Projects at ARCHE
Our work spans the globe and covers every major geological period associated with human evolution.
Sustainable Development Goals
Griffith University is aligned with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is committed to contributing to a sustainable future, protecting our planet’s ecosystems, and ensuring a liveable environment for present and future generations.
The environment and human origins in the Kalahari, South Africa
This project investigates the role that interior environments played in the emergence and evolution of Homo sapiens.
South Africa has a rich archaeological record documenting the origins of our species. However, current research has been biased toward coastal rockshelter sites. Consequently, conflicting hypotheses about the role of environmental change in the emergence of modern humans cannot be adequately tested. This project expands the narrative of modern human origins away from the coast to investigate the distribution and success of early modern humans in the deep interior of the country. Through the excavation and dating of newly discovered deposits at Ga-Mohana Hill North Rockshelter, cutting-edge archaeological materials analysis, and local studies of palaeohydrology, this study is generating a new record of early human-environment interaction.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Dr Jayne Wilkins,
Bharti Jangra
External Researchers:
- Benjamin J Schoville, University of Queensland,
Robyn Pickering, University of Cape Town,
Sechaba Maape, University of the Witwatersrand,
Luke Gliganic, University of Wollongong,
Precious Chiwara-Maenzanise, University of Cape Town,
Jessica von der Meden, University of Cape Town
Funding:
- Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) – (DE190100160)
The impact of water stress on early humans in the Kalahari Desert
How did the earliest humans respond to climate change in dynamic, arid environments?
This project aims to understand the impacts of water stressed environments for early modern human behaviour through state-of-the-art excavation techniques and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction at two new archaeological sites in the Kalahari. How humans mitigated water stress during a major technological transition is significant because adaptability to arid environments was crucial for humans expanding beyond Africa and into Australia. The expected outcome of this project is creation of new knowledge on the origins of human resilience to water stress. The benefit lies in the potential to gain insights into meeting future climate challenges by exploring the adaptive strategies developed by early modern humans in the southern Kalahari.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Dr Jayne Wilkins, Bharti Jangra
External Researchers:
- Benjamin J Schoville, University of Queensland
Robyn Pickering, University of Cape Town
Irene Esteban, University of Barcelona Luke Gliganic, University of Wollongong
Luke Gliganic, University of Wollongong
Funding:
- ARC Discovery Projects - (DP220100167)
Children in human evolution
This project explores the roles of children in human technological and cultural evolution.
This project aims to investigate the role of children in cultural and technological innovation throughout human evolution. By developing new methods and applying cutting-edge techniques to archaeological datasets, this project aims to build a better understanding of innovation in our species and the relationship between childhood, creativity, and innovation.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Dr Michelle Langley
External Researchers:
Funding:
- Wenner-Gren Foundation Workshop Grant
Records in bone and shell
This project investigates the use of hard animal materials (bone, tooth, antler, ivory, shell, etc.) to create material cultures throughout the past.
This project explores the diversity and richness of material culture made from hard animal materials (bone, tooth, antler, ivory, shell, etc.) the world over. Through applying traceological and experimental archaeological methods, this project reconstructs how tools and ornaments were made, utilised, and discarded by different communities dating back tens of thousands of years.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Dr Michelle Langley, Eva Martellotta
External Researchers:
Funding:
- ARC DECRA DE170101076
Assessing Sumatra’s role in ancient human movements and evolution
This project aims to understanding the environmental context of when and how ancient and modern humans first moved into Southeast Asia.
This project aims to test an important hypothesis central to our understanding of human evolution in Southeast Asia, namely whether a savannah corridor ran through Southeast Asia, thereby facilitating migrations of ancient peoples into Sumatra and Java. More generally, the proposed study will examine the impact of rainforests on human movements and evolution. This will be accomplished by examining multiple ecological proxies from vertebrate remains found in a number of established and newly identified fossil sites in Sumatra. These results will provide a new understanding of the environmental context of human evolution in Asia, and will identify routes taken by ancient people as they moved south through Asia and into Australia.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Associate Professor Julien Louys
External Researchers:
- Yahdi Zaim (Institute of Technology, Bandung),
Yan Rizal (Institute of Technology, Bandung),
Aswan (Institute of Technology, Bandung),
Mika Puspaningrum (Institute of Technology, Bandung),
Agus Trihascaryo (Institute of Technology, Bandung),
Gilbert Price (University of Queensland)
Funding:
- FT160100450
Remote sensing human evolution in ancient Sumatra
This project will provide the first insights into ancient human use of the now flooded landscape of Southeast Asia.
