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.
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
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
Dating the aboriginal rock art sequence of the Kimberley in north west Australia. This project aims to develop a robust time scale for the known aboriginal rock art sequence in the Kimberley, Western Australia (WA). The project will use new knowledge of complex processes on sandstone surfaces across the north Kimberley, and an innovative combination of four scientific dating methods developed through our earlier work. The project expects to provide a well-dated sequence for Kimberley rock art ba ....Dating the aboriginal rock art sequence of the Kimberley in north west Australia. This project aims to develop a robust time scale for the known aboriginal rock art sequence in the Kimberley, Western Australia (WA). The project will use new knowledge of complex processes on sandstone surfaces across the north Kimberley, and an innovative combination of four scientific dating methods developed through our earlier work. The project expects to provide a well-dated sequence for Kimberley rock art based on replication of results, confirmation across different methods, and a large interdisciplinary data set. The project will allow rigorous analysis of the relationship between dating results and rock art styles that has not previously been possible, and give new insights into Australia’s deep indigenous heritage. This will have a significant impact for future efforts in rock art conservation, and lay a foundation for cultural tourism, with important benefits for the local economy and health of regional indigenous communities.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
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
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
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100502
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$427,116.00
Summary
The hobbit's tools and the evolution of human behaviour in Southeast Asia . This project aims to investigate the behavioural evolution of the extinct Homo floresiensis (the 'hobbit') and modern humans on Flores, Indonesia. Using innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to integrate stone tools with simulation modelling, this project expects to generate new understanding about the behavioural strategies of the two human species and their interactions with the Flores environment over the past 190, ....The hobbit's tools and the evolution of human behaviour in Southeast Asia . This project aims to investigate the behavioural evolution of the extinct Homo floresiensis (the 'hobbit') and modern humans on Flores, Indonesia. Using innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to integrate stone tools with simulation modelling, this project expects to generate new understanding about the behavioural strategies of the two human species and their interactions with the Flores environment over the past 190,000 years. Anticipated outcomes include refined knowledge of human evolution and interaction in island Southeast Asia, and innovative experimental methods for the study of stone tools. This will emphasise Australia's role in international human evolution research, and inform the study of comparable stone tools in Australia.Read moreRead less
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
The evolution of landscape use among modern humans. This project aims to understand the evolution of humans’ adaptive landscape use. The dispersal of modern humans from Africa occurred relatively late in our evolutionary history, which suggests a complex pattern of behavioural evolution in our species. Flexible systems of landscape use underpin human adaptation to different environments resulting in our late expansion and modern global distribution. The project will use a configuration of archae ....The evolution of landscape use among modern humans. This project aims to understand the evolution of humans’ adaptive landscape use. The dispersal of modern humans from Africa occurred relatively late in our evolutionary history, which suggests a complex pattern of behavioural evolution in our species. Flexible systems of landscape use underpin human adaptation to different environments resulting in our late expansion and modern global distribution. The project will use a configuration of archaeological and environmental information recovered from around the Doring River, South Africa. The project is expected to open a new avenue of research into the evolution of human behaviour, and address key scientific and general-interest questions about humanity’s emergence.Read moreRead less