Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE180100053
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$358,031.00
Summary
A national facility for the analysis of pyrogenic carbon. This project aims to develop a national facility for pyrogenic carbon analysis. Pyrogenic carbon is a poorly constrained, slow-cycling terrestrial carbon pool with significant carbon sequestration potential. The project expects to expand the newly developed hydrogen pyrolysis analytical capability to provide high throughput, robust measurement of the abundance and isotope composition of pyrogenic carbon in soils and sediments. This will p ....A national facility for the analysis of pyrogenic carbon. This project aims to develop a national facility for pyrogenic carbon analysis. Pyrogenic carbon is a poorly constrained, slow-cycling terrestrial carbon pool with significant carbon sequestration potential. The project expects to expand the newly developed hydrogen pyrolysis analytical capability to provide high throughput, robust measurement of the abundance and isotope composition of pyrogenic carbon in soils and sediments. This will provide significant benefit, such as the ability to make significant advances in areas as diverse as geochronology, archaeology, palaeoecology, soil science geomorphology and carbon cycle/sequestration science.Read moreRead less
The coming of the dingo and its interaction with Indigenous Australians. This project will identify more precisely the time of the entry of dingoes into Australia and will investigate their impact on the lives of Indigenous Australians. Archaeological and anthropological evidence suggests that Indigenous people rapidly incorporated dingoes into their lives. Dingoes were used for a variety of purposes and were particularly valued as hunters by women, effectively increasing their access to meat. ....The coming of the dingo and its interaction with Indigenous Australians. This project will identify more precisely the time of the entry of dingoes into Australia and will investigate their impact on the lives of Indigenous Australians. Archaeological and anthropological evidence suggests that Indigenous people rapidly incorporated dingoes into their lives. Dingoes were used for a variety of purposes and were particularly valued as hunters by women, effectively increasing their access to meat. Impact would include a re-organisation of gender roles and an associated improvement in women's fecundity. By examining evidence for such changes, this project will significantly contribute to knowledge about implications of the arrival of a living technology in Australia and, more generally, the human/dog relationship.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0989067
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$950,000.00
Summary
The future of palaeoclimate and archaeological research in Australia: next generation instrumentation for chronology and environmental reconstruction. The outcomes of this project will promote a better understanding of Australia's arid continent and its surrounding marine environment, contribute to studies of global climate change, and provide new insights into the response of fragile ecosystems to such events and processes. The project addresses directly the National Research Priority 'Water - ....The future of palaeoclimate and archaeological research in Australia: next generation instrumentation for chronology and environmental reconstruction. The outcomes of this project will promote a better understanding of Australia's arid continent and its surrounding marine environment, contribute to studies of global climate change, and provide new insights into the response of fragile ecosystems to such events and processes. The project addresses directly the National Research Priority 'Water - a critical resource', 'Responding to climate change and variability', 'Overcoming soil loss, salinity and acidity', 'Sustainable use of Australia's biodiversity' and 'Understanding our region and the world'. It provides a consortium-type platform for highly productive collaborative research and training across eight universities and one research organisation in Australia.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0561224
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$267,767.00
Summary
14CHRONOS (Chronologies from High-ResolutiON Organic Separations): a centre for radiocarbon dating of specific compounds for the environmental and archaeological sciences. Accurate timekeeping is central to the environmental and archaeological sciences. Radiocarbon dating is the leading geochronological technique for events of the past 50,000 years, but the issue for sample contamination remains a major source of concern. Avoidance of contaminants can be achieved through the identification of sp ....14CHRONOS (Chronologies from High-ResolutiON Organic Separations): a centre for radiocarbon dating of specific compounds for the environmental and archaeological sciences. Accurate timekeeping is central to the environmental and archaeological sciences. Radiocarbon dating is the leading geochronological technique for events of the past 50,000 years, but the issue for sample contamination remains a major source of concern. Avoidance of contaminants can be achieved through the identification of specific biomolecular compounds that unambiguously formed part of the original sample, and the isolation of these biomolecules for radiocarbon dating using accelerator mass spectrometry. Here we request funds to establish Australia's first compound-specific radiocarbon dating facility, to obtain ages of high accuracy for key studies of climate and landscape change, evolutionary biology and archaeology.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0882682
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$100,000.00
Summary
The Australasian Pollen and Spore Atlas. The results generated in this project will enhance Australian research capabilities across multiple disciplines by providing access to key knowledge of pollen and spores in our region. A unified approach to the archiving, presentation and accessibility to existing and evolving databases will provide a considerably improved context for identification and knowledge pooling of any given pollen or spore type. This will create a nexus for novel interactions be ....The Australasian Pollen and Spore Atlas. The results generated in this project will enhance Australian research capabilities across multiple disciplines by providing access to key knowledge of pollen and spores in our region. A unified approach to the archiving, presentation and accessibility to existing and evolving databases will provide a considerably improved context for identification and knowledge pooling of any given pollen or spore type. This will create a nexus for novel interactions between researchers and end users of these data from within and beyond Australia's borders.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.