This project will explore previously unstudied outer islands of eastern Sumatra to uncover ancient human fossils. Using innovative remote sensing and modelling approaches we will identify new regions of exceptional fossil preservation potential in central Sundaland, before it became modern Sumatra. Ground-truthing those new areas will allow us to test the routes and identity of ancient humans travelling through mainland Southeast Asia.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Associate Professor Julien Louys
External Researchers:
- Shimona Kealy (Australian National University),
Yahdi Zaim (Institute of Technology, Bandung),
Yan Rizal (Institute of Technology, Bandung),
Aswan (Institute of Technology, Bandung),
Mika Puspaningrum (Institute of Technology, Bandung),
Agus Trihascaryo (Institute of Technology, Bandung),
Gilbert Price (University of Queensland)
Funding:
- NGS-59859R-19
Deep time extinctions and environments in Australian underwater caves
Diving for fossils in the submerged caves of Mt Gambier
This project aims to investigate the unique submerged Mt Gambier fossil deposits to determine the role environmental change had on large Australian mammal extinctions. By using a combination of technical diving and scientific expertise to study untouched fossil deposits from underwater caves, this project expects to provide greater understanding of past ecosystems and animals, advancements in geochronological techniques, and data critical to prepare Australians for action in protecting our biological heritage. Expected outcomes include insights into cave conservation and protection of underwater cave systems, updated policies on cave management, and promotion of our understanding of Australian geo-heritage through education and displays.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Associate Professor Julien Louys, Mathieu Duval
External Researchers:
- A/Prof. Lee Arnold (University of Adelaide),
Dr Martina Demuro (University of Adelaide),
Dr Elizabeth Reed (University of Adelaide),
Prof Patrick Moss (University of Queensland),
Dr Gilbert Price (University of Queensland),
Cave Divers Association of Australia
Funding:
- LP210200704
Art at a crossroads: Aboriginal responses to contact in northern Australia.
An analysis of Aboriginal responses to contact with outsiders in western Arnhem Land as reflected in rock art and bark paintings made in the past 400 years.
This project aims to investigate historical Aboriginal responses to contact with newcomers to their land. It will generate new knowledge using systematic recordings of rock art and bark paintings created during the last 400 years in western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. The analysis of these key visual first-hand records of Australia’s history, together with documentation from digital archives and other media, will lead to new ways of understanding Aboriginal history. Drawing on multiple forms of media, we are examining how Aboriginal people used graphic systems to navigate threats and opportunities in northern Australia, with the main benefit to Australia being a more comprehensive and inclusive written history. This project has been developed in partnership with Injalak Arts and Charlie Mungulda/Davidsons Arnhemland Safaris.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Professor P.S.C. Taçon,
Dr Andrea Jalandoni,
Luke Taylor,
Alex Ressel
External Researchers:
- Sally K. May (University of Adelaide),
Liam Brady (Flinders University),
Daryl Wesley (Flinders University),
Laura Rademaker (Australian National University),
Joakim Goldhahn (University of Western Australia)
Funding:
- ARC SR200200062
The history, archaeology and contemporary significance of the Marra Wonga (Gracevale) rock art site, central Queensland.
One of central Queensland’s largest rock art sites is being recorded and investigated comprehensively for the first time. Archaeologists and Aboriginal community members are working together to better place the site in archaeological, historic and ethnographic contexts.
A large sandstone rock art site, Marra Wonga, near Barcaldine, central Queensland, is the focus of this project. This 160 metre long rock shelter is estimated to have over 15,000 petroglyphs (rock engravings), which are mostly animal tracks, lines, grooves and cupules, as well as dozens of hand and object stencils. There also is a cluster of engraved human-shaped feet on the floor of the shelter, some with six or more toes. We are recording, describing and interpreting some of the features of Marra Wonga from archaeological (etic) and ethnographic (emic) perspectives. For the Iningai custodians we are working with Marra Wonga is a teaching site used to tell important cultural stories that are connected to many other places through the imagery and Dreaming Tracks, as well as a tourist destination managed by their Yambangku Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and Tourism Development Aboriginal Corporation (YACHATDAC).
ARCHE Researchers:
- Professor P.S.C. Taçon,
Dr Andrea Jalandoni,
Calum Farrar
External Researchers:
- Suzanne Thompson (YACHATDAC),
Kate Greenwood (Flinders University),
Michael Williams (GBA Consulting Engineers),
Maria Kottermair (University of Queensland)
Funding:
- ARC Laureate FL160100123
New insights into the significance of the rock art of Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo.
Since 2010 Sarawak’s rock art sites, including in the Niah Caves complex, have been documented with state-of-the-art technology for new analysis, conservation and management purposes.
Sarawak has important rock art sites for understanding human history, relationships to place, cross-cultural contact and the contemporary significance of Island Southeast Asian rock markings. Research has been focusing on sites such as Gua Sireh, Painted Cave (also known as Kain Hitam) and the recently discovered Santubong petroglyphs. Besides situating the rock art in historical and archaeological contexts, research also is addressing conservation and management concerns.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Professor P.S.C. Taçon,
Dr Andrea Jalandoni,
Dr Jillian Huntley
External Researchers:
- Mohammad Sherman Sauffi William (Sarawak Museum Department),
Ipoi Datan (Sarawak Museum Department),
Darren Curnoe (University of New South Wales)
Funding:
- Funded from various sources including ARC since 2010.
Constructing robust climate proxies to explore human and primate evolution
Increasing knowledge of human evolution is of considerable public benefit, as the foods we eat, environments we live in, and lifestyle choices we make have shaped our biology and will continue to do so. This project will empower a team of internationally-renowned scholars to resolve current debates about unique evolutionary features of humans.
This project will build the requisite foundation to resolve whether variable climate change sparked the origins of humans and our great ape forebears. Scientists endeavor to recover ancient environmental records to examine this influential idea, but have lacked the means to do so at the scale of a human lifespan. This multidisciplinary effort will harness groundbreaking advances pioneered by our collaborative team to produce the first fine-scaled climate proxies from the teeth of humans’ closest living relatives. Documenting climate variation across diverse landscapes promises to transform studies of prehistoric ecosystems and past behaviour from omnipresent fossilised teeth, providing further insight into humanity’s unprecedented success.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Professor Tanya Smith
External Researchers:
- Professor Ian Williams (The Australian National University),
Dr Daniel Green (Columbia University)
Funding:
- Australian Research Council DP210101913
Illuminating behavioural and environmental influences on human development
We simply do not know when and under which conditions humans began to bear children rapidly, leading to the current level of unsustainable population growth and its deleterious impact on planetary health. My interdisciplinary team has established a robust approach to probe hypothesised causes of human population growth by documenting nursing behaviour, developmental stress, and fine-scaled climate variation directly from the teeth of ancient children.
This project aims to investigate prehistoric human population growth by documenting nursing behaviour, developmental stress, and fine-scaled climate variation directly from the teeth of ancient children. Knowledge of the nexus of early childhood growth and ecological variation will shed light on modern human health and fertility, which in turn impact planetary health. Outcomes will provide further insight into humanity’s unprecedented evolutionary success while augmenting multidisciplinary collaborative networks. This will further strengthen Australia’s pioneering role in the development of innovative technologies, and build key workforce capabilities of benefit for diverse fields such as public health and environmental science
ARCHE Researchers:
- Professor Tanya Smith,
Daniel Green,
Maya Bharatiya,
Emma Sudron
External Researchers:
- Professor Manish Arora (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai),
Dr. Christine Austin (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai),
Professor Ian Williams (The Australian National University)
Funding:
- Australian Research Council FT200100390
Behavioural adaptations of early humans in Eastern Asia
This project examines the dispersal, behavioural adaptations, and record of survival of early hominin populations in Eastern Asia.
