Current Projects

The An-barra Archaeological Project

Researchers: Dr Sally Brockwell and Dr Betty Meehan (Centre for Archaeological Research, ANU)
Funding: Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

Summary: The An-barra Archaeological Project is investigating archaeological sites located on An-gacha Wana (Big River, Blyth River) in central Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. These sites belong to the An-barra Aboriginal community. Dr Betty Meehan and Professor Rhys Jones recorded and excavated these sites during numerous research trips over the last 40 years (mainly between 1972 and 1980), with the support of traditional owners. The aim of the investigation is to determine the nature of regional pre-contact and contact settlement patterns and subsistence strategies in central Arnhem Land against the backdrop of the dramatic environmental change that took place on the coastal plains of northern Australia in the mid to late Holocene period. The An-barra archaeological sites consist of earth mounds, shell mounds, linear shell middens and transect material, containing shell, other faunal remains and a small amount of stone. Several of the sites have been dated to within the last 1500 years BP. The results of the An-barra Archaeological Project will be compared with other studies in the Northern Territory to develop a model of regional use of the northern coastal plains in the late Holocene.

The Northern Australia Earth Mound Project

Researchers: Dr Sally Brockwell and Dr Betty Meehan (Centre for Archaeological Research, ANU)
Funding:Application In Process

Summary: In northern Australia earth mounds are a common feature of the late Holocene archaeological landscape on the coastal plains. In southern Australia, similar sites have been widely investigated but in the north, apart from a few case studies, there has been little systematic or detailed examination. This project aims to redress the balance by reviewing data on previous investigations and conducting further fieldwork in the north. Surveys and excavation will be carried out to address several themes including location, morphology, origins, chronology and the role of mounds in the wider context of settlement systems. Graduate students interested in participating in this project are encouraged to contact Dr Sally Brockwell.

Rethinking Cultural Heritage in Southeast Asia: The Interface between Cultural and Natural Heritage in Protected Areas

Researchers: Professor Sue O'Connor and Dr Denis Byrne (NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change)
Funding: ARC Linkage

Summary: This three-year project commenced in 2009. It aims to advance a community-based model for the identification, assessment and mapping of cultural heritage values in Southeast Asia’s protected areas. In order to achieve this aim, the project will gather information on the current mechanisms in place in the region to conserve the cultural heritage values in protected areas (PAs) that are associated with local people living in and/or around PAs; produce a country-by-country overview of the extent to which cultural heritage in PAs has been recorded, assessed and conserved by drawing on existing published and unpublished material from the region’s nature conservation and heritage agencies, NGOs operating in the region, and international agencies; supplement this overview with dialogue with government agency staff, NGO personnel and local communities in country to ascertain the current situation; analyze political, financial, cultural, institutional, logistical and other conditioning factors that determine what is achievable on the ground in each of the countries reviewed; set this analysis against a review of best practice models sanctioned by international conventions and guidelines (e.g., IUCN, ICOMOS, SEAMEO SPAFA) and use the outcomes to form a baseline against which to make proposals for an improved model and devise an approach which is practicable in local contexts in Southeast Asia. Dr Sally Brockwell is the project manager and will coordinate the background research and fieldwork. The APAI attached to the project is Mr Nick McClean, who plans to produce a multi-media thesis based on research into Indigenous Protected Areas in Australia.

Sédentarité sur une marche frontalière (Thaïlande/Laos) : identités, techniques, territoires et environnements

Researchers: Dominique Galiaud, Hubert Forestier and Dr Janelle Stevenson
Funding:ANR

Summary: This is a French research programme that Janelle Stevenson has been invited to join. The overall theme of the project is the transition to agriculture in the lower Mekong basin, with field work being carried out in border regions of northern Laos and Thailand. The project brings together a diverse range of researchers from cultural geography, archaeology, sociology, paleoanthropology, palaeoecolgy and soil science. A major theme of the project is to question just what constitutes sedentism. Janelle is looking at the environmental changes associated with land use change.

The creation of Southeast Asia, 3500 BC to AD 500: peoples, cultures, migrations around the South China Sea

Researchers: Prof Peter Bellwood (ANU), Dr Marc Oxenham (ANU), and Dr Janelle Stevenson
Funding:ARC Discovery

Summary: The ancient migrations and subsequent interactions of agricultural populations played a fundamental role in the formation of the present-day peoples, cultures and languages of Southeast Asia. Our research program, involving archaeology, bioanthropology and palaeoecology, is investigating the origins and spread of early agricultural populations in northern Southeast Asia, with fieldwork based in Vietnam, southern China, Taiwan and the Philippines. Our intention is to assess the roles of southern China and Taiwan in the agricultural origins and possible dispersals within the region, and to compare these roles against evidence for indigenous Southeast Asian agricultural origins. The main outcome will be the testing of hypotheses about the dispersals of early farming populations and their languages.

Climate Change and Human Behavioural Variability in the Coastal Wet-Dry Tropics of Northern Australia

Researchers: Dr Sally Brockwell, Dr Patricia Bourke (Northern Territory Heritage Unit), Dr Patrick Faulkner (University of Queensland), Dr Ben Marwick (University of Washington, Seattle), and Dr Richard Willan (Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory)
Funding:Application In Process

Summary: Recently we have argued that midden analysis from three geographically distinct coastal regions of tropical northern Australia demonstrates that changes over time in Aboriginal mollusc exploitation reflect broader coastal environmental change associated with late Holocene climatic variability. We suggested that, while a direct physical link between environmental change and the interpretations of significant cultural change in the archaeological record have yet to be demonstrated unambiguously, the analysis of mollusc exploitation has the potential to provide a direct link that is currently missing between changes in climate, environment and human responses over the last millennium. To test this theory, we have since submitted archaeological shell samples from all three regions for isotope analysis that can demonstrate the existence of variations in temperature and rainfall, indicative of climate change. We are also analyzing modern shells to establish comparisons with the archaeological samples. We plan to expand the project to include archaeological and modern samples from other coastal regions in northern Australia. If you are interested in contributing to this project, please contact Dr Sally Brockwell.

Persistence and transformation in Ancestral Oceanic Society and the archaeology of the first 1500 years in the Vanuatu archipelago: Erueti

Researchers: Dr Stuart Bedford
Funding: ARC Discovery

Summary: Preliminary survey and test excavations were undertaken at Erueti in 2008. The investigation of this Lapita site, the only other site known on Efate apart from Teouma, is very important as thus far no settlement site has been located at Teouma. 10 testpits were completed and a relatively undisturbed area of the site was identified; original excavations by Garanger in a single area in 1967 were in very mixed deposits. This site may have been occupied over a 1600-year period from initial colonisation at around 1000 BC. The earliest phase of occupation, the Lapita phase, has yet to be pinpointed but this will hopefully be achieved in 2009 when areal excavations are planned. The aim of this and related Vanuatu projects is to examine the internal settlement layout and social structures of the initial colonising groups, and their transformations and/or persistence during the first 1500 years of settlement of Vanuatu. In this way archaeology will contribute to further elucidation of what has been labelled Ancestral Oceanic Society, from which much of the diversity in present-day Pacific Island cultures derives. Graduate students interested in participating in this project should contact Dr Stuart Bedford.

Persistence and transformation in Ancestral Oceanic Society and the archaeology of the first 1500 years in the Vanuatu archipelago: Mafilau Mound

Researchers: Dr Stuart Bedford
Funding: ARC Discovery

Summary: This very unusual mound feature on the west coast of Epi Island was first identified in 2005 as part of our previous Discovery grant. It appears at this stage to be unique in Pacific archaeology and may well be associated with a catastrophic volcanic event on Epi some 2800 years ago that caused a rapid settlement shift. The mound measures 80m long and 35m wide and consists almost entirely of midden deposits. Excavations in 2008 were undertaken in two sections of the site, the high central area and some 15m north on a lower slope. The sterile deposits (former beach mound) were reached at a depth of 5m in the central section of the mound and 3m further down the slope. There seems to be little change in the makeup of the mound through the stratigraphy in different areas. It appears to have accumulated over a period of c. 200 years, some 2800-2600 years ago. The midden deposits are extremely rich in cultural materials similar in form to those from Central Vanuatu, although some regional variation is apparent. This indicates the beginnings of cultural diversity soon after Lapita arrival. The mound itself suggests some level of wider community organisation for such a quantity of midden to have accumulated so quickly in a single area. The aim of this and related Vanuatu projects is to examine the internal settlement layout and social structures of the initial colonising groups, and their transformations and/or persistence during the first 1500 years of settlement of Vanuatu. In this way archaeology will contribute to further elucidation of what has been labelled Ancestral Oceanic Society, from which much of the diversity in present-day Pacific Island cultures derives. Graduate students interested in participating in this project should contact Dr Stuart Bedford.

