ORCID Profile
0000-0001-6653-9963
Current Organisation
James Cook University
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Archaeology | Archaeological Science | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Archaeology | Quaternary Environments | Historical Studies | Ore Deposit Petrology | Geochemistry | Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience | Aboriginal Studies | History: Australian | Archaeology Of Hunter-Gatherer Societies (Incl. Pleistocene | Archaeological science | Archaeology of Europe, the Mediterranean and the Levant | Archaeological Science | Isotope Geochemistry | Data Storage Representations | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history | Information Storage, Retrieval And Management | Quaternary environments | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander archaeology | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture language and history | Ecological Impacts of Climate Change | Anthropology | Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy | Pyrometallurgy | Carbon Sequestration Science | Metals and Alloy Materials | Maritime Archaeology | Geomorphology | Urban And Regional Studies | Social And Cultural Anthropology
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Understanding Australia's Past | Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences | Conserving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage | Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage | Preserving movable cultural heritage | Information processing services | Climate Variability (excl. Social Impacts) | Integrated (ecosystem) assessment and management | Social Impacts of Climate Change and Variability | Basic Precious Metal Products | Titanium Minerals, Zircon, and Rare Earth Metal Ore (e.g. Monazite) Exploration | Farmland, Arable Cropland and Permanent Cropland Land Management | Expanding Knowledge in History and Archaeology |
Related Links
Publications
Climate-human interaction associated with southeast Australian megafauna extinction patterns
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-11-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-019-13277-0
Abstract: The mechanisms leading to megafauna ( kg) extinctions in Late Pleistocene (126,000—12,000 years ago) Australia are highly contested because standard chronological analyses rely on scarce data of varying quality and ignore spatial complexity. Relevant archaeological and palaeontological records are most often also biased by differential preservation resulting in under-representated older events. Chronological analyses have attributed megafaunal extinctions to climate change, humans, or a combination of the two, but rarely consider spatial variation in extinction patterns, initial human appearance trajectories, and palaeoclimate change together. Here we develop a statistical approach to infer spatio-temporal trajectories of megafauna extirpations (local extinctions) and initial human appearance in south-eastern Australia. We identify a combined climate-human effect on regional extirpation patterns suggesting that small, mobile Aboriginal populations potentially needed access to drinkable water to survive arid ecosystems, but were simultaneously constrained by climate-dependent net landscape primary productivity. Thus, the co-drivers of megafauna extirpations were themselves constrained by the spatial distribution of climate-dependent water sources.
Submerged landscapes, marine transgression and underwater shell middens: Comparative analysis of site formation and taphonomy in Europe and North America
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2021
FosSahul 2.0, an updated database for the Late Quaternary fossil records of Sahul
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-11-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41597-019-0267-3
Abstract: The 2016 version of the FosSahul database compiled non-human vertebrate megafauna fossil ages from Sahul published up to 2013 in a standardized format. Its purpose was to create a publicly available, centralized, and comprehensive database for palaeoecological investigations of the continent. Such databases require regular updates and improvements to reflect recent scientific findings. Here we present an updated FosSahul (2.0) containing 11,871 dated non-human vertebrate fossil records from the Late Quaternary published up to 2018. Furthermore, we have extended the information captured in the database to include methodological details and have developed an algorithm to automate the quality-rating process. The algorithm makes the quality-rating more transparent and easier to reproduce, facilitating future database extensions and dissemination. FosSahul has already enabled several palaeoecological analyses, and its updated version will continue to provide a centralized organisation of Sahul’s fossil records. As an ex le of an application of the database, we present the temporal pattern in megafauna genus richness inferred from available data in relation to palaeoclimate indices over the past 180,000 years.
Integrating geoarchaeology and magnetic susceptibility at three shell mounds: A pilot study from Mornington Island, Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2014
Multidisciplinary approaches to Australian island pasts: Late Pleistocene to historical perspectives on Australian island use
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2015
Symbolic expression in Pleistocene Sahul, Sunda, and Wallacea
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2019
Obligations to Objects
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Date: 07-2016
Abstract: This article discusses changing obligations toward objects from an archaeological site held by the Queensland Museum, through a long-term, 40-year case study. Between 1971 and 1972 a selection of 92 stone blocks weighing up to 5 tons containing Aboriginal engravings were cut out of the site and distributed to multiple locations across Queensland by the State Government under the provisions of the then Aboriginal Relics Preservation Act 1967. The site was subsequently flooded following dam construction and the removed blocks became part of the Queensland Museum’s collection. This article chronicles the history of the site and its “salvage,” the consequences of fragmentation of the site for community and institutions, the creation of 92 museum objects, the transformation from immobile to mobile cultural heritage, and community-led requests for their repatriation back to country.
Changing use of Lizard Island over the past 4000 years and implications for understanding Indigenous offshore island use on the Great Barrier Reef
Publisher: James Cook University
Date: 13-12-2020
DOI: 10.25120/QAR.23.2020.3778
Abstract: Archaeological records documenting the timing and use of northern Great Barrier Reef offshore islands by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples throughout the Holocene are limited when compared to the central and southern extents of the region. Excavations on Lizard Island, located 33 km from Cape Flattery on the mainland, provide high resolution evidence for periodic, yet sustained offshore island use over the past 4000 years, with focused exploitation of erse marine resources and manufacture of quartz artefacts. An increase in island use occurs from around 2250 years ago, at a time when a hiatus or reduction in offshore island occupation has been documented for other Great Barrier Reef islands, but concurrent with demographic expansion across Torres Strait to the north. Archaeological evidence from Lizard Island provides a previously undocumented occupation pattern associated with Great Barrier Reef late Holocene island use. We suggest this trajectory of Lizard Island occupation was underwritten by its place within the Coral Sea Cultural Interaction Sphere, which may highlight its significance both locally and regionally across this vast seascape.
Indigenous fish traps and weirs of Queensland
Publisher: James Cook University
Date: 06-2011
Abstract: A Queensland state-wide review of coastal and inland fish traps and weirs is undertaken. More than 179 sites are described. For coastal Queensland, it is demonstrated that traps with multiple pens are common in the Torres Strait and at a limited number of locations in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria. Most traps and weirs south of Torres Strait and the Gulf are isolated structures, with traps in most cases having a single pen. Walls of traps are most often in the shape of an arc and found at points and estuaries and only occasionally on open beaches. Some traps and weirs on the coast were built or used by non-Indigenous people, including South Sea Islanders. Less information could be located on traps and weirs of inland Queensland, which appear to have included many organic traps and weirs. It was found that weirs are common east of the Great Dividing Range, while traps were common to the west. The review draws heavily on unpublished data and reports held by the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management. The use of this information along with published sources, theses, explorer's diaries and ethnographic accounts allows a comprehensive overview of available information. Fish traps in particular are often found in coastal zones subject to development pressure and this work provides a baseline resource to generate discussion about research and management of this significant site type in these zones.
Times of Plenty, Times of Less: Last-Millennium Societal Disruption in the Pacific Basin
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-01-2007
Human refugia in Australia during the Last Glacial Maximum and Terminal Pleistocene: a geospatial analysis of the 25–12 ka Australian archaeological record
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2013
Complexities in the palaeoenvironmental and archaeological interpretation of isotopic analyses of the Mud Shell Geloina erosa (Lightfoot, 1786)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2017
Short-term late Holocene dry season occupation and sandy-mud flat focused foraging at Murdumurdu, Bentinck Island, Gulf of Carpentaria
Publisher: James Cook University
Date: 22-08-2017
DOI: 10.25120/QAR.20.2017.3588
Abstract: Archaeological survey, excavations, and analyses of the Murdumurdu shell midden on Bentinck Island, Gulf of Carpentaria are reported. Patterns of subsistence as well as the timing and periodicity of site use are investigated through quantification of cultural materials, AMS radiocarbon dating, stable isotopic analysis of Marcia hiantina shell carbonates (δ18O and δ13C), magnetic susceptibility analysis of the deposits and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Exploitation of shellfish focused on sandy-mud flat species (especially M. hiantina and Gafrarium pectinatum) with occupation occurring exclusively during the dry season (May-August). Radiocarbon dating reveals that the main period of occupation was short, albeit intense and occurred c.300 years ago. Initiation of occupation closely follows the establishment of freshwater conditions in the adjacent Marralda Sw . These factors suggest that use of Murdumurdu was limited, potentially representing a single deposition event or multiple short, discrete episodes, in a landscape rich with similar archaeological deposits.
Temporal variability in the Holocene marine radiocarbon reservoir effect for the Tropical and South Pacific
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2020
Framing Australian Pleistocene coastal occupation and archaeology
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2022
Extended residence times for foraminifera in a marine-influenced terrestrial archaeological deposit and implications for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2016
Reassessing Marine Fishery Intensification in Southeast Queensland
Publisher: James Cook University
Date: 12-2002
Abstract: A review of the archaeological evidence underlying a model by Walters of late Holocene Aboriginal marine fishery intensification in southeast Queensland is undertaken. The results of a regional review of the available fish bone neither support an argument for a general pattern of increase in fish discard at coastal sites nor the claim for an exponential increase through time in the number of sites exhibiting fish remains. Major taphonomic issues and research biases are considered to have played a role in structuring the archaeological database of the region.
Otoliths in archaeology: Methods, applications and future prospects
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2016
From small holes to grand narratives: The impact of taphonomy and sample size on the modernity debate in Australia and New Guinea
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2011
DOI: 10.1016/J.JHEVOL.2011.03.002
Abstract: Our knowledge of early Australasian societies has significantly expanded in recent decades with more than 220 Pleistocene sites reported from a range of environmental zones and depositional contexts. The uniqueness of this dataset has played an increasingly important role in global debates about the origins and expression of complex behaviour among early modern human populations. Nevertheless, discussions of Pleistocene behaviour and cultural innovation are yet to adequately consider the effects of taphonomy and archaeological s ling on the nature and representativeness of the record. Here, we investigate the effects of preservation and s ling on the archaeological record of Sahul, and explore the implications for understanding early cultural ersity and complexity. We find no evidence to support the view that Pleistocene populations of Sahul lacked cognitive modernity or cultural complexity. Instead, we argue that differences in the nature of early modern human populations across the globe were more likely the consequence of differences in population size and density, interaction and historical contingency.
Robust local vegetation records from dense archaeological shell matrixes: a palynological analysis of the Thundiy shell deposit, Bentinck Island, Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-10-2016
Late Holocene Changes in Shellfishing Behaviors From the Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-05-2014
Beneath the Top End: A regional assessment of submerged archaeological potential in the Northern Territory, Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 30-08-2022
Addendum: FosSahul 2.0, an updated database for the Late Quaternary fossil records of Sahul
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 13-05-2021
Stylistic analysis of stone arrangements supports regional cultural interactions along the northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-05-2018
Correction for Gongora et al. , Indo-European and Asian origins for Chilean and Pacific chickens revealed by mtDNA
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 16-09-2008
Holocene sea-level change and coastal landscape evolution in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 26-06-2018
Abstract: A revised Holocene sea-level history for the southern Gulf of Carpentaria is presented based on new data from the South Wellesley Archipelago and age recalibration of previous research. Results confirm that rising sea levels during the most recent post-glacial marine transgression breached the Arafura Sill ca. 11,700 cal. yr BP. Sea levels continued to rise to ca. –30 m by 10,000 cal. yr BP, leading to full marine conditions. By 7700 cal. yr BP, sea-level reached present mean sea-level (PMSL) and continued to rise to an elevation of between 1.5 m and 2 m above PMSL. Sea level remained ca. + 1.5 between 7000 and 4000 cal. yr BP, followed by rapid regression to within ± 0.5 m of PMSL by ca. 3500 cal. yr BP. When placed into a wider regional context results from this study show that coastal landscape evolution in the tropical north of Australia was not only dependent on sea-level change but also show a direct correlation with Holocene climate variability. Specifically, the formation and preservation of beach-rock deposits, intertidal successions, beach and chenier ridge systems hold valuable sea-level and Holocene climate proxies that can contribute to the growing research into lower latitude Holocene sea-level and climate histories.