The central Loess Plateau and the Nihewan Basin of northern China present an major opportunity to fill in significant gaps about our understanding of the earliest hominins in Asia. The area preserves a long sequence of archaeological sites ranging between 2.1 to 1.0 million years ago, allowing researchers to examine the interplay between environmental change and hominin evolution. A series of questions are being addressed in this project, including how early hominins survived in highly seasonal habitats in the high latitudes; how early humans innovated their settlement and tool-use behaviours over the long-term aiding in their survival; and, how early hominin adaptations in northern Asia compare to the behaviours of early humans in Africa and other parts of Eurasia.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Professor Michael Petraglia
External Researchers:
- Shixia Yang, Chenglong Deng, Yuejian Ping, Zhaoyu Zhu (Chinese Academy of Sciences)
Funding:
- Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Palaeodeserts: climate change and human evolution in the Arabian Peninsula
How did past climatic fluctuations shape hominin populations as they expanded out of Africa and into Asia? How did dramatic climatic fluctuations structure hominin demography and dispersal patterns? The Palaeodeserts Project is taking a multidisciplinary approach to addressing these critical evolutionary questions in a key geographic region: the Arabian peninsula.
One of the most important topics in human evolutionary studies concerns the migration patterns of hominins out of Africa and acoss Asia. The Arabian peninsula is a critical geographic region for understanding hominin migrations into Eurasia over the past one to two million years. However, little detailed archaeological information from this key region is available. The Palaeodeserts Project is dedicated to rectifying this situation. An interdisciplinary group of scholars from a range of disciplines (archaeology, geochronology, earth sciences, palaeontology, remote sensing, genetics, rock art studies) has been assembled to conduct new surveys and excavations in Saudi Arabia.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Professor Michael Petraglia,
Dr Mathieu Duval,
Associate Professor Julien Louys
External Researchers:
- Abdullah Alsharekh (King Saud University),
Maria Guagnin, Huw Groucutt, , Eleanor Scerri, Mathew Stewart (Max Planck Society),
Paul Breeze, Nick Drake (King’s College, London),
Simon Armitage, Simon Blockley, Ian Candy (Royal Holloway University, London),
Gilbert Price (University of Queensland)
Funding:
- Heritage Commission,
Saudi Ministry of Culture,
European Research Council, Leakey Foundation,
Max Planck Society,
National Geographic.
Human occupations in the coastal forest belt of Eastern Africa: excavations at Panga ya Saidi, Kenya
Excavations at the cave site of Panga ya Saidi has revealed one of the most important sequences of human occupations extending over the last 80,000 years.
Panga ya Saidi contains a rich archaeological record dating to the Middle Stone Age, the Later Stone Age and the Iron Age, dating from 78,000 years ago and until ~400 years ago. The archaeological finds from Panga ya Saidi place the site as one of the most important in Eastern Africa, providing important new information about human adaptations of populations along the upland coastal forest belt. Among the most recent and significant finds was the discovery of the oldest burial of Homo sapiens in Africa.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Professor Michael Petraglia
External Researchers:
- Emmanuel Ndiema, Rahab Kinyanjui (National Museums of Kenya),
James Blinkhorn, Nicole Boivin, Jennifer Miller, Victor Iminjili (Max Planck Society),
Alison Crowther (University of Queensland),
Francesco d’Errico (University of Bordeaux),
Patrick Faulkner (University of Sydney),
Ceri Shipton (University College, London),
María Martinón-Torres (CENIEH)
Funding:
- European Research Council,
Max Planck Society
Climate change and human population history in the Indian subcontinent
Interdisciplinary archaeological projects are investigating humans have adapted to a wide range of palaeoenvironments in India and Sri Lanka
A number of projects have been implemented in India and Sri Lanka in order to examine how hominins adapted to a range of environments across the subcontinent, including savannas, grasslands, and tropical forest settings. Particular attention is being paid to the timing of the dispersal of Homo sapiens and how these populations coped with changing environments. Research in India is designed to examine how populations responded to fluctuations in arid and humid conditions and how they were influenced by the Toba volcanic super-eruption of 74,000 years ago. Excavations in cave and coastal fringe settings of Sri Lanka aim to understand human use of forested landscapes and open air settings.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Professor Michael Petraglia,
Dr Michelle Langley
External Researchers:
- K. Krishnan (M.S. University of Baroda),
Oshan Wedage (University of Sri Jayewardenepura),
Noel Amano, James Blinkhorn, Nicole Boivin, Deepak Jha, Gopesh Jha, Patrick Roberts (Max Planck Society),
Chris Clarkson, Alison Crowther (University of Queensland),
Patrick Faulkner (University of Sydney)
Funding:
- Australian Research Council,
British Academy,
Leakey Foundation, Max Planck Society,
National Geographic,
Natural Environmental Research Council
Mapping Mongolia: palaeolakes and archaeological site distributions
Archaeological projects have been launched to understand the occupation history of Mongolia and to comprehensively document archaeological sites across the region, allowing for their protection and conservation.
The timing and movement of human populations along the ‘northern route’, across the middle to high latitudes of Asia, is poorly known. Alongside this, little is known about the transition from a hunting and gathering lifestyle to pastrolism. Fluctuations in environments, including the expansion of contraction of lake systems may be key to understanding human adaptations. Interdisciplinary archaeological surveys have therefore been initiated to better understand the relationship between climate change and human adaptations. Alongside this research, the MAPSS (Mongolian Archaeological Project: Surveying the Steppes) project has been launched to better document the archaeological history of Mongolia, allowing for a comprehensive tally of sites, and facilitating their long-term protection and study.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Professor Michael Petraglia,
Associate Professor Julien Louys
External Researchers:
- Noel Amano, Jamransjav Bayarsaikhan, Nicole Boivin, Michael Fisher, Amina Jambajantsan, Dovydas Jurkenas, Nils Vanwezer (Max Planck Society)
Paul Breeze, Nick Drake (King’s College, London)
Sebastian Breitenbach (Northumbria University)
Funding:
- Arcadia Fund,
Max Planck Society
Resolving the archaeological enigma of Indonesia’s ‘Toalean’ culture
Comprehensively reconstruct the prehistoric ‘Toalean’ culture of ancient Indonesia through an innovative program of archaeological fieldwork, dating, and laboratory analysis focused at the limestone cave of Leang Panninge in Mallawa, South Sulawesi.
Archaeologists have long puzzled over the identity and origin of the 'Toalean' people from Sulawesi, Indonesia. These prehistoric hunter-gatherers produced a unique culture that emerged in the south of this island about 7500 years ago, and some scholars believe they introduced the dingo to Australia. Little is known about these early foragers, however, despite a century of research. This project aims to investigate a significant new cave site in Sulawesi that is the richest, most well-dated Toalean locality yet uncovered. Through detailed archaeological excavations and analyses, this project expects to advance scientific knowledge of an important but poorly understood Indonesian culture that is often connected with the early human story in Australia.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Professor Adam Brumm,
Dr Michelle Langley,
Yinika Perston,
Basran Burhan,
Kimberlee Newman,
David P. McGahan
External Researchers:
Funding:
- Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP210102981).
First journeys: tracing the earliest movements of people, art, and culture on the northern route to Australia
To uncover new empirical data that will advance our understanding of the cultural lifeways of the first modern humans to populate the northernmost island chain between the Pleistocene continents of Asia and Australia.
This project aims to uncover archaeological evidence for early humans in Indonesia’s northern island chain (from Borneo to West Papua). This poorly known region harbours the world’s earliest known figurative cave art (>45,500 years old), and it is also the most likely maritime route used by modern humans during the initial peopling of Australia ~65,000 years ago. The project aims to use cave excavations and rock art dating to fill the 20,000 year gap between the earliest known archaeological evidence from these islands and the oldest human site in Australia. Expected outcomes include new insight into the ancient past of Indonesia and a greatly improved understanding of the art and cultural lifeways of the ancestors of the First Australians.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Professor Maxime Aubert,
Professor Adam Brumm,
Dr Andrea Jalandoni,
Dr Tim Maloney,
Adhi Agus Oktaviana
External Researchers:
- Associate Professor Renaud Joannes-Boyau (Southern Cross University),
Dr Rebecca Jones (Australian Museum),
Marlon Ririmasse (Indonesian National Research Center for Archaeology),
Dr Pindi Setiawan (Institute of Technology Bandung)
Funding:
- Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP220100462)
Chemical and biochemical characterisation of Australian megafaunal remains
To understand the chemical environment within the fossilised remains from Australian megafauna to understand the mineralisation process and the preservation of biomolecules to improve their recovery and analysis.
Much like megafauna all over the world, the question of megafaunal extinction in Australia is a hotly debated topic. Methods to retrieve and analyse DNA, RNA and isotopes have been applied to address this question but have often failed due to poor molecular preservation. The limited success may be due to the chemical environment of the ancient megafauna material themselves. So instead of using the current established techniques in trying to extract these biomolecules from Australian megafaunal remains (bones, teeth and coprolites), this research is focused on increasing our understanding of the chemistry of these ancient Australian megafaunal remains.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Associate Professor Carney Matheson
External Researchers:
- Scott Hocknull (Queensland Museum)
Funding:
Ancient technologies: The antiquity of science, research and technological innovation
Our ancestors have enormous scientific and technological knowledge but rarely are we able to identify this knowledge when it is not recorded. By extensive scientific examination of archaeological material we can reconstruct the technologies of the past and show the scientific accomplishments of the human past.
The application of a comprehensive and multi-analytical methodology to archaeological artefacts, materials, residues and traces will characterise and identify ancient technology such as: tool use, ceramic use, food preparation technology, hunting and fishing technology manufacturing technology, pharmocognosy, agricultural technology, creative and artistic technology and weapons technology.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Associate Professor Carney Matherson
External Researchers:
Funding:
Forensic Biology from the crime scene to increased biochemical understanding
Applying a multiomic approach to forensic biology with a comprehensive analytical approach to get more out of the crime scene, biological criminalistics and the biological material.
This is applied research that applies a range of chemical, molecular and immunological approaches to address question in forensic biology. Research includes how to gain more information from the crime scene, increase understanding of DNA transfer, expanding forensic proteomic research, examine time since deposition of biological fluids, imporving the recovery of DNA and protein from samples and enhance biochemical understanding of the principles of transfer and exchange.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Associate Professor Carney Matheson
External Researchers:
Funding:
Archaeological multiomics
Recovering a greater range of molecules from archaeological, palaeontological and historical material to aid our identification and understanding of the past.
This applied research is focused on developing methods to simultaneously recover the broad range of molecules for a multiomic approach to studying archaeological material. This includes genomic, proteomic, glycomic, lipidomic and metabolomic approaches. There are excellent multiomic approaches that exist for the study of recent material, tissues or samples. But most of these approaches apply a parallel multiomic analysis of these samples because sample availability is significantly greater. In archaeological, palaeontological and historical material, the sample are extremely limited in quantity and there is not enough for a parallel approach to be applied. In addition the molecules recovered from these types of samples are heavily degraded and in very low quantity. A simultaneous multiomic approach is the only way to access the great diversity of information from a multiomic approach
ARCHE Researchers:
- Associate Professor Carney Matheson
External Researchers:
Funding:
Evolutionary Medicine: the evolution of diseases
The detection and evolution of diseases in the past and how these have impacted human evolution.
Through the molecular study of disease in the past we can understand the presence and evolution of diseases, the host pathogen interaction over time and more complex relationships between the host, numerous pathogens and the environment. Since this is the environment in which these diseases have evolved it is important to understand as much as possible about these complex interactions in order to understand their evolution.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Associate Carney Matheson
External Researchers:
Funding:
The four ancient ‘Kings’ of Sahul and Sunda
The genomics and proteomics of Human ancestors from ‘The Southern End of the World’
This project aims to recover all the genetic information from four ancient humans. Two of these iconic specimens come from Australia and two from Malaysia. We will sequence the entire DNA (genomes) and proteins (proteome) of Mungo Man (Willandra), the Yidinji King (Cairns), the Deep Skull (Borneo) and the Bewah specimen (Malaysian Peninsula). This will provide a better understanding of the settlement of Australia and new knowledge about the ancient people of Australasia and their relationship to other human populations worldwide. The research will use cutting-edge methods of DNA and protein sequencing of ancient human material and will provide critical reference genomes / proteomes that will anchor future research.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Professor David Lambert
External Researchers:
- Gudjugudju Fourmile (Yidinji people),
Associate Professor Craig Millar (University of Auckland),
Professor Eske Willerslev and Associate Professor Enrico Cappellini (University of Copenhagen),
Dr Edinur Atan (Universiti Sains Malaysia)
Funding:
The repatriation of ancient Indigenous Australian remains
In collaboration with the Repatriation Manager of Queensland Museum, we seek to identify the original location/language group of ancient indigenous skeletal remains that are mostly unprovenanced.
The repatriation project has three steps. First, by collecting saliva samples and sequencing the whole genome of the first nation people belonging to various language groups across Australia, we are making a comprehensive genetic map of modern Indigenous Australians. Second, by using the state-of-the-art molecular methodology, we are able to extract the high quality and quantity of ancient DNA. Finally, by developing sophisticated bioinformatics pipelines and utilizing powerful computational tools, we can identify the closely related descendants of the ancient remains with high accuracy"
ARCHE Researchers:
- Professor David Lambert,
Dr Ehsan Sanaei
External Researchers:
- Gudjugudju Fourmile (Yidinji people)
Funding:
- ARC Linkage grant 2189810 "Investigating Holocene India - Australia Connections using Ancient Genomics"
Colour change: Artistic and ritual responses to climate flux in Australasia
This project will explore peoples use of coloured Earth minerals (ochres) throughout human history the most climatically dynamic region on Earth – the Australasian Monsoon Domain
Art and ritual connect people socially and help them manage stress. Throughout human history, evidence for this is preserved by the collection and use of ochres (coloured earth minerals). Characterising ancient ochre records across Sunda, Wallacea and Sahul, this project aims to understand peoples’ use of art and ritual in the most climatically dynamic region on Earth. Furthering Australia's reputation for innovative archaeological science, expected outcomes will include the first large-scale interdisciplinary investigations into how art and ritual were used to help mediate climate flux, generating significant new narratives of past cultural resilience to benefit people currently grappling with climate vulnerabilities.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Dr Jillian Huntley
External Researchers:
Funding:
- Australian Research Council
DE22100202, 2022-25
Mineral Pigment Provisioning and Utilization in a Long-Term Context
This research will physiochemically characterize a 63,000 year sequence of ochres (mineral pigments) excavated from the Madjedbebe rock shelter.
Our species is characterized by complex behaviors and social interactions. Understanding what drove such developments, when they occurred, and how they enabled us to migrate, adapt, and thrive in new and changing environments are prominent themes in archaeology. Increasingly, the procurement, exchange, and use of red mineral pigment, often termed ochre, is considered to be demonstrative of symbolic expression, social interactions, and mobility. This study will use archaeological science techniques to characterize the gathering, preparation, and use of ochre pigment over the occupation of Madjedbebe rock shelter in Arnhem Land, Australia. Madjedbebe preserves a deep temporal record from some of the earliest occupants of Australia, and a succeeding assemblage that spans fluctuations in climate and sea level, major environmental change, and megafauna extinction.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Dr Jillian Huntley
External Researchers:
- Assistant Research Professor Brandi MacDonald (MURR’s Archaeometry Laboratory, USA)
Funding:
- National Science Foundation (USA) (Award Number: 2124829)
Biodiversity change in Sahul inferred from ancient sedimentary DNA
This project aims to identify what drivers have caused major changes to the plants and animals of Sahul (Pleistocene Australia and New Guinea).
The project will address the need for new high-resolution data by sequencing DNA from ancient plants and animals 'archived' in sediment cores from the Gulf of Carpentaria. The project will produce additional pilot data as proof-of-concept to develop a 'genetic timeline' for understanding whether climate or humans, or a combination of the two, drove our megafauna to extinction.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Dr Mark de Bruyn
External Researchers:
- Emeritus Professor Allan Chivas (University of Wollongong)
Funding:
- Australia & Pacific Science Foundation (APSF 19035)
Tracing Ancient Environments During the Peopling of Southeast Asia
This project aims to leverage recent breakthroughs in the analysis of fossilised teeth to document environmental conditions during the initial spread of ancient humans throughout the Asia-Pacific region beginning 70,000 years ago.
Human fossil discoveries are few and far between until the end of the last glacial period, due to low population densities and lost evidence as a result of elevated sea levels. Approximately 10,000 years ago, after many millennia of hunting, gathering, and fishing, ancient people began to employ agricultural food production and animal domestication, sparking increases in population size and environmental disruption that have accelerated over the past century with industrialisation.This project employs the sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) at the Australian National University to measure oxygen isotope ratio variation in ancient human and orangutan teeth. Our team’s approach harnesses the fact that two naturally-occurring variants of oxygen vary in predictable ways in precipitation, representing a powerful tracer for climatic differences in condensation and evaporation rates.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Professor Tanya Smith,
Daniel Green
External Researchers:
- Professor Manish Arora (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai),
Dr Christine Austin (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai),
Professor Hallie Buckey (University of Otago),
Dr Daniel Green (Columbia University),
Dr Rebecca Kinaston (University of Otago),
Professor Ian Williams (The Australian National University),
Dr Petra Vaiglova
Funding:
- Australian Academy of Sciences Regional Collaborations Programme,
Australian Scientific Instruments Pty Ltd, The Australian National University,
University of Otago
Archaeology and Natural History of Mithaka Country, Lake Eyre Basin
In collaborative with the Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation, this project seeks to reconnect the Mithaka with their ancient cultural landscape, and to reconstruct the past land uses, resources and season rhythms of one of the world’s largest, unregulated desert river systems.
Mithaka Country preserves a diverse record of the co-evolution of people in an arid environment. Evidence from stone artefacts, stone arrangements and quarries offers insight into the scale and impact of the manufacture of important trade items that were exchanged over long distances. New methods of luminescence are being adapted to dating these difficult archaeological sites. Human burial sites have been identified at over 20 locations and work is underway to ascertain whether they were contemporaneous with the artefacts, quarries and stone arrangements. Palaeo-environmental records of droughts, floods and changing biological associations from the mid-Holocene are key to understanding the spatial patterns of Mithaka Country archaeology. Sites under examination include lakes, springs, and delta complexes associated with the Georgina and Diamantina Rivers.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Dr Justine Kemp,
Professor Peter Hiscock,
Emeritus Professor Jon Olley
External Researchers:
- Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation,
University of Queensland
Funding:
- ARC Linkage LP17010078
Pleistocene settlement of Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island)
Australia’s large sand islands are shown to contain a rich archaeological record of land use and land management during a period of major climate and environmental variability set against a background of fluctuating sea-levels.
This project examines the first clear evidence for human settlement of Australia’s eastern seaboard during the Pleistocene. Luminescence and radiocarbon dating of continuously accumulating sediments at the edge of transgressive dunefields indicates lithic tool production with varying intensities from Marine Isotope Stage 3 to the present. Fossil remains of marine and terrestrial fauna indicate changing food resources as sea levels rose and fell. Microfossil evidence for past vegetation and bushfires contained in nearby wetlands show changing patterns of biota and fire frequency in the surrounding landscape.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Dr Justine Kemp
External Researchers:
- Quandamooka and Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation, University of Queensland,
University of Wollongong,
Everick Heritage
Funding:
- This project is supported by Everick Heritage.
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