Latest news
New fossil family of giant wombat relatives discovered in Australia
30 Jun 2020
A group of Australian and international palaeontologists have identified a giant wombat-like animal...
Discovery of oldest bow-and-arrow technology outside Africa
15 Jun 2020
New archaeological research demonstrates earliest projectile technology in the tropical rainforests...
Deeper dig into ‘giant wombat’ bone marks raises more questions than answers
21 Apr 2020
First Australians co-existed with a giant ‘wombat-like’ creature for thousands of years – so why is...
Fossil skull casts doubt over modern human ancestry
02 Apr 2020
Griffith University scientists have led an international team to date the skull of an early human...
The Raymond Dart Lecture Series
Born and raised in the Brisbane suburb of Toowong, Raymond Dart is one of Australia’s most celebrated palaeoanthropologists. Dart is best known for his involvement in the 1924 South African discovery of the first fossil ever found of Australopithecus africanus, an extinct hominin closely related to humans.
The Raymond Dart Lecture is an annual ARCHE event organised by Griffith Sciences paying homage to Raymond Dart by presenting some of the brightest minds and newest research in paleoanthropology.
- 19 May 2016 - Origins, by Professor Bernard Wood, Centre for the Advanced Study of Human Palaeobiology at George Washington University, USA.
- 10 April 2017 - The Unknown: An evening with Nature editor Dr Henry Gee.
- 10 May 2018 - Before we changed the climate, did the climate change us?, by Dr. Rick Potts, Director of the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Washington.
- 8 May 2019 - How well do we know the ‘Hobbit?’, by Dr Dean Falks, Professor of Anthropology, Distinguished Research Professor at Florida State University, and a Senior Scholar at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, USA.
Archaeology and Human Evolution Seminar Series
This joint series showcases leading researchers in archaeology and human evolution, with a focus on topical issues and the latest research from Asia and the Pacific. This is a Griffith University initiative co-hosted by the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), the Place Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit (PERAHU) & the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research (GCSCR).
Co-conveners: Dr Jillian Huntley & Associate Professor Julien Louys
- 8 March 2018: Understanding the Neolithic in Southeast Asia, by Professor Peter Bellwood, Australian National University
- 7 June 2018: Has anything changed? The current role of archaeological geophysics in Australian archaeology, by Dr Kelsey Lowe, The University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba
- 17 August 2018: Beating the heat: Radiocarbon dating of skeletal remains in our region, by Dr Rachel Wood, Australian National University
- 8 November 20188: Breaking the radiocarbon barrier? A critical assessment of the earliest dates and models for the settlement of Sahul, by Professor Peter Veth, The University of Western Australia
- 13 March 2019: Hominin cognitive evolution: New insights from stone-flaking experiments, by Associate Professor Mark Moore, University of New England
- 25 November 2019: Island Life Before Humans, by Dr Alexandra van der Geer, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Netherlands
- 2020, initially planned on March 27, but finally postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic: Our ancestor makes its last stand on the banks of the Solo River, by Associate Professor Kira Westaway, Macquarie University.
Media
Professor Tanya Smith
The evolutionary tales teeth tell
Griffith University Associate Professor Tanya Smith says teeth have plenty of evolutionary tales to tell - when we grow our teeth they are like living fossils. From recording birth, to marking diet changes and teaching us about evolutionary behaviour, ancient teeth are a treasure trove into our past.
The Conversation articles
- Meet the giant wombat relative that scratched out a living in Australia 25 million years ago, by R. Beck, J. Louys et al. (26/06/2020)
- 48,000-year-old arrowheads reveal early human innovation in the Sri Lankan rainforest, by M. Langley et al. (13/06/2020)
- Baby steps: this ancient skull is helping us trace the path that led to modern childhood, by T. Smith et al. (01/04/2020)
- Singing away the coronavirus blues: making music in a time of crisis reminds us we belong, by M. Langley and L. Coutts (25/03/2020)
- First pocket-sized artworks from Ice Age Indonesia show humanity’s ancient drive to decorate, by M. Langley, A. Brumm et al. (16/03/2020)
- Holy bin chickens: ancient Egyptians tamed wild ibis for sacrifice, by S. Wasef and D. Lambert (13/11/2019)
- World’s oldest tattooist’s toolkit found in Tonga contains implements made of human bone
- Psst… wanna buy a necklace? Humans have been faking jewellery for thousands of years, by M. Langley (01/05/2019)
- Des traces de présence humaine de 2,4 millions d’années découvertes en Algérie, [In French], by M. Duval and M. Sahnouni (30/11/2018).
- Stone tools date early humans in North Africa to 2.4 million years ago, by M. Duval and M. Sahnouni (30/11/2018).
- Borneo cave discovery: is the world’s oldest rock art in Southeast Asia?, by A. Brumm et al. (08/11/2018)
- What teeth can tell about the lives and environments of ancient humans and Neanderthals, by T. Smith (1/11/2018)
- Ancient teenager the first known person with parents of two different species, by M. Langley (23/08/2018)
- How ‘bling’ makes us human, by M. Langley (23/08/2018)
- Humankind’s odyssey from Africa began more than two million years ago, by M. Langley (11/07/2018)
- South-East Queensland is droughtier and floodier than we thought, by J. Coates-Marnane et al. (21/06/2018)
- The Dreamtime, science and narratives of Indigenous Australia, by D. Lambert (03/05/2018)
- Rhino fossil rewrites the earliest human history of the Philippines, by A. Brumm (02/05/2018)
- Ancient stone tools found on Sulawesi, but who made them remains a mystery, by A. Brumm (11/04/2018)
- Un nouvel éclairage sur les premiers peuplements préhistoriques en Europe [In French], by M. Demuro et al. (04/03/2018)
- Giant handaxes suggest that different groups of early humans coexisted in ancient Europe, by M. Demuro et al. (23/02/2018)
- World’s scientists turn to Asia and Australia to rewrite human history, by M. Langley (07/12/2017)
- Mungo Man returns home: there is still much he can teach us about ancient Australia, by M. Westaway and A. Durband (14/11/2017)
- The lengthy childhood of endangered orangutans is written in their teeth, by T. M. Smith (17/05/2017)
- Ice age art and ‘jewellery’ found in an Indonesian cave reveal an ancient symbolic culture, by A. Brumm and M. Langley (03/04/2017)
- Aboriginal Australians co-existed with the megafauna for at least 17,000 years, by M. Westaway et al. (11/01/2017)
- DNA reveals a new history of the First Australians, by M. Westaway et al. (21/09/2016)
- A 700,000-year-old fossil find shows the Hobbits’ ancestors were even smaller, by G. van der Bergh and A. Brumm (08/06/2016)
- New DNA study confirms ancient Aborigines were the First Australians, by D. Lambert et al. (08/06/2016)
Further reading and listening
- From ancient Egypt to Antarctica: Genomic studies of Sacred Ibis mummies and ancient penguins, by Prof. D. Lambert (20/03/2020).
- 3D Animation of the Skull of the Dikika Child, by Prof. Tanya Smith (13/03/2020)
- GC Skeptics in the Pub - Growing Up Neanderthal, by Prof. Tanya Smith [slides and audio available] (14/10/2019).
- Science - Bringing home the ancestors (18/04/2019).
- The New York Times - ‘Spirits Won’t Rest’: DNA Links Ancient Bones to Living Aboriginal Australians (19/12/2018).
- El País - Un animal ensartado por una lanza es el primer dibujo figurativo de la humanidad [In Spanish] (07/11/2018).
- Science - Neanderthal children shivered and suