Resolving fundamental problems in the dating of marine shell in the tropics. This project will model variability in the way carbon is distributed in marine environments and animals in tropical Australasia. Results will provide key enabling tools for accurate dating of marine materials, realising the potential of previous research and forming the basis for accurate reconstructions of cultural, sea-level and climate changed.
Investigating Holocene India - Australia Connections using Ancient Genomics. A number of studies of human migration suggest that after initial colonisation of Australia around 45,000 years ago, these people remained largely isolated until the arrival of Europeans. In contrast recent studies have suggested that a wave of migration from India into Australia occurred approximately 4,230 years ago. However, a major drawback of these recent studies is that sequence data used was from modern indigenou ....Investigating Holocene India - Australia Connections using Ancient Genomics. A number of studies of human migration suggest that after initial colonisation of Australia around 45,000 years ago, these people remained largely isolated until the arrival of Europeans. In contrast recent studies have suggested that a wave of migration from India into Australia occurred approximately 4,230 years ago. However, a major drawback of these recent studies is that sequence data used was from modern indigenous Australians who were potentially admixed with Europeans. To address this issue we will sequence complete genomes from sub-fossil bones of ancient Indian and Indigenous Australian people and directly investigate this possible India-Australia connection.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130101560
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,600.00
Summary
A world of its own: earliest human occupation of the Maros karsts in Southwest Sulawesi, Indonesia. Excavations at Leang Burung 2, a rockshelter on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, yielded evidence for the initial arrival of modern humans and underlying deposits containing primitive stone tools from earlier inhabitants. This project aims to recover further evidence of early modern humans at the site and the identity of the earlier tool-makers.
Riversleigh and Cuddie Springs: Unravelling Key Factors in the Extinction of the Late Pleistocene Megafauna. The project will construct a clear picture of faunal change during the Late Pleistocene, a period of well documented extinctions of giant animals (megafauna). Archaeological excavation at Riversleigh, in north-west Queensland and palaeontological excavation at Cuddie Springs, in northern N.S.W. will complete a picture of the animals, people and environment of the prehistoric period at ea ....Riversleigh and Cuddie Springs: Unravelling Key Factors in the Extinction of the Late Pleistocene Megafauna. The project will construct a clear picture of faunal change during the Late Pleistocene, a period of well documented extinctions of giant animals (megafauna). Archaeological excavation at Riversleigh, in north-west Queensland and palaeontological excavation at Cuddie Springs, in northern N.S.W. will complete a picture of the animals, people and environment of the prehistoric period at each site. With this information, the roles of climate and people in the extinction process can be assessed. This study will complement the current research direction and public education programs of the Australian Museum and the EPA's management plans for the World Heritage Riversleigh site.Read moreRead less
From Paddy to Pura: the origins of Angkor. This project explores the origin and rise of the state in ancient Southeast Asia. Through the investigation of sites in Cambodia and Thailand and using an array of innovative technologies, the research will contribute to the global investigation of humankind's trajectory toward ever-increasing complexity.
History in their bones: A diachronic, bioarchaeological study of diet, mobility and social organisation from Cambodian skeletal assemblages. Australia will further enhance its role as an innovator in the archaeology of SE Asia through this cross-disciplinary, international collaboration on the mobility, health, age and diet in ancient Cambodia. Local collaborations will be expanded and academic and cultural relations with Cambodia will be reinforced and strengthened. This research will expand ....History in their bones: A diachronic, bioarchaeological study of diet, mobility and social organisation from Cambodian skeletal assemblages. Australia will further enhance its role as an innovator in the archaeology of SE Asia through this cross-disciplinary, international collaboration on the mobility, health, age and diet in ancient Cambodia. Local collaborations will be expanded and academic and cultural relations with Cambodia will be reinforced and strengthened. This research will expand understanding of Cambodian history and underscore its pivotal role in mainland SE Asian archaeology. Australia's advancement of knowledge about Cambodia's rich cultural antiquity will be recognized worldwide by a global community acutely mindful of the losses to culture and heritage endured by Cambodia in the recent past.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100492
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,336.00
Summary
Early human cultural diversity and adaptive responses to resource stress. This project will test novel hypotheses about human behavioural strategies and responses to resource stress in central Africa at the time of early human dispersals out of Africa. It aims to examine how behavioural complexity observed in the stone artefact records of southern and eastern Africa relate to those in northern Malawi, which lies at a key crossroads for these dispersals. The study area contains rare archaeologica ....Early human cultural diversity and adaptive responses to resource stress. This project will test novel hypotheses about human behavioural strategies and responses to resource stress in central Africa at the time of early human dispersals out of Africa. It aims to examine how behavioural complexity observed in the stone artefact records of southern and eastern Africa relate to those in northern Malawi, which lies at a key crossroads for these dispersals. The study area contains rare archaeological deposits that offer a unique opportunity to address problems of early human resource use at all scales: site, landscape, and region. This project aims to contribute to human origins research through investigation of why and how local geophysical and climatic constraints shaped past human behaviour relative to other regions.Read moreRead less
The emergence of early modern human behaviour and technology in Central Africa. This multidisciplinary project will build a detailed archaeological sequence in northern Malawi that is uniquely suited for testing hypotheses about the linkages between environment, demography, technology, and human behaviour in central Africa. This will provide a rare understanding of the processes that drove the emergence of our species.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100030
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$379,536.00
Summary
Becoming human: archaeological excavations at Lukenya Hill, Kenya. This project aims to refine our understanding of when and why early Homo sapiens began to display the behaviours that define us as human. Two questions central to modern human origins research will be addressed through archaeological excavations at Lukenya Hill in Kenya: firstly was the emergence of behavioural modernity the outcome of an abrupt behavioural revolution or instead a long-term process? secondly, what was the role of ....Becoming human: archaeological excavations at Lukenya Hill, Kenya. This project aims to refine our understanding of when and why early Homo sapiens began to display the behaviours that define us as human. Two questions central to modern human origins research will be addressed through archaeological excavations at Lukenya Hill in Kenya: firstly was the emergence of behavioural modernity the outcome of an abrupt behavioural revolution or instead a long-term process? secondly, what was the role of environmental change in driving our behavioural evolution? This project aims to provide a 50 000-year case study documenting the response of humans and past ecosystems to environmental change, which may provide a long-term perspective important to predicting and ameliorating the effects of such change in the future.Read moreRead less
Resource security trade and the development of urbanism in the pre-Classical world. Long distance trade in bulk foods, such as grain, is a key strategy for overcoming food insecurity in the modern urbanised world, yet we know relatively little of its history and role in the emergence and stability of the world’s first cities and states. Developing new archaeological techniques, this project explores the history of trade in bulk grain in southwest Asia from the Neolithic to Iron Age and its role ....Resource security trade and the development of urbanism in the pre-Classical world. Long distance trade in bulk foods, such as grain, is a key strategy for overcoming food insecurity in the modern urbanised world, yet we know relatively little of its history and role in the emergence and stability of the world’s first cities and states. Developing new archaeological techniques, this project explores the history of trade in bulk grain in southwest Asia from the Neolithic to Iron Age and its role in stimulating socio-economic change and mediating food insecurity in a period of rapid climatic and political change. In revolutionising our view of ancient food trade it will provide an example from the past to help inform contemporary debates about the efficacy of a key economic strategy in moderating fluctuations in food supply.Read moreRead less