Diving into the Desert. Indigenous and Future Floodplain Management. This project aims to discover how Indigenous communities managed cycles of drought and flood in the Lake Eyre Basin, and to learn from this to manage Australia’s inland rivers sustainably. By integrating archaeology – done underwater, on land and from the air – with Indigenous knowledge and environmental and flow modelling, the project expects to uncover a deep history of Indigenous environmental engineering in one of the worl ....Diving into the Desert. Indigenous and Future Floodplain Management. This project aims to discover how Indigenous communities managed cycles of drought and flood in the Lake Eyre Basin, and to learn from this to manage Australia’s inland rivers sustainably. By integrating archaeology – done underwater, on land and from the air – with Indigenous knowledge and environmental and flow modelling, the project expects to uncover a deep history of Indigenous environmental engineering in one of the world's last unregulated desert river systems . The project's outcomes – an Australian National Maritime Museum touring exhibition plus written, audio and 3D immersive communications – seek to benefit Australia's cultural life and flood mitigation, and to protect the Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation's culture and country. Read moreRead less
Mobilising Dutch East India Company collections for new global stories . Australia has a rich legacy of archives, art and artefacts, including 4 shipwrecks in WA, from its history of encounters with the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Through comparative research in Australian and overseas museums and archives we aim to situate Australian collections in a global context, creating new stories about Australia as part of the VOC global network. An interdisciplinary team will train 3 ECRs and 7 HDRs ....Mobilising Dutch East India Company collections for new global stories . Australia has a rich legacy of archives, art and artefacts, including 4 shipwrecks in WA, from its history of encounters with the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Through comparative research in Australian and overseas museums and archives we aim to situate Australian collections in a global context, creating new stories about Australia as part of the VOC global network. An interdisciplinary team will train 3 ECRs and 7 HDRs and forge partnerships with the Netherlands, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Africa, strengthening national capacity. Our analysis will enrich the value of collections, provide narratives for museums and sites, and revitalise content for international and domestic tourism markets.Read moreRead less
Megalithic Connections: Imperilled Cultural Heritage in Laos and India. This interdisciplinary project aims to document and explore the cultural connections between the geographically disparate megalithic cultures of Laos and India and create an enduring digital record of these threatened cultural assets. Integrating archaeological science and pioneering data capture technologies, the project will create globally significant new knowledge; advance heritage management processes including transfer ....Megalithic Connections: Imperilled Cultural Heritage in Laos and India. This interdisciplinary project aims to document and explore the cultural connections between the geographically disparate megalithic cultures of Laos and India and create an enduring digital record of these threatened cultural assets. Integrating archaeological science and pioneering data capture technologies, the project will create globally significant new knowledge; advance heritage management processes including transferrable exploratory technologies; and help underpin economic, social and cultural benefit in these regions. With an increasing awareness of the need to conserve global cultural assets, Australia will take the lead in developing breakthrough technological solutions and new cross-country research and practitioner capability.Read moreRead less
Resolving the archaeological enigma of Indonesia’s ‘Toalean’ culture . Archaeologists have long puzzled over the identity and origin of the 'Toalean' people from Sulawesi, Indonesia. These prehistoric hunter-gatherers produced a unique culture that emerged in the south of this island about 7500 years ago, and some scholars believe they introduced the dingo to Australia. Little is known about these early foragers despite a century of research. This project aims to investigate a significant new ca ....Resolving the archaeological enigma of Indonesia’s ‘Toalean’ culture . Archaeologists have long puzzled over the identity and origin of the 'Toalean' people from Sulawesi, Indonesia. These prehistoric hunter-gatherers produced a unique culture that emerged in the south of this island about 7500 years ago, and some scholars believe they introduced the dingo to Australia. Little is known about these early foragers despite a century of research. This project aims to investigate a significant new cave site in Sulawesi that is the richest, most well-dated Toalean locality yet uncovered. Through detailed archaeological excavations and analyses, this project expects to advance scientific knowledge of an important but poorly understood Indonesian culture that is often connected with the early human story in Australia.Read moreRead less