Persistence and transformation in Ancestral Oceanic Society and the archaeology of the first 1500 years in the Vanuatu archipelago: Teouma

Researchers: Dr Stuart Bedford, Prof. Matthew Spriggs (ANU) and Marcelin Abong (Director of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre)
Funding: ARC Discovery

Summary: The Teouma Lapita site is the oldest cemetery yet found in the Pacific. Discovered in 2004 it is also the largest and oldest Lapita cemetery found to date, with up to 71 individuals have been identified. The project is being directed by Stuart Bedford, Matthew Spriggs and Marcelin Abong, Director of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre, and involves the collaboration of an international team of experts. In 2008, 68 m² was opened up at the cemetery in an area that had not previously been disturbed by mechanical excavators. For the first time we were able to examine the full sequence in a relatively undisturbed part of the site. This provided new information and has altered previous interpretations. The thicker deposits precluded the completion of the full area to sterile deposits but a further five Lapita burials were identified and all indications are that there will be further burials across the entire area which will be investigated in 2009. Further Lapita pots used in burial rituals were also recovered. An area 75 m south of the Lapita burials was also excavated. Five burials were recovered and have been dated to the immediate Post-Lapita period. The variation in burial position and associated ritual indicate significant change to such practices soon after initial colonisation. A very significant discovery was the identification of tortoise bones at the site. This is an extinct species of Meiolania, a genus of giant horned tortoises. It has never been identified in Vanuatu before but is known from Lapita and associated sites in New Caledonia. There are dozens of bones at Teouma and there are certain aspects that suggest ritual behaviour was associated with them. The aim of this and related Vanuatu projects is to examine the internal settlement layout and social structures of the initial colonising groups, and their transformations and/or persistence during the first 1500 years of settlement of Vanuatu. In this way archaeology will contribute to further elucidation of what has been labelled Ancestral Oceanic Society, from which much of the diversity in present-day Pacific Island cultures derives. Graduate students interested in participating in this project should contact Dr Stuart Bedford.

Pronghorn Movement and Prehistoric Hunters

Researchers: Dr Jack Fenner and Dr Mark Miller (Wyoming State Archaeologist)
Funding:Jonah Interagency Mitigation and Reclamation Office

Summary: The Trappers Point archaeological site is located just west of Pinedale, Wyoming USA within a natural pronghorn antelope migration bottleneck. Today, pronghorn migrate each spring from the Green River Basin north through the Trappers Point area and on to the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, and return via the same route in autumn. The migration deservedly receives much attention from conservationists and land managers and the Trappers Point area is a key BLM management concern, particularly as it relates to energy extraction and development in the region. Previous excavation at the Trappers Point site has suggested, but not demonstrated, that this pronghorn migration is thousands of years old. We plan to excavate the oldest known component at the Trappers Point site, and apply new stable isotope analysis techniques to better understand the nature of pronghorn procurement at the site and in the region. A key element of this approach is development of improved methods of creating and applying regional isoscapes.

Crossing the Green Sea: Maritime Mobility, Trans-oceanic Interaction and Remote Island Colonisation in the Tropical Indian Ocean

Researchers: Dr Geoffrey Clark, Prof. Atholl Anderson and Dr Simon Haberle (ANH, ANU)
Funding: ARC Discovery

Summary: Most of about eighty habitable islands in the tropical Indian Ocean have no record of prehistoric human occupation despite archaeological, ethnological, biological, and linguistic evidence of direct contact between East Africa and Southeast Asia in antiquity, especially by Austronesian-speaking Asians who colonised Madagascar about the fifth century AD. This project undertakes archaeological and palaeoenvironmental investigations in the southern Maldives, Chagos, Seychelles and Mascarene archipelagos seeking clear evidence of prehistoric human presence or absence and of the timing, nature and origins of trans-oceanic movement. The data will bring the Indian Ocean into the global discourse on maritime mobility. Graduate students interested in participating in this project are encouraged to contact Dr Geoff Clark (geoffrey.clark@anu.edu.au).

Colonisation of the Mariana and Palau Islands and Implications for Indo-Pacific Prehistory

Researchers: Dr Geoffrey Clark and Mr Olaf Winter
Funding: ARC Discovery

Summary: The Mariana and Palau islands in western Micronesia were colonised by an early population movement from Island Southeast Asia, marking the first human arrival on remote Pacific islands by the longest open ocean voyages anywhere in the prehistoric world. Key early sites in western Micronesia are being be excavated and analysed, along with detailed analysis of existing archaeological material, to provide new perspectives on the timing and nature of the colonising culture. Improved knowledge of this colonisation event will inform the pattern of Neolithic migration through insular Asia, and the Micronesian link with Lapita colonization of the west and central Pacific.

