management decisions across Australia, with lessons of global importance.Read moreRead less
Isolation, Insularity and Change in Island Populations - an Interdisciplinary Study of Aboriginal Cultural Patterns in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The project's national benefits centre on its contribution to safeguarding Australia and to an environmentally sustainable Australia. The participation of northern Indigenous people is critical to border protection policies and procedures. This project will help revitalise the Carpentaria Land Council's Aboriginal Rangers scheme, which has a potential ro ....Isolation, Insularity and Change in Island Populations - an Interdisciplinary Study of Aboriginal Cultural Patterns in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The project's national benefits centre on its contribution to safeguarding Australia and to an environmentally sustainable Australia. The participation of northern Indigenous people is critical to border protection policies and procedures. This project will help revitalise the Carpentaria Land Council's Aboriginal Rangers scheme, which has a potential role in safeguarding the nation's northern approaches, including combating feral plant and animal importation, Coastwatch surveillance and marine habitat protection. The geological research on sea level and climatic history in the Gulf of Carpentaria and associated coastal geomorphological impacts will contribute to predictive models on global warming and its consequences (sea-level rise).Read moreRead less
The Spandrel Hypothesis: Towards a unified theory of stone flaking. The archaeological story of human evolution and prehistory has a strong Old World bias – the impression is that main events were in Africa and Europe and Australasia was mostly irrelevant. This is particularly true where stone tools are concerned: Australasian tools appear not to track the progression in technology that appears to be present in the Old World Standard Sequence. This project will test whether the Standard Sequence ....The Spandrel Hypothesis: Towards a unified theory of stone flaking. The archaeological story of human evolution and prehistory has a strong Old World bias – the impression is that main events were in Africa and Europe and Australasia was mostly irrelevant. This is particularly true where stone tools are concerned: Australasian tools appear not to track the progression in technology that appears to be present in the Old World Standard Sequence. This project will test whether the Standard Sequence has been overinterpreted and the pattern recognised for Australasia is in fact applicable world-wide. The results of the project will enhance the way Australia interprets itself and the Australasian region to the rest of the world. This is a goal of Research Priority 4 (Safeguarding Australia).Read moreRead less
Development and application of the Uranium-series method for dating ancient rock engravings. Radiocarbon dating has been used to establish the age of relatively recent Australian rock art, but the ages of ancient engravings cannot be measured beyond the limit of this method. Comparative radiocarbon and uranium-series assays will be made on pairs of test samples collected from natural mineral deposits at engraving locations constrained by the ages of lakes, lava flows, sedimentary deposits or ic ....Development and application of the Uranium-series method for dating ancient rock engravings. Radiocarbon dating has been used to establish the age of relatively recent Australian rock art, but the ages of ancient engravings cannot be measured beyond the limit of this method. Comparative radiocarbon and uranium-series assays will be made on pairs of test samples collected from natural mineral deposits at engraving locations constrained by the ages of lakes, lava flows, sedimentary deposits or ice. Using test samples with independent and radiocarbon age controls will give confidence in the uranium dating approach for reliably measuring the ages of similar coatings associated with ancient carvings and exposed rock surfaces throughout the world.Read moreRead less
Environmental Evolution of the Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area. The Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area ranks as the most significant area for documenting Australia TMs unique cultural and environmental history. Parts of this remarkable archive are being lost through erosion. This project is the basis for a strategic research alliance between the custodians and managers of the area and leading Australian research institutions to build a picture of the continent TMs human and environmental hi ....Environmental Evolution of the Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area. The Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area ranks as the most significant area for documenting Australia TMs unique cultural and environmental history. Parts of this remarkable archive are being lost through erosion. This project is the basis for a strategic research alliance between the custodians and managers of the area and leading Australian research institutions to build a picture of the continent TMs human and environmental history before this evidence is irretrievably lost. Lake Mungo is known to Australians as the site of the world TMs earliest cremation and a window into our remote past. We will provide novel insights into the evolution of the Australian landscape, its fragile environment and the history of its resilient inhabitants.Read moreRead less
The cutting edge: Investigating the use of shell as a raw material by Australasian hominins. Australasia has tended to exist on the periphery of major debates surrounding human evolution. There is little justification why this should be the case, and Australasia has much to contribute with insights into adaptations to island and tropical environments, and the use of novel raw materials for artefact production. Such enquiries not only help us understand the place of early Australasians within ....The cutting edge: Investigating the use of shell as a raw material by Australasian hominins. Australasia has tended to exist on the periphery of major debates surrounding human evolution. There is little justification why this should be the case, and Australasia has much to contribute with insights into adaptations to island and tropical environments, and the use of novel raw materials for artefact production. Such enquiries not only help us understand the place of early Australasians within a global framework, but assist us in understanding the unique challenges and opportunities afforded by this region. The regional and European research linkages developed and enhanced by this project ensure that such knowledge is not only 'owned' by Australasians, but is incorporated into global thinking. Read moreRead less