Indigenous foodways in colonial Cape York Peninsula. This project aims to trace historical Indigenous foodways in colonial Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, through a program of collaborative community-based archaeological and anthropological research. Food was a key medium for cultural exchanges between Indigenous peoples and settler-colonists. The analysis of foodways is known to provide unparalleled insights on daily life, as well as the development of both cultural values and social relations ....Indigenous foodways in colonial Cape York Peninsula. This project aims to trace historical Indigenous foodways in colonial Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, through a program of collaborative community-based archaeological and anthropological research. Food was a key medium for cultural exchanges between Indigenous peoples and settler-colonists. The analysis of foodways is known to provide unparalleled insights on daily life, as well as the development of both cultural values and social relationships. This has received limited attention in archaeological investigations in Australia. Results will provide greater insight into the history behind our current society.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
Archaeology, collections and Australian South Sea Islander. This project aims to integrate archaeology, museology, and cultural landscape research to weave together histories of Australian South Sea Islanders’ (ASSIs) lives and communities. ASSIs are not indigenous to Australia, nonetheless they have a distinctive and vibrant indigenous culture. With little written about ASSIs, most of their stories are in the places that they have inhabited, and in the objects they have left behind. In partners ....Archaeology, collections and Australian South Sea Islander. This project aims to integrate archaeology, museology, and cultural landscape research to weave together histories of Australian South Sea Islanders’ (ASSIs) lives and communities. ASSIs are not indigenous to Australia, nonetheless they have a distinctive and vibrant indigenous culture. With little written about ASSIs, most of their stories are in the places that they have inhabited, and in the objects they have left behind. In partnership with living ASSI communities, this project will raise awareness about their past in Queensland society and contribute to their sense of identity in the present and future.Read moreRead less
Resolving the Maya climate-collapse hypothesis. This project aims to test the climate-collapse theory by developing detailed records of climate and social change from Maya cities that did not collapse, and in doing so identify why some cities were more resilient to the impact of climatic variability than others. Catastrophic climate variability is often invoked to explain the historic collapse of large low-density urban centres in the global tropics. The collapse of the Maya civilisation of Cent ....Resolving the Maya climate-collapse hypothesis. This project aims to test the climate-collapse theory by developing detailed records of climate and social change from Maya cities that did not collapse, and in doing so identify why some cities were more resilient to the impact of climatic variability than others. Catastrophic climate variability is often invoked to explain the historic collapse of large low-density urban centres in the global tropics. The collapse of the Maya civilisation of Central America after the 8th century AD is the archetypal social collapse yet, despite robust evidence for drought across Central America, archaeological evidence suggests a heterogenous social response. This project will reveal what social, material, or environmental properties facilitated resiliency in historic urban centres confronting climatic variability.Read moreRead less
Archaeology and natural history. This project aims to provide critical new information on the archaeology and natural history of one of the world’s largest unregulated desert river systems. Mithaka country incorporates the highly significant Channel Country on the eastern edge of Australia's arid centre. Preliminary research has identified more than 70 large site complexes that provide critical insights on how the Mithaka people adapted to this unique environment and took part in Australia's mos ....Archaeology and natural history. This project aims to provide critical new information on the archaeology and natural history of one of the world’s largest unregulated desert river systems. Mithaka country incorporates the highly significant Channel Country on the eastern edge of Australia's arid centre. Preliminary research has identified more than 70 large site complexes that provide critical insights on how the Mithaka people adapted to this unique environment and took part in Australia's most extensive long distance trade systems. The project will study the archaeological landscape, artefacts and an extensive in-situ skeletal record in the context of a detailed palaeoenvironmental study. It will provide a new cultural-environmental history of this landscape and provide the Mithaka with multiple strands of connection to their ancestral land and culture and support their aspirations to create employment through rangers programs, education and cultural tourism.Read moreRead less