Monumental Architecture in Palau: Ngaremlengui's Earthworks as a Model for the Evolution of Babeldaob’s Settlement Patterns and Subsistence Economies

Researchers: PhD student Jolie Liston
Funding: Departmental Funds and ARC Discovery

Summary: Babeldaob is dominated by two types of monumental archaeological remains: a sculpted landscape and complexes of stone structures. The two are temporally distinct with the coastal stonework villages developing in the last 1000 years after the abandonment of the inland earth structures. Further distinctions between the two sets of remains include a reliance on dryland cultivation in the extensive clusters of earthworks and pondfield cultivation in the compact village systems. Evolutionary models for the complex sociopolitical system recorded at European contact are largely defined by these changing settlement patterns and their relationship to the agricultural base. This archaeological and paleoecological study is concerned with the nature and timing behind these dramatic transformations in Palau’s settlement patterns and subsistence economies.

The Origin and Development of the Tongan Maritime Empire

Researchers: Dr Geoffrey Clark and Prof. Tim Murray (La Trobe University)
Funding: ARC Discovery

Summary: This project aims to understand the nature and development of the Tongan maritime empire, the most complex socio-political entity to exist in prehistoric Oceania. Extensive mapping and excavations of monumental structures at Lapaha in Tonga will be used to create the first cultural sequence of the maritime chiefdom from a comprehensive radiocarbon chronology. Geochemical study of stone tools found in excavation of prehistoric monuments will be employed to define the extent and frequency of prehistoric interaction within the Tongan chiefdom.

Impacts of Catastrophic Marine Inundation Events on the Prehistoric Archaeological Record of the Australian Coastline

Researchers: Professor Sue O'Connor and Dr Stewart Fallon (RSES, ANU)
Funding: ARC Discovery

Summary: Quantifying recurrence intervals for tsunamis and cyclonic storm surges is essential for managing future risk to people, industry and the coastal archaeological record of northern Australia. It is also essential for interpreting coastal landscape evolution and Aboriginal landscape use over the past 6000 years. Geological estimates of tsunami periodicity are based on dating sediments deposited by such events. Some current estimates suggest that the recurrence interval in northern Australia for tsunamis which reach elevations of up to 20 meters above mean high tide is as short as 400 to 500 years. However, large sections of the western Australia coastline where these studies have been undertaken have abundant and apparently intact Aboriginal sites, preserved at elevations well within the inferred impact zones. This long term project is examining the apparent conflict between the geological and archaeological data by looking at cultural and and natural deposits on the Pilbara and Kimberley coasts, WA. Anthony Barham is a Senior Research Associate on the project. This project provides a number of opportunities for Masters and PhD projects on the coastal archaeology of the Pilbara and Kimberley, WA. Fieldwork and dating expenses would be met for successful applicants. Inquiries to Professor Sue O'Connor or Anthony Barham.

Cultural and Environmental Shifts in Late Holocene East Timor: Evidence for Climate Change?

Researchers: Professor Sue O'Connor and Dr Andrew McWilliam (School of Anthropology, ANU RSPAS)
Funding: ARC Discovery

Summary: Archaeologists have proposed that significant climatic change in the Indo-Pacific region between 800 and 400 years ago was responsible for far-reaching and traumatic environmental effects and social consequences. So far, however, convincing causal links have yet to be demonstrated between climate change, environmental effects and cultural changes. This three-year ARC Discovery project commenced in 2008 and is investigating archaeological sites, assemblages and ethnographic data from East Timor in order to document the nature and timing of cultural change over the last 1000 years. The results will be tested against independent environmental data to establish whether climate change was in fact a catalyst for cultural change. This is a multi-disciplinary project utilizing a broad range of techniques. Dr Sally Brockwell will coordinate fieldwork and technical aspects of the project, oversee post-fieldwork analysis, and prepare reports and publications arising from the research. Other collaborators on the project include Dr Rintaro Ono (ANH) who is carrying out a comparative study of contemporary fishing and shellfishing with the marine resources in the archaeological assemblages, and Dr Ken Aplin who is investigating the reasons for the extinction of Timor’s giant rodents. The first season's fieldwork in 2008 took place at the small coastal community of Comm. Two Indigenous fortified settlements were excavated in order to determine the timing and nature of the forts, whether or not they were occupied settlements, the diet of the inhabitants and whether there was evidence for external contacts such as ceramic trade wares. There are a number of awesome projects available to students who might be interested in working in East Timor. For example, almost all research to date has been carried out in cave and rockshelters near the coast. We are looking for a student with a strong interest in faunal analysis who would be interested in investigating the archaeology of the inland mountainous regions. We are also interested in funding the project costs for a post-graduate research program on the relationship between Indigenous fortifications and trade and outside influences over the past 600 years (Macassan, Chinese, Portuguese). Contact Professor Sue O'Connor for more information.

Baijini, Macassans, Balanda, and Bininj: Defining the Indigenous past of Arnhem Land through Culture Contact

Researchers: Professor Sue O'Connor
Funding: ARC Linkage

Summary: This three-year ARC Linkage project will undertake a community-based cultural heritage research program in the Wellington Range and Anuru Bay region of western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. It will investigate changes that have occurred in Indigenous occupation of the Western Arnhem Land region in relation to contact with the mythological Baijini, the Macassans, and Europeans through the documentation and analysis of the unique rock art and archaeology of the region. The project also aims to implement innovative management frameworks that will provide Indigenous communities with opportunities to obtain national economic, social, and cultural benefits. Daryl Guse has an APAI on this project and coordinated the projects first major fieldseason in 2008. A second fieldseason is planned for 2009. Students wishing to participate in rock art recording, field survey or excavation on this project should contact either Sue O'Connor (sue.oconnor@anu.edu.au) or Daryl Guse (daryl.guse@anu.edu.au) for further information.

Stepping-stones or barrier: The movement and impact of people throughout the Far Eastern Pacific

Researchers: Dr SG Haberle, Prof AJ Anderson, Prof H Heijnis (ANSTO)
Funding: ARC Discovery

Summary: The vast ocean of the far eastern Pacific divides two great migratory peoples, the Amerindians and Polynesians. Whether or not members of either group overcame this barrier remains one of the greatest uncertainties in Pacific prehistory. We focus on the remote islands of the far eastern Pacific Ocean and combine fine-resolution archaeology, palaeoecology, and dating techniques to determine the antiquity and nature of occupation on these islands. Their role as stepping-stones for human migration and material exchange will be determined and the notion of these islands as pristine and unspoilt at the time of European discovery will be challenged.

Bronze age textiles from Dong Son coffins in Viet Nam

Researchers: Dr. Judith Cameron and Professor Peter Bellwood
Funding: ARC Linkage Grant with the National Museum of Australia

Summary: This project involves the excavation, analysis and conservation of prehistoric textiles recovered from wooden coffins from waterlogged Dongson sites on the Red River plains of northern Vietnam. It is a collaborative project involving scholars from the Australian National University (Canberra), Institute of Archaeology (Hanoi), Centre of Southeast Asian Studies (Hanoi) and the National Museum of Australia (Canberra). The first season of excavations at the site of Dong Xa in December 2004 produced a wooden boat containing the remains of a small infant buried with pottery and lacquer. This waterlogged site is located in Kim Dong District, Hung Yen Province. The infant in the coffin was completely covered in a woven shroud, the first of its kind for Southeast Asia. The shroud was excavated in one piece and the material and structural composition of this important prehistoric textile are currently being analysed at the ANU. The wooden coffin and the shroud were also conserved in Vietnam.

Dongson textiles were also found inside another Dongson coffin during salvage excavations of the waterlogged site of Yen Bac. This site is located in Duy Tien District, Ha Nam Province. This more traditional Dongson coffin also contained the remains of a small child buried with copious quantities of bronze. Analysis of the small fragments of cloth found in the burial reveal that the Dongson spinners and weavers had knowledge of more than one weaving technique and used dyes to colour their cloth.

Three further waterlogged coffins have been identified at Dong Xa. These also contain cloth along with Dongson bronzes. Excavations of these wooden coffins are planned for September 2005 to coincide with a Conservation Workshop to be held in the History Museum in Hanoi.

Asia's first people: the role of East Asia in human evolution during the past half million years

Researchers: Dr AG Thorne, Prof G Hope, Dr PS Tacon (Australian Museum), Dr MA Smith (National Museum of Australia), Dr C Pardoe, Dr DK Curnoe (University of NSW)
Funding: ARC Discovery

Summary: A new statement about the importance of East Asia in our evolution is long overdue. The evolutionary development of humans between 500,000 and 20,000 years ago will be examined from archaeological, biological, faunal, ecological, environmental and migrational perspectives. We will synthesise the scattered East Asian literature, examine unpublished material in situ and conduct new fieldwork. Excavations will take place at two locations in Myanmar, the first in 50 years.