Glenn R. Summerhayes, BA, MA (Sydney), DipEd (Sydney Teachers College), PhD (La Trobe)
Adjunct Professor, Archaeology and Natural History, currently at Univeristy of Otago

Email: glenn.summerhayes@stonebow.otago.ac.nz

Biographical Statement

I have been involved in a number of projects in the Pacific. I am currently undertaking research into the origins of the Austronesian movement of peoples into the southwest Pacific about three thousand years ago. Fieldwork has been undertaken in New Ireland and East Sepik Provinces, Papua New Guinea. A new project commences in June 2006 looking into the archaeology of eastern Manus. Another project is examining the establishment of human presence at Kosipe at 35,000 years ago in Central Province (with Geoff Hope, ANH, and Andy Fairbairn, UQ). I also have a project looking at the introduction of agriculture into the southern Ryukyu Islands of Japan which commenced in 2003.

Research Interests

Archaeology of the Southeast Asia and the Pacific, in particular Papua New Guinea.

Key Publications

• Island Melanesian Pasts - a view from Archaeology, in Friedlaender, J (ed.) Population Genetics, Linguistics, and Culture History. Oxford University Press. 2006.
• Modelling differences between Lapita obsidian and pottery distribution patterns in the Bismarck Archipelago, in C. Sand (ed.) Pacific Archaeology: assessments and prospects. Proceedings of the International Conference for the 50th anniversary of the first Lapita excavation (July 1952), Koné-Nouméa, pp. 139-149. Nouméa: Le Cahiers de l'Archéologie en Nouvelle-Calédonie 15. 2003.
• The nature of prehistoric obsidian importation to Anir and the development of a 3,000 year old regional picture of obsidian exchange within the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea, in Attenbrow, V. J. and Fullagar, R. (eds.), Archaeologist and Anthropologist in the Western Pacific: Essays in Honour of Jim Specht, pp. 145-156. The Records of the Australian Museum Supplement. 2004
• (with R. Bird, R. Fullagar, C. Gosden, J. Specht, and R. Torrence) 'Application of PIXE-PIGME to archaeological analysis of changing patterns of obsidian use in West New Britain', Papua New Guinea. In S. Shackley (ed.), Advances in Archaeological Volcanic Glass Studies, Plenum Press, New York, 129-158, 1998.
• 'Lapita Interaction'. Terra Australis No. 15, Centre of Archaeology, Australian National University, 2000.
• 'What's in a Pot?' in A.J. Anderson, and T. Murray (eds.), Australian Archaeologist: Collected papers in honour of Jim Allen, Coombs Academic Publishing, ANU, Canberra, 291-307, 2000.
• 'Far Western, Western and Eastern Lapita: A re-evaluation'. Asian Perspectives, 39: 109-138, 2000.
• 'Defining the chronology of Lapita in the Bismarck Archipelago', in G.R. Clark, A.J. Anderson, T. and Vunidilo, (eds), The Archaeology of Lapita Dispersal in Oceania. Pandanus Press, ANU, Canberra, 2001.
• 'Lapita in the Far West: Recent Developments'. Archaeology in Oceania, 36: 53-64, 2001.

Career Highlights

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries; Professor and Head of the Department of Anthropology, University of Otago; Assistant Director, Centre of Archaeological Research (2003); Adjunct Professor, ANH, RSPAS (2005-onward); Head, Archaeology and Natural History, RSPAS, 2004; International Fellow, Waseda University, Tokyo (January-June 2003); ARC Fellow (1998-2000); Research Associate, Division of Anthropology, Australian Museum, Sydney; Councillor (2006) for Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering; Chair, Archaeology and Geosciences Panel, Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering; Conducting archaeological research in the Bismarck Archipelago over the last 20 years; Awarded a large ARC grants for (1995-98) for archaeological research on Anir, Papua New Guinea; Awarded a Sasakawa Peace Foundation (2001-03) grant for cultural heritage training in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu; Awarded an Large ARC grant for the years 2004-2006 to undertake archaeological research on the north coast of Papua New Guinea.