The Genetic Speciation of Archaeological Fish Bone: A Feasibility Study from Southeast Queensland
Publisher: James Cook University
Date: 12-2002
Abstract: Current genetic methods enable highly specific identification of DNA from modern fish bone. The applicability of these methods to the identification of archaeological fish bone was investigated through a study of a s le from late Holocene southeast Queensland sites. The resultant overall success rate of 2% indicates that DNA analysis is, as yet, not feasible for identifying fish bone from any given site. Taphonomic issues influencing the potential of genetic identification methods are raised and discussed in light of this result.
Sustainable harvesting of Conomurex luhuanus and Rochia nilotica by Indigenous Australians on the Great Barrier Reef over the past 2000 years
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2019
Australian Archaeology in Profile: A Survey of Working Archaeologists
Publisher: Springer New York
Date: 05-11-2012
Pre-Bomb Marine Reservoir Variability in the Kimberley Region, Western Australia
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 2010
DOI: 10.1017/S0033822200046233
Abstract: New ΔR values are presented for 10 known-age shells from the Kimberley region of northwest Australia. Previous estimates of ΔR for the Kimberley region are based on only 6 in idual shell specimens with dates of live collection known only to within 50 yr (Bowman 1985a). Here, we describe the results of our recent attempts to constrain ΔR variability for this region by dating a suite of known-age pre-AD 1950 shell s les from the Australian Museum and Museum Victoria. A regional ΔR of 58 ± 17 14 C yr for open waters between Broome and Cape Leveque is recommended based on 7 of these specimens. The criteria used to select shells for dating and inclusion in the regional mean are discussed.
A carbon and nitrogen isotope perspective on ancient human diet in the British Isles
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2022
Reply to Storey et al. : More DNA and dating studies needed for ancient El Arenal-1 chickens
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 02-12-2008
Pre-European coastal settlement and use of the sea: A view from Queensland
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 1995
The Gooreng Gooreng Cultural Heritage Project: Some proposed directions and preliminary results of the archaeological program
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 1995
WAC, Ethics, Enforcement, and Rights
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 11-10-2007
‘Complexity’ and the Australian continental narrative: Themes in the archaeology of Holocene Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2013
Why do students enrol in archaeology at Australian universities? Understanding pre-enrolment experiences, motivations, and career expectations
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-01-2023
Directionally supervised cellular automaton for the initial peopling of Sahul
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2023
Using foraminifera to distinguish between natural and cultural shell deposits in coastal eastern Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2007
Pleistocene Aboriginal occupation at Cania Gorge, Central Queensland: preliminary results of fieldwork
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-1998
Moiapu 3: Settlement on Moiapu Hill at the very end of Lapita, Caution Bay hinterland
Publisher: ANU Press
Date: 11-12-2019
A late-Holocene record of coastal wetland development and fire regimes in tropical northern Australia
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 16-06-2020
Abstract: This study presents three records of environmental change during the late-Holocene from wetlands across Bentinck Island in the South Wellesley Islands, northern Australia. Radiometric dating provided ages for sediment cores with the longest chronology spanning the last 1250 cal. yr BP. Palynological results show the erse mangrove community transitioned to woodland- and wetland-dominated vegetation over the last 850 years on the southeast coast. The key driver of this landscape change was likely late-Holocene sea level regression and coastal progradation in the Gulf of Carpentaria. This study found freshwater wetlands expanded across Bentick Island over the last 500 years, with sedges and rushes peaking in the last 350 years. Macroscopic and microscopic charcoal records, coupled with archaeological evidence, highlights the spatial and temporal variation in fire regimes across the island, reflecting the traditional fire management practices of the Kaiadilt people during the late-Holocene. This study finds a significant increase in charcoal accumulation in the 1900s when Kaiadilt fire practices were disrupted and the South Wellesley Islands were abandoned. The pollen record reflects little change in the vegetation despite the shifting fire regime, highlighting the importance of multi-proxy approaches to reconstructing past environments in tropical northern Australia where vegetation is adapted to fire.
Humans, water, and the colonization of Australia
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 08-09-2016
Abstract: Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth, but humans dispersed rapidly through much of the arid continental interior after their arrival more than 47,000 y ago. The distribution and connectedness of water across the continent, and particularly in its arid core, played a pivotal role in facilitating and focusing early human dispersal throughout the continent. We analyze the distribution and connectedness of modern permanent water across Australia. The modelled least-cost pathways between permanent water sources indicate that the observed rapid occupation of the continental interior was possible along multiple, well-watered routes and likely was driven by the depletion of high-ranked resources in each newly occupied area over time.
New approaches for assessing site formation of submerged lithic scatters
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2023
Post-European Aboriginal Occupation Of The Southern Curtis Coast, Central Queensland
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 1999
Early human settlement of Sahul was not an accident
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-06-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-019-42946-9
Abstract: The first peopling of Sahul (Australia, New Guinea and the Aru Islands joined at lower sea levels) by anatomically modern humans required multiple maritime crossings through Wallacea, with at least one approaching 100 km. Whether these crossings were accidental or intentional is unknown. Using coastal-viewshed analysis and ocean drift modelling combined with population projections, we show that the probability of randomly reaching Sahul by any route is % until ≥40 adults are ‘washed off’ an island at least once every 20 years. We then demonstrate that choosing a time of departure and making minimal headway (0.5 knots) toward a destination greatly increases the likelihood of arrival. While drift modelling demonstrates the existence of ‘bottleneck’ crossings on all routes, arrival via New Guinea is more likely than via northwestern Australia. We conclude that anatomically modern humans had the capacity to plan and make open-sea voyages lasting several days by at least 50,000 years ago.
AustArch: A Database of 14C and Non-14C Ages from Archaeological Sites in Australia - Composition, Compilation and Review (Data Paper)
Publisher: Council for British Archaeology
Date: 2014
DOI: 10.11141/IA.36.6
Fission, fusion and syncretism
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Date: 26-01-2016
DOI: 10.1075/CLU.18.06MEM
Early human occupation of a maritime desert, Barrow Island, North-West Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2017
Insect and plant invasions follow two waves of globalisation
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-08-2021
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.13863
Abstract: Globalisation has facilitated the spread of alien species, and some of them have significant impacts on bio ersity and human societies. It is commonly thought that biological invasions have accelerated continuously over the last centuries, following increasing global trade. However, the world experienced two distinct waves of globalisation (~1820–1914, 1960‐present), and it remains unclear whether these two waves have influenced invasion dynamics of many species. To test this, we built a statistical model that accounted for temporal variations in s ling effort. We found that insect and plant invasion rates did not continuously increase over the past centuries but greatly fluctuated following the two globalisation waves. Our findings challenge the idea of a continuous acceleration of alien species introductions and highlight the association between temporal variations in trade openness and biological invasion dynamics. More generally, this emphasises the urgency of better understanding the subtleties of socio‐economic drivers to improve predictions of future invasions.
Long-term archaeological and historical archives for mulloway, Argyrosomus japonicus, populations in eastern South Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2018
A global carbon and nitrogen isotope perspective on modern and ancient human diet
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 25-08-2020
DOI: 10.21203/RS.3.RS-61331/V1
Abstract: Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses are widely used to infer diet and mobility in ancient and modern human populations, potentially providing a means to situate humans in global food webs. We collated 13,533 globally distributed analyses of ancient and modern human collagen and keratin s les. We converted all data to a common ‘Modern Diet Equivalent’ reference frame to enable direct comparison between ancient and modern human diets and the natural environment. This approach reveals a broad diet in ancient times, consistent with the human ability to consume opportunistically as extreme omnivores within complex natural food webs and across multiple trophic levels in every terrestrial and many marine ecosystems on the planet. In stark contrast, dietary breadth across modern non-subsistence populations has dramatically compressed by two-thirds, largely as a result of the rise of industrial agriculture and animal husbandry practices, as well as the globalization of food distribution networks.
Do fish remains provide reliable palaeoenvironmental records? An examination of the effects of cooking on the morphology and chemistry of fish otoliths, vertebrae and scales
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2016
Humans, megafauna and environmental change in tropical Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-06-2013
DOI: 10.1002/JQS.2639
A wet strawman: A response to Ward et al.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-09-2022
DOI: 10.1002/GEA.21936
Minimum founding populations for the first peopling of Sahul
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-06-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41559-019-0902-6
Abstract: The timing, context and nature of the first people to enter Sahul is still poorly understood owing to a fragmented archaeological record. However, quantifying the plausible demographic context of this founding population is essential to determine how and why the initial peopling of Sahul occurred. We developed a stochastic, age-structured model using demographic rates from hunter-gatherer societies, and relative carrying capacity hindcasted with LOVECLIM's net primary productivity for northern Sahul. We projected these populations to determine the resilience and minimum sizes required to avoid extinction. A census founding population of between 1,300 and 1,550 in iduals was necessary to maintain a quasi-extinction threshold of ≲0.1. This minimum founding population could have arrived at a single point in time, or through multiple voyages of ≥130 people over ~700-900 years. This result shows that substantial population amalgamation in Sunda and Wallacea in Marine Isotope Stages 3-4 provided the conditions for the successful, large-scale and probably planned peopling of Sahul.
Middle to Late Holocene near-shore foraging strategies at Caution Bay, Papua New Guinea
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2020
Mid-Holocene Aboriginal occupation of offshore islands in northern Australia? A reassessment of Wurdukanhan, Mornington Island, southern Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2015
Radiocarbon and linguistic dates for occupation of the South Wellesley Islands, Northern Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-2010
A radiocarbon chronology for Sanamere Lagoon, Cape York Peninsula, using multiple organic fractions
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2022
A late-Holocene multiproxy fire record from a tropical savanna, eastern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 20-01-2021
Abstract: Fire has a long history in Australia and is a key driver of vegetation dynamics in the tropical savanna ecosystems that cover one quarter of the country. Fire reconstructions are required to understand ecosystem dynamics over the long term but these data are lacking for the extensive savannas of northern Australia. This paper presents a multiproxy palaeofire record for Marura sinkhole in eastern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. The record is constructed by combining optical methods (counts and morphology of macroscopic and microscopic charcoal particles) and chemical methods (quantification of abundance and stable isotope composition of pyrogenic carbon by hydrogen pyrolysis). This novel combination of measurements enables the generation of a record of relative fire intensity to investigate the interplay between natural and anthropogenic influences. The Marura palaeofire record comprises three main phases: 4600–2800 cal BP, 2800–900 cal BP and 900 cal BP to present. Highest fire incidence occurs at ~4600–4000 cal BP, coinciding with regional records of high effective precipitation, and all fire proxies decline from that time to the present. 2800–900 cal BP is characterised by variable fire intensities and aligns with archaeological evidence of occupation at nearby Blue Mud Bay. All fire proxies decline significantly after 900 cal BP. The combination of charcoal and pyrogenic carbon measures is a promising proxy for relative fire intensity in sedimentary records and a useful tool for investigating potential anthropogenic fire regimes.
Radiometric dates are a robust proxy for long‐term demographic change: A comment on Attenbrow and Hiscock (2015)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 27-03-2016
DOI: 10.1002/ARCO.5095
Determining the boundaries, structure and volume of buried shell matrix deposits using ground-penetrating radar: A case study from northern Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2018
Pre-Columbian Fishing on the Coast of the Atacama Desert, Northern Chile: An Investigation of Fish Size and Species Distribution Using Otoliths From Camarones Punta Norte and Caleta Vitor
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 18-07-2017
Multiproxy Holocene Fire Records From the Tropical Savannas of Northern Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 25-11-2021
Abstract: Paleoecology has demonstrated potential to inform current and future land management by providing long-term baselines for fire regimes, over thousands of years covering past periods of lower/higher rainfall and temperatures. To extend this potential, more work is required for methodological innovation able to generate nuanced, relevant and clearly interpretable results. This paper presents records from Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia, as a case study where fire management is an important but socially complex modern management issue, and where palaeofire records are limited. Two new multiproxy palaeofire records are presented from Sanamere Lagoon (8,150–6,600 cal BP) and Big Willum Sw (3,900 cal BP to present). These records combine existing methods to investigate fire occurrence, vegetation types, and relative fire intensity. Results presented here demonstrate a ersity of fire histories at different sites across Cape York Peninsula, highlighting the need for finer scale palaeofire research. Future fire management planning on Cape York Peninsula must take into account the thousands of years of active Indigenous management and this understanding can be further informed by paleoecological research.
