Shipwrecks of the Roaring Forties: a maritime archaeological reassessment of some of Australia's earliest shipwrecks. This project will evaluate new ways of investigating the history of Europeans in the Indian Ocean by using the latest technology to evaluate seven Western Australian shipwrecks excavated over 40 years ago. The project will work with emerging technologies to study these significant sites and collections.
Modern human origins and early behavioural complexity in Australia and Southeast Asia. This project tackles a fundamental issue in world prehistory: how and when did humans first cross from Southeast Asia into Australia. Three new archaeological excavations using novel methods of analysis will assess the nature of behavioural complexity and human evolution at the time when Australia was first colonised over 45,000 years ago.
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
The Goldfields Water Supply Scheme: An archaeological study of regional development and society. This project investigates 19th and 20th century society along the Perth-Kalgoorlie settlement corridor following the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme (1897-1903). The APAI will conduct archaeological investigations (settlement survey and excavations and historical documentation analyses to address three questions: 1.) the hypothesis that regional settlement patterns were affected by the pipeline locati ....The Goldfields Water Supply Scheme: An archaeological study of regional development and society. This project investigates 19th and 20th century society along the Perth-Kalgoorlie settlement corridor following the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme (1897-1903). The APAI will conduct archaeological investigations (settlement survey and excavations and historical documentation analyses to address three questions: 1.) the hypothesis that regional settlement patterns were affected by the pipeline location and new mining and agricultural ventures; 2.) what can the archaeology tell us about the lives of those who settled alongside this industrial and regional development; and 3.) the extent of Aboriginal involvement with colonising non-Aboriginal people.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200062
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$273,828.00
Summary
Art at a crossroads: Aboriginal responses to contact in northern Australia. This project aims to investigate historical Aboriginal responses to ‘contact’ with newcomers to their land. It will generate new knowledge using systematic recordings of rock art and bark paintings created during the last 400 years in western Arnhem Land. The analysis of these key visual first-hand records of Australia’s history, together with documentation from digital archives and other media, will lead to new ways of ....Art at a crossroads: Aboriginal responses to contact in northern Australia. This project aims to investigate historical Aboriginal responses to ‘contact’ with newcomers to their land. It will generate new knowledge using systematic recordings of rock art and bark paintings created during the last 400 years in western Arnhem Land. The analysis of these key visual first-hand records of Australia’s history, together with documentation from digital archives and other media, will lead to new ways of understanding Aboriginal history. Drawing on multiple forms of media, we will examine how Aboriginal people used graphic systems to navigate threats and opportunities in northern Australia, with the main benefit to Australia being a more comprehensive and inclusive written history.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100536
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$446,362.00
Summary
The Earliest Australians' Adaptations across Western Australia. This project aims to investigate how the first people to arrive in Australia responded and adapted to diverse environments and changing ecosystems. This project will analyse microscopic remains of human activity from eight key sites in Western Australia, dated between 50,000 and 7,000 years ago. This will generate new evidence on the earliest technology, ecology and landscape management, in relation to environmental changes since th ....The Earliest Australians' Adaptations across Western Australia. This project aims to investigate how the first people to arrive in Australia responded and adapted to diverse environments and changing ecosystems. This project will analyse microscopic remains of human activity from eight key sites in Western Australia, dated between 50,000 and 7,000 years ago. This will generate new evidence on the earliest technology, ecology and landscape management, in relation to environmental changes since the last Ice Age. New understandings on the earliest ecological behaviour and adaptations to diverse ecosystems will be generated through international collaboration, with important outcomes for Australian archaeology and advancing Traditional Owners' engagement in this scientific study of their deep-time heritage.Read moreRead less
Life ways of the first Australians. The project will enhance national cultural heritage assessment and management in the west Kimberley. This is a Australian Government priority because of planned Liquid Natural Gas and other developments in this region. Through the project officer positions, Indigenous communities will gain training and skills that will lead to sustainable livelihoods in cultural tourism or employment opportunities in government cultural heritage agencies. The project directly ....Life ways of the first Australians. The project will enhance national cultural heritage assessment and management in the west Kimberley. This is a Australian Government priority because of planned Liquid Natural Gas and other developments in this region. Through the project officer positions, Indigenous communities will gain training and skills that will lead to sustainable livelihoods in cultural tourism or employment opportunities in government cultural heritage agencies. The project directly addresses the National Research Priority goal of responding to climate change and variability by advancing knowledge and understanding of past climates, and assisting in better modelling of future climate change in our region. The project will provide postgraduate training in fieldwork and analysis for four APAIs.Read moreRead less
Kimberley Visions: rock art style provinces in northern Australia. This project aims to examine the role that art has played in managing social and environmental change over the past 50 000 years. The project seeks to carry out the first systematic comparative analysis of different rock art repertoires and associated archaeology from the Kimberley and Arnhem Land. It is intended that identifying continuities and changes in this archaeological signature will provide direct evidence of how people ....Kimberley Visions: rock art style provinces in northern Australia. This project aims to examine the role that art has played in managing social and environmental change over the past 50 000 years. The project seeks to carry out the first systematic comparative analysis of different rock art repertoires and associated archaeology from the Kimberley and Arnhem Land. It is intended that identifying continuities and changes in this archaeological signature will provide direct evidence of how people adapted and signalled their identity. Intended outcomes are new understanding to contribute to inter-regional rock art studies and inform Indigenous and government heritage management practices.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200473
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$283,678.00
Summary
Archives in Bark: Carved and inscribed Kimberley boab trees. This project seeks to record and contextualise Indigenous and non-Indigenous carvings and inscriptions on ancient Australian boab trees (Adansonia gregorii) growing in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It will document a hitherto poorly recorded form of traditional Indigenous cultural and artistic practice, as well as information about the lives of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people living on missions and pastoral properties ....Archives in Bark: Carved and inscribed Kimberley boab trees. This project seeks to record and contextualise Indigenous and non-Indigenous carvings and inscriptions on ancient Australian boab trees (Adansonia gregorii) growing in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It will document a hitherto poorly recorded form of traditional Indigenous cultural and artistic practice, as well as information about the lives of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people living on missions and pastoral properties prior to and immediately following European Contact. The significance of the project lies in its ability to record information about the lives of people not captured in other types of historical documents. The project should provide ecological information about the condition of these Kimberley heritage trees.Read moreRead less
Aboriginal rock art and cultural heritage management in Cape York Peninsula. The Laura Sandstone Basin of Cape York Peninsula hosts one of the richest bodies of rock art in Australia and the world. It documents the life-ways of generations of Aboriginal Australians from their original settlement, through major environmental changes, to European invasion. This vast area, much of which is now jointly managed as National Parks by Traditional Owners, remains virtually unexplored archaeologically. Th ....Aboriginal rock art and cultural heritage management in Cape York Peninsula. The Laura Sandstone Basin of Cape York Peninsula hosts one of the richest bodies of rock art in Australia and the world. It documents the life-ways of generations of Aboriginal Australians from their original settlement, through major environmental changes, to European invasion. This vast area, much of which is now jointly managed as National Parks by Traditional Owners, remains virtually unexplored archaeologically. This project aims to record this unique rock art so that its testimony remains for future generations. This will provide a framework for its sustainable management and findings will have profound implications for our understandings of the cultural behaviour and dispersal of the earliest modern humans to colonise Australia.Read moreRead less