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Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100068
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$344,120.00
Summary
Dwellers on the threshold: the evolution of human behavioural complexity in peripheral regions of southern Africa. This project will clarify the causes and contexts under which Homo sapiens evolved and began to display our species-defining behavioural complexity through an analysis of archaeological sites located on the fringes of southern Africa's arid interior. The project will significantly enhance understandings of the behavioural evolution of our species.
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
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.
Denisovans, Neanderthals and modern humans in southern Russia. This project will endeavour to yield new insights into human evolution by addressing the critical question of when Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans occupied the Altai region of Russia: the only place on Earth where these three groups of humans are known to have existed. No consensus exists on the timing of key events, the nature of any interactions or the impact of environmental changes. This project plans to use optical dat ....Denisovans, Neanderthals and modern humans in southern Russia. This project will endeavour to yield new insights into human evolution by addressing the critical question of when Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans occupied the Altai region of Russia: the only place on Earth where these three groups of humans are known to have existed. No consensus exists on the timing of key events, the nature of any interactions or the impact of environmental changes. This project plans to use optical dating to construct a highly resolved timescale for the archaeological and human fossil assemblages over the last 800 000 years. This may transform our understanding of the spatial and temporal patterns of human occupation by these three groups and their behaviours in similar or different environments.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
Axes, exchange, social change: new perspectives on Australian hunter-gatherers. This project refocuses attention on the importance of South East Australia for understanding the role of exchange in social change amongst hunter-gatherers. Our study will develop new perspectives on Aboriginal hunter-gatherer societies by tracing changing patterns of stone axe exchange over time using a new non-destructive provenancing technique (PXRF).
Shifting the foundations of Zoroastrian history: A fresh focus on Khorezm. This project aims to explore the importance for Zoroastrianism of images of Avestan gods in Uzbekistan. Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion, but little is known of its early development. Recent finds of massive six-metre-high murals of Avestan gods decorating the royal ceremonial centre of Akchakhan-kala in Khorezm provide evidence of early formal Zoroastrian practices, in a region not considered a centre of early relig ....Shifting the foundations of Zoroastrian history: A fresh focus on Khorezm. This project aims to explore the importance for Zoroastrianism of images of Avestan gods in Uzbekistan. Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion, but little is known of its early development. Recent finds of massive six-metre-high murals of Avestan gods decorating the royal ceremonial centre of Akchakhan-kala in Khorezm provide evidence of early formal Zoroastrian practices, in a region not considered a centre of early religious development. The project will study this data and its implications for later religious beliefs, drawing particularly on evidence for burial practices in the early Islamic period and indigenous tribal practices. The project aims to enhance understanding of one of the world’s significant religions.Read moreRead less
A spring of silver, a treasury in the earth: coinage and wealth in archaic Athens. The purpose of the project is to study the impact of locally mined silver on the public treasury of the Athenians, and thus on the developing political economy of this important city-state during the years c.550-480 BC, by examining its employment for the minting of coins.
Bronzes of Xinjiang: technology, society and power on the road to China. This project aims to reveal the backstory to the remarkable development of bronze working in ancient China by studying complex pathways by which metallurgical knowledge spread there from Eurasia through the crossroads region of Xinjiang. It will generate new knowledge through the innovative use of mass elemental analysis of ancient metals from Xinjiang, providing important evidence for early metallurgical techniques. Expec ....Bronzes of Xinjiang: technology, society and power on the road to China. This project aims to reveal the backstory to the remarkable development of bronze working in ancient China by studying complex pathways by which metallurgical knowledge spread there from Eurasia through the crossroads region of Xinjiang. It will generate new knowledge through the innovative use of mass elemental analysis of ancient metals from Xinjiang, providing important evidence for early metallurgical techniques. Expected outcomes include enhanced understanding of the role of developing technology in the consolidation of regional power and its impact on social inequality. Partnerships between Australian, Chinese and UK institutions are expected to expand Australia’s research capability in archaeology, ancient mining and metallurgy. Read moreRead less