High-resolution radiocarbon dating of marine materials in archaeological contexts: Radiocarbon marine reservoir variability between Anadara, Gafrarium, Batissa, Polymesoda spp. and Echinoidea at Caution Bay, Southern Coastal Papua New Guinea
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-11-2013
Aboriginal stone-walled intertidal fishtrap morphology, function and chronology investigated with high-resolution close-range Unmanned Aerial Vehicle photogrammetry
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2018
AUSTRALIAN MARINE RADIOCARBON RESERVOIR EFFECTS: ΔR ATLAS AND ΔR CALCULATOR FOR AUSTRALIAN MAINLAND COASTS AND NEAR-SHORE ISLANDS
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 31-10-2023
DOI: 10.1017/RDC.2023.95
Community partnerships are fundamental to ethical ancient DNA research
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2023
Aboriginal artefacts on the continental shelf reveal ancient drowned cultural landscapes in northwest Australia
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 07-2020
Landscape rules predict optimal superhighways for the first peopling of Sahul.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-04-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41562-021-01106-8
Abstract: Archaeological data and demographic modelling suggest that the peopling of Sahul required substantial populations, occurred rapidly within a few thousand years and encompassed environments ranging from hyper-arid deserts to temperate uplands and tropical rainforests. How this migration occurred and how humans responded to the physical environments they encountered have, however, remained largely speculative. By constructing a high-resolution digital elevation model for Sahul and coupling it with fine-scale viewshed analysis of landscape prominence, least-cost pedestrian travel modelling and high-performance computing, we create over 125 billion potential migratory pathways, whereby the most parsimonious routes traversed emerge. Our analysis revealed several major pathways-superhighways-transecting the continent, that we evaluated using archaeological data. These results suggest that the earliest Australian ancestors adopted a set of fundamental rules shaped by physiological capacity, attraction to visually prominent landscape features and freshwater distribution to maximize survival, even without previous experience of the landscapes they encountered.
Stochastic models support rapid peopling of Late Pleistocene Sahul
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-04-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-021-21551-3
Abstract: The peopling of Sahul (the combined continent of Australia and New Guinea) represents the earliest continental migration and settlement event of solely anatomically modern humans, but its patterns and ecological drivers remain largely conceptual in the current literature. We present an advanced stochastic-ecological model to test the relative support for scenarios describing where and when the first humans entered Sahul, and their most probable routes of early settlement. The model supports a dominant entry via the northwest Sahul Shelf first, potentially followed by a second entry through New Guinea, with initial entry most consistent with 50,000 or 75,000 years ago based on comparison with bias-corrected archaeological map layers. The model’s emergent properties predict that peopling of the entire continent occurred rapidly across all ecological environments within 156–208 human generations (4368–5599 years) and at a plausible rate of 0.71–0.92 km year −1 . More broadly, our methods and approaches can readily inform other global migration debates, with results supporting an exit of anatomically modern humans from Africa 63,000–90,000 years ago, and the peopling of Eurasia in as little as 12,000–15,000 years via inland routes.
Exploring Ceremony: The Archaeology of a Men's Meeting House (‘Kod’) on Mabuyag, Western Torres Strait
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 25-10-2016
DOI: 10.1017/S0959774316000445
Abstract: The materiality of ritual performance is a growing focus for archaeologists. In Europe, collective ritual performance is expected to be highly structured and to leave behind a loud archaeological signature. In Australia and Papua New Guinea, ritual is highly structured however, material signatures for performance are not always apparent, with ritual frequently bound up in the surrounding natural and cultural landscape. One way of assessing long-term ritual in this context is by using archaeology to historicize ethno-historical and ethnographic accounts. Ex les of this in the Torres Strait region, islands between Papua New Guinea and mainland Australia, suggest that ritual activities were materially inscribed at kod sites (ceremonial men's meeting places) through distribution of clan fireplaces, mounds of stone/bone and shell. This paper examines the structure of Torres Strait ritual for a site ethnographically reputed to be the ancestral kod of the Mabuyag Islanders. Intra-site partitioning of ritual performance is interpreted using ethnography, rock art and the ergent distribution of surface and sub-surface materials (including microscopic analysis of dugong bone and lithic material) across the site. Finally, it discusses the materiality of ritual at a boundary zone between mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea and the extent to which archaeology provides evidence for Islander negotiation through ceremony of external incursions.
Environmental context for late Holocene human occupation of the South Wellesley Archipelago, Gulf of Carpentaria, northern Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2015
Indo-European and Asian origins for Chilean and Pacific chickens revealed by mtDNA
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 29-07-2008
Abstract: European chickens were introduced into the American continents by the Spanish after their arrival in the 15th century. However, there is ongoing debate as to the presence of pre-Columbian chickens among Amerindians in South America, particularly in relation to Chilean breeds such as the Araucana and Passion Fowl. To understand the origin of these populations, we have generated partial mitochondrial DNA control region sequences from 41 native Chilean specimens and compared them with a previously generated database of ≈1,000 domestic chicken sequences from across the world as well as published Chilean and Polynesian ancient DNA sequences. The modern Chilean sequences cluster closely with haplotypes predominantly distributed among European, Indian subcontinental, and Southeast Asian chickens, consistent with a European genetic origin. A published, apparently pre-Columbian, Chilean specimen and six pre-European Polynesian specimens also cluster with the same European/Indian subcontinental/Southeast Asian sequences, providing no support for a Polynesian introduction of chickens to South America. In contrast, sequences from two archaeological sites on Easter Island group with an uncommon haplogroup from Indonesia, Japan, and China and may represent a genetic signature of an early Polynesian dispersal. Modeling of the potential marine carbon contribution to the Chilean archaeological specimen casts further doubt on claims for pre-Columbian chickens, and definitive proof will require further analyses of ancient DNA sequences and radiocarbon and stable isotope data from archaeological excavations within both Chile and Polynesia.
