Hydraulic Systems and State Development in Early Cambodia: Mapping the Engineered Landscapes of the Khmer Using Remote Sensing. Due to recent discoveries, Australian research at Angkor, in Cambodia, has gained increasing visibility worldwide. The ARC-funded Greater Angkor Project (Discovery) and Living With Heritage project (Linkage) have produced results of international significance, developed strong long-term partnerships with Cambodian agencies and UNESCO, and have pioneered the large-scale ....Hydraulic Systems and State Development in Early Cambodia: Mapping the Engineered Landscapes of the Khmer Using Remote Sensing. Due to recent discoveries, Australian research at Angkor, in Cambodia, has gained increasing visibility worldwide. The ARC-funded Greater Angkor Project (Discovery) and Living With Heritage project (Linkage) have produced results of international significance, developed strong long-term partnerships with Cambodian agencies and UNESCO, and have pioneered the large-scale mapping of World Heritage-listed sites using airborne imaging radar systems in collaboration with NASA. This project will extend these partnerships, consolidate Australia's leading position in radar analysis methods, and continue to produce results with global implications for the understanding and management of World Heritage sites.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.
Drawing the line: the archaeology of Roman provincial borders in Late Antique Palaestina and Arabia (AD250 - 650). This project, using archaeological evidence from Jordan, will for the first time accurately establish the boundaries of provinces in the Roman Empire. By linking Australia and the Middle East in international scholarly research dealing with our common cultural heritage, it will increase our mutual understanding. The examination of very long-term trends in an ancient system which dea ....Drawing the line: the archaeology of Roman provincial borders in Late Antique Palaestina and Arabia (AD250 - 650). This project, using archaeological evidence from Jordan, will for the first time accurately establish the boundaries of provinces in the Roman Empire. By linking Australia and the Middle East in international scholarly research dealing with our common cultural heritage, it will increase our mutual understanding. The examination of very long-term trends in an ancient system which dealt with a complex, multi-cultural population will provide much needed comparative illustrations for the current national debate on the nature and security of Australian borders. It will also provide evidence of long-term economic change and its political consequences.Read moreRead less
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
Crossing Borders: The Use and Distribution of Volcanic Glass Artefacts in Northeast Asia. Our project contextualises the development and nature of exchange relationships across vast areas and potentially different peoples in order to maintain sustainable and successful life-ways in prehistory. Tracing the distribution of volcanic glass artefacts from Paektusan Volcano, located on the border of China and N.Korea, into Far East Russia and S.Korea provides insights into the rapid colonisation of no ....Crossing Borders: The Use and Distribution of Volcanic Glass Artefacts in Northeast Asia. Our project contextualises the development and nature of exchange relationships across vast areas and potentially different peoples in order to maintain sustainable and successful life-ways in prehistory. Tracing the distribution of volcanic glass artefacts from Paektusan Volcano, located on the border of China and N.Korea, into Far East Russia and S.Korea provides insights into the rapid colonisation of northeast Asia and Northern America during the Late Palaeolithic and brings Australia to the forefront of new international areas of research. Through its collaborative nature this project will broaden our contact with China on an academic level; gaining a better appreciation of cultural, economic and political issues in the region.Read moreRead less
Astride the Wallace Line 2: human evolution, dispersal, culture and environmental change in Southeast Asia. Our previous project on the archaeology and fossil record of Southeast Asia yielded results of international significance, including the discovery of a new human species and dates for major changes in the Indonesian faunal sequence. It also involved collaboration between Australian, Indonesian and Canadian researchers from a range of institutions and disciplines, and provided topics for s ....Astride the Wallace Line 2: human evolution, dispersal, culture and environmental change in Southeast Asia. Our previous project on the archaeology and fossil record of Southeast Asia yielded results of international significance, including the discovery of a new human species and dates for major changes in the Indonesian faunal sequence. It also involved collaboration between Australian, Indonesian and Canadian researchers from a range of institutions and disciplines, and provided topics for six PhD and two MA students. This level of significant research, international collaboration and training will continue with the current project.Read moreRead less
The Spandrel Hypothesis: Towards a unified theory of stone flaking. The archaeological story of human evolution and prehistory has a strong Old World bias – the impression is that main events were in Africa and Europe and Australasia was mostly irrelevant. This is particularly true where stone tools are concerned: Australasian tools appear not to track the progression in technology that appears to be present in the Old World Standard Sequence. This project will test whether the Standard Sequence ....The Spandrel Hypothesis: Towards a unified theory of stone flaking. The archaeological story of human evolution and prehistory has a strong Old World bias – the impression is that main events were in Africa and Europe and Australasia was mostly irrelevant. This is particularly true where stone tools are concerned: Australasian tools appear not to track the progression in technology that appears to be present in the Old World Standard Sequence. This project will test whether the Standard Sequence has been overinterpreted and the pattern recognised for Australasia is in fact applicable world-wide. The results of the project will enhance the way Australia interprets itself and the Australasian region to the rest of the world. This is a goal of Research Priority 4 (Safeguarding 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
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).