Molecular Archaeology: Carbon isotope analysis of amino acids as a means to investigate diets, physiology, metabolism and palaeoenvironment. The investigation of the bones of past societies and animals at the molecular level opens up a whole array of alternative data about palaeodiet and environment. Investigating the past in this way provides a unique perspective about how diet and health have changed in humans and about how animals and the environment have changed. When we understand the past ....Molecular Archaeology: Carbon isotope analysis of amino acids as a means to investigate diets, physiology, metabolism and palaeoenvironment. The investigation of the bones of past societies and animals at the molecular level opens up a whole array of alternative data about palaeodiet and environment. Investigating the past in this way provides a unique perspective about how diet and health have changed in humans and about how animals and the environment have changed. When we understand the past in this manner we can better understand current health issues linked to diet and how the environment and climate is changing.Read moreRead less
Toxic Harvest: The antiquity of rainforest Aboriginal occupation and toxic plant use in long-term subsistence patterns. The project aims to investigate the antiquity of human occupation of Australian tropical rainforests and the role that toxic plants played in the adaptation process. International research suggests that people only permanently occupied rainforests in the last 5,000 years with access to agriculture. The fact that Australian rainforest Aborigines were hunter-gatherers using speci ....Toxic Harvest: The antiquity of rainforest Aboriginal occupation and toxic plant use in long-term subsistence patterns. The project aims to investigate the antiquity of human occupation of Australian tropical rainforests and the role that toxic plants played in the adaptation process. International research suggests that people only permanently occupied rainforests in the last 5,000 years with access to agriculture. The fact that Australian rainforest Aborigines were hunter-gatherers using specialised processing technology to exploit toxic plant foods and living at high population densities suggests a more complex situation. Outcomes include contribution to international debates on the origin and antiquity of human rainforest settlement, an understanding of the biological properties of rainforest plants and development of research partnerships with Indigenous communities.Read moreRead less
Chinese Middle to Late Pleistocene hominid behaviour: exploring cultural variability through time and space. This research will contribute to the understanding of the spread of our species out of Africa 2 million years ago into East Asia. It examines the range of hominid behaviours and ecological circumstances that led to the successful colonisation of China by Homo erectus. It also addresses the vexed question of the relationship between H. erectus and H. sapiens. Did the latter evolve in situ ....Chinese Middle to Late Pleistocene hominid behaviour: exploring cultural variability through time and space. This research will contribute to the understanding of the spread of our species out of Africa 2 million years ago into East Asia. It examines the range of hominid behaviours and ecological circumstances that led to the successful colonisation of China by Homo erectus. It also addresses the vexed question of the relationship between H. erectus and H. sapiens. Did the latter evolve in situ from their antecedents as some suggest, or did H. sapiens replace H. erectus, in the great diaspora from Africa 120,000 years ago?Read moreRead less
Earliest Village People: the shift to sedentary life in the Natufian period. This project aims to investigate the shift to sedentary life by excavating one of the earliest villages, founded by hunter-gatherers around 12,500 BCE. Of key interest are foundational burials at Wadi Hammeh 27 in Jordan and their role in the establishment of this new kind of settlement. Well-preserved deposits present a rare opportunity to track a community in the act of settling down so significant knowledge about the ....Earliest Village People: the shift to sedentary life in the Natufian period. This project aims to investigate the shift to sedentary life by excavating one of the earliest villages, founded by hunter-gatherers around 12,500 BCE. Of key interest are foundational burials at Wadi Hammeh 27 in Jordan and their role in the establishment of this new kind of settlement. Well-preserved deposits present a rare opportunity to track a community in the act of settling down so significant knowledge about the transition to sedentism should be generated. An interdisciplinary approach combining archaeology, bioanthropology and archaeogenetics may provide new explanations of early social organisation. Potential benefits include the building of international collaborations and the development of Australia’s role in the Middle East.Read moreRead less