Meta-analysis of Queensland’s coastal Indigenous fisheries: Examining the archaeological evidence for geographic and temporal patterning
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2019
A 33,000-year paleohydrological record from Sanamere Lagoon, north-eastern tropical savannas of Australia
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 29-12-2022
DOI: 10.1017/QUA.2022.59
Abstract: There are very few records of past terrestrial environmental change of any time period for the Australian tropical savannas. Here we document the hydrological development of Sanamere Lagoon, north Queensland, from a 1.72 m sediment sequence with a basal age of ca. 33 ka. We measure a variety of proxies reflecting environmental change within and around the lagoon, including grain size, elemental and diatom abundance, and carbon and nitrogen isotope composition. By integrating the interpretation of multiple proxies, we show that regional climatic events, such as the reactivation of the monsoon at 15 ka and sea-level rise ending at 7 ka, are reflected in local ecosystem change and a ersity of biogeochemical responses in Sanamere Lagoon. This record makes a significant contribution to the development of records of environmental change from an under-studied region in tropical Australia through the Holocene to the LGM and beyond—a step towards enabling a more detailed understanding of regional monsoon (paleo)dynamics. In particular, this study highlights nuances in the effect of Indonesian-Australian Summer monsoon dynamics in a region less affected by sea level and continental shelf drowning complexities.
SahulArch: A geochronological database for the archaeology of Sahul
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-01-2023
A continental narrative: Human settlement patterns and Australian climate change over the last 35,000 years
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2015
Working in archaeology in a changing world: Australian archaeology at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-09-2021
A multi-scalar approach to marine survey and underwater archaeological site prospection in Murujuga, Western Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2021
Archaeological assessment reveals Earth’s early transformation through land use
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 30-08-2019
Abstract: Humans began to leave lasting impacts on Earth's surface starting 10,000 to 8000 years ago. Through a synthetic collaboration with archaeologists around the globe, Stephens et al. compiled a comprehensive picture of the trajectory of human land use worldwide during the Holocene (see the Perspective by Roberts). Hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists transformed the face of Earth earlier and to a greater extent than has been widely appreciated, a transformation that was essentially global by 3000 years before the present. Science , this issue p. 897 see also p. 865
OCTOPUS database (v.2)
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 16-08-2022
DOI: 10.5194/ESSD-14-3695-2022
Abstract: Abstract. OCTOPUS v.2 is an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) compliant web-enabled database that allows users to visualise, query, and download cosmogenic radionuclide, luminescence, and radiocarbon ages and denudation rates associated with erosional landscapes, Quaternary depositional landforms, and archaeological records, along with ancillary geospatial (vector and raster) data layers. The database follows the FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse) data principles and is based on open-source software deployed on the Google Cloud Platform. Data stored in the database can be accessed via a custom-built web interface and via desktop geographic information system (GIS) applications that support OGC data access protocols. OCTOPUS v.2 hosts five major data collections. CRN Denudation and ExpAge consist of published cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al measurements in modern fluvial sediment and glacial s les respectively. Both collections have a global extent however, in addition to geospatial vector layers, CRN Denudation also incorporates raster layers, including a digital elevation model, gradient raster, flow direction and flow accumulation rasters, atmospheric pressure raster, and CRN production scaling and topographic shielding factor rasters. SahulSed consists of published optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and thermoluminescence (TL) ages for fluvial, aeolian, and lacustrine sedimentary records across the Australian mainland and Tasmania. SahulArch consists of published OSL, TL, and radiocarbon ages for archaeological records, and FosSahul consists of published late-Quaternary records of direct and indirect non-human vertebrate (mega)fauna fossil ages that have been systematically quality rated. Supporting data are comprehensive and include bibliographic, contextual, and s le-preparation- and measurement-related information. In the case of cosmogenic radionuclide data, OCTOPUS also includes all necessary information and input files for the recalculation of denudation rates using the open-source program CAIRN. OCTOPUS v.2 and its associated data curation framework allow for valuable legacy data to be harnessed that would otherwise be lost to the research community. The database can be accessed at octopusdata.org (last access: 1 July 2022). The in idual data collections can also be accessed via their respective digital object identifiers (DOIs) (see Table 1).
Holocene Demographic Changes and the Emergence of Complex Societies in Prehistoric Australia
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 17-06-2015
Stone artefacts on the seabed at a submerged freshwater spring confirm a drowned cultural landscape in Murujuga, Western Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2023
Key issues in the conservation of the Australian coastal archaeological record: natural and human impacts
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-07-2010
Creating volume estimates for buried shell deposits: A comparative experimental case study using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity under varying soil conditions
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-02-2018
DOI: 10.1002/ARP.1594
Sclerochronological analysis of archaeological mollusc assemblages: methods, applications and future prospects
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-01-2016
A Holocene record of savanna vegetation dynamics in southern lowland Papua New Guinea
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-04-2020
The Archaeology of the Southern Curtis Coast: An Overview
Publisher: James Cook University
Date: 12-1999
Abstract: Since 1993 archaeological surveys and excavations have been undertaken on the southern Curtis Coast as the coastal component of the Gooreng Gooreng Cultural Heritage Project. This paper briefly outlines the physical environment of the study region including geology, vegetation and fauna communities before presenting the preliminary results of archaeological surveys and excavations. These initial results suggest that the region has an extensive mid-to-late Holocene archaeological record that has the potential to contribute to understandings of changes in late Holocene Aboriginal societies in Central Queensland.
Big Foot Art Site, Cania Gorge: Site Report
Publisher: James Cook University
Date: 12-1999
Abstract: This site report presents a description of archaeological investigations undertaken at Big Foot Art Site, a large rockshelter and art site located at Cania Gorge, eastern Central Queensland. Field and laboratory methods are outlined and results presented. Excavation revealed evidence for occupation spanning from before 7,700 cal BP to at least 300 cal BP, with a significant peak in stone artefact discard between c.4,200-3,200 cal BP. Results are compared to analyses undertaken in the adjacent Central Queensland Highlands.
Eurimbula Site 1, Curtis Coast: Site Report
Publisher: James Cook University
Date: 12-1999
Abstract: This site report presents an account of archaeological excavations undertaken at Eurimbula Site 1, a large open midden site complex located in Eurimbula National Park on the southern Curtis Coast, Central Queensland. Excavations yielded a cultural assemblage dominated by mud ark (Anadara trapezia) and commercial oyster (Saccostrea commercialis) and incorporating small quantities of stone artefacts, fish bone and charcoal. Densities of cultural material were found to decrease markedly with distance from the creek. Analyses of excavated material demonstrate extensive low intensity use of the site from at least c.3,200 cal BP to the historical period.
Maritime Coastal and Island Societies of Australia and New Guinea
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date: 14-04-2021
DOI: 10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780190095611.013.29
Abstract: Coasts, islands, and marine resources played a central role in the dispersal of people into and across Sahul (the combined landmass of New Guinea and Australia). This vast area spans tropical and temperate latitudes, with changes in the abundance and distribution of coastal resources having greatly influenced how people used these landscapes. Little is known of early coastal and island occupation in the millennia after colonisation because sites of this antiquity are now under water, and most islands formed in the Holocene following the postglacial rise in sea level. Current evidence indicates that small, mobile populations harvested nearshore shellfish and fish by 44–42 ka, with long-distance sea voyaging and interisland trade apparent by 25–20 ka. Increasingly intensive coast and island use is evident by the Mid-Holocene, with specialised maritime economies emerging in tropical latitudes throughout the Late Holocene. Although large gaps remain in our understanding of coastally oriented lifeways, multidisciplinary studies are increasingly challenging global paradigms about the antiquity and importance of marine resources on human cultural development.
Mort Creek site complex, Curtis Coast: site report
Publisher: James Cook University
Date: 12-1999
Abstract: This paper reports the results of excavations conducted at the Mort Creek Site Complex, located in the Rodds Peninsula Section of Eurimbula National Park on the southern Curtis Coast, Central Queensland. Cultural and natural marine shell deposits were excavated and analysed as part of an investigation of natural and cultural site formation processes in the area. Analyses (including foraminifera studies) demonstrate a complex site formation history, with interfingering of cultural and natural shell deposits (cheniers) in some areas of the site. Radiocarbon dating indicates that Aboriginal occupation of the site was initiated before 2,000 cal BP, overlapping with dates obtained for natural chenier deposits.
Index of Dates from Archaeological Sites in Queensland
Publisher: James Cook University
Date: 12-2000
Abstract: This volume presents an indexed compilation of chronometric determinations obtained from archaeological sites in the state of Queensland (including Torres Strait), Australia, to the end of 2000. The list includes conventional radiocarbon (14C), accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), thermoluminescence (TL) and optically-stimulated luminescence (OSL) determinations. In total, 849 dates are listed from 258 sites. This listing is intended as a reference work only and no analysis of the dataset is undertaken in this volume.
Tropical Archaeology Research Laboratory Comparative Fish Reference Collection: Developing a resource for identifying marine fish remains in archaeological deposits in tropical Australasia
Publisher: James Cook University
Date: 17-03-2013
Abstract: This paper outlines the methods adopted for creating a fish osteological reference collection for tropical Australasia. This collection currently contains bones from 52 fish representing 35 different species found in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia. This developing collection has become a valuable resource for zooarchaeological analyses in the Queensland, Torres Strait and Papua New Guinea tropical coastal zone. Ongoing development of the collection to include specimens from a wider geographic area will further support fish bone research across the region.
Another snapshot for the album: a decade of Australian Archaeology in Profile survey data
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-05-2016
The Gooreng Gooreng Cultural Heritage Project: Preliminary Results of Archaeological Research, 1993-1997
Publisher: James Cook University
Date: 12-1999
Abstract: This paper summarizes the background to, and preliminary results of, archaeological investigations conducted between 1993 and 1997 under the auspices of the Gooreng Gooreng Cultural Heritage Project. The implications of these results are briefly considered before research in progress and future research directions are outlined.
Deliberate selection of rocks in the construction of the Gummingurru Stone Arrangement Site Complex, Darling Downs, Queensland
Publisher: James Cook University
Date: 17-07-2018
DOI: 10.25120/QAR.21.2018.3649
Abstract: This paper uses statistical analyses to examine the hypothesis that the creators of the Gummingurru Stone Arrangement Site Complex, southeast Queensland, deliberately selected rocks, based on size and shape, for the production of motifs at the site. As Gummingurru is an Aboriginal site, the literature that frames the research concerns Aboriginal cultural Law and worldviews. However, because the data are archaeological measurements, quantitative statistical methods are also employed. These quantitative results demonstrate deliberate selection of rocks occurred in the construction of four of the motifs at Gummingurru. We conclude that there are archaeological signatures of human behaviour in response to the requirements of cultural Laws with respect to the choice of raw materials, at least in stone arrangement sites.
Roof Fall Cave, Cania Gorge: Site Report
Publisher: James Cook University
Date: 12-1999
Abstract: This site report presents a description of archaeological investigations undertaken at Roof Fall Cave, an occupied rockshelter and art site located at Cania Gorge, eastern Central Queensland. Excavation yielded quantities of stone artefacts, bone and charcoal, along with some freshwater mussel shell and ochre with an occupational sequence spanning from up to 18,576 cal BP to the historical period. Roof Fall Cave is currently the oldest dated site in Cania Gorge and possibly in the Central Queensland region.
The Archaeology of Cania Gorge: An Overview
Publisher: James Cook University
Date: 12-1999
Abstract: This paper presents a general overview of archaeological investigations in the Cania Gorge region, located on the western margin of the Gooreng Gooreng Cultural Heritage Project study area. It includes a physical description of the region and a brief outline of the cultural setting, before presenting a summary of archaeological investigations undertaken in the area.
Marine and estuarine reservoir effects in central Queensland, Australia: Determination of ?R values
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-03-2002
DOI: 10.1002/GEA.10017
Hunter-gatherer response to late Holocene climatic variability in northern and central Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-08-2010
DOI: 10.1002/JQS.1416
Approaches to monitoring and managing Indigenous Australian coastal cultural heritage places
Publisher: James Cook University
Date: 03-2014
Abstract: Australia's coastal zone contains a erse range of cultural heritage places. They are, however, negatively impacted by a multitude of natural and cultural factors. Currently there are few robust site monitoring programmes that focus on identifying the causes and directions of change in the coastal zone and the impacts that these changes have on heritage places. With case studies from Queensland, we outline and evaluate a number of potential approaches to coastal monitoring. They range from localised but inexpensive combinations of anecdotal observations coupled with geoindicators, to the use of more recent and sophisticated technologies such as LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) remote sensing. We also propose there is a need to establish cooperative information data sharing arrangements in Australia for coastal monitoring studies.
The Gooreng Gooreng Cultural Heritage Project: First radiocarbon determinations
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 11-1996
Redating the earliest evidence of the mid-Holocene relative sea-level highstand in Australia and implications for global sea-level rise
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 17-07-2019
Marine reservoir corrections for Moreton Bay, Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-2009
Evidence for early focussed marine resource exploitation from an open coastal site in central Queensland
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2000
Assessing the Reliability of a Small-Scale Legacy Radiocarbon Dataset Using Chronometric Transparency Approaches: Torres Strait Radiocarbon Database
Publisher: Ubiquity Press, Ltd.
Date: 2023
DOI: 10.5334/JOAD.95
A global carbon and nitrogen isotope perspective on modern and ancient human diet
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 03-05-2021
Abstract: The carbon and nitrogen isotope composition of human tissues can be used to infer dietary information. We transformed isotope compositions of 13,666 modern and ancient analyses to make them comparable on a common scale. This reveals that the isotope dietary breadth of modern humans is highly compressed when compared to populations predating the development in 1910 of modern industrial fertilizer by the Haber–Bosch method. However, modern humans that still use “traditional” subsistence strategies retain remarkably similar isotope dietary breadth to all pre-Haber–Bosch human populations. Increased reliance on industrial agriculture and pastoralism is resulting in a cascade of “rewiring” to remaining food webs globally that can reduce the resilience of global ecosystems in the face of accelerating environmental change.
Underwater Shell Middens: Excavation and Remote Sensing of a Submerged Mesolithic site at Hjarnø, Denmark
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-06-2020
Integrating charcoal morphology and stable carbon isotope analysis to identify non-grass elongate charcoal in tropical savannas
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-04-2022
Sea-level change and demography during the last glacial termination and early Holocene across the Australian continent
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2018
Past Aboriginal Populations and Demographic Change Using Radiocarbon Data and Time-Series Analysis
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date: 21-06-2022
DOI: 10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780190095611.013.18
Abstract: The use of radiocarbon data as a proxy for past human demography has become common in many parts of the world with increasingly sophisticated techniques developed in the last decade. Australian archaeologists have been at the forefront of this research. Using this technique, the authors show that at a continent scale Aboriginal population remained low—in the tens of thousands—throughout the Pleistocene, followed by a stepwise growth in the last 10,000 years, and culminating at ~1.15 million in the Late Holocene. The Last Glacial Maximum resulted in significant disruption to populations, with recent evidence suggesting a prolonged recovery from the event, hindered by sea-level change through the terminal Pleistocene. This chapter hypothesises that increasing population during the Early Holocene, along with environmental packing from a reducing landmass, established the conditions contributing to the complex societies observed later in the Holocene and up to the ethnographic period. While radiocarbon approaches to exploring demography have been subject to frequent criticism, virtually all are explicitly addressed in sophisticated applications of the approach, and the authors’ findings continue to be proven robust as more archaeological data becomes available. For instance, the authors’ demonstration that initial seeding population at ~50,000 years ago was ~1000–3000 people and likely involved a deliberate act of exploration has been validated by a plethora of recent studies. The authors suggest a number of temporal and spatial areas that should form the focus of further archaeological research to fill in current knowledge gaps.
The integrated cultural landscape of North Gidley Island: Coastal, intertidal and nearshore archaeology in Murujuga (Dampier Archipelago), Western Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 30-08-2021
Palaeogeography and voyage modeling indicates early human colonization of Australia was likely from Timor-Roti
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2018
A Strategy for Assessing Continuity in Terrestrial and Maritime Landscapes from Murujuga (Dampier Archipelago), North West Shelf, Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 25-04-2020
Related Organisations
Related Funding Activities
ARC Centre Of Excellence Of Australian Biodiversity And Heritage
Start Date: 2017
End Date: 2023
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityE-Archaeology: Towards An Australian Archaeological Data Grid
Start Date: 2005
End Date: 2006
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityA National Facility For The Analysis Of Pyrogenic Carbon
Start Date: 2018
End Date: 2018
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityThe Queensland Historical Atlas: Histories, Cultures, Landscapes
Start Date: 2007
End Date: 2009
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityThe Deep History Of Sea Country: Climate, Sea Level And Culture
Start Date: 2017
End Date: 2019
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityDiscovery Projects - Grant ID: DP170100812
Start Date: 02-2017
End Date: 12-2019
Amount: $597,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityARC Centres Of Excellence - Grant ID: CE170100015
Start Date: 06-2017
End Date: 12-2024
Amount: $33,750,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityARC Future Fellowships - Grant ID: FT120100656
Start Date: 02-2013
End Date: 02-2017
Amount: $699,593.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE180100053
Start Date: 2018
End Date: 12-2018
Amount: $358,031.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Projects - Grant ID: LP0775186
Start Date: 2007
End Date: 12-2011
Amount: $602,313.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityARC Centres Of Excellence - Grant ID: CE230100009
Start Date: 07-2024
End Date: 06-2031
Amount: $35,000,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityDiscovery Projects - Grant ID: DP0663047
Start Date: 2006
End Date: 04-2011
Amount: $365,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivitySpecial Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0567201
Start Date: 11-2005
End Date: 12-2007
Amount: $77,428.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE220100177
Start Date: 07-2022
End Date: 06-2024
Amount: $1,650,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityDiscovery Projects - Grant ID: DP130100334
Start Date: 02-2013
End Date: 12-2015
Amount: $190,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityDiscovery Projects - Grant ID: DP120103179
Start Date: 04-2012
End Date: 04-2015
Amount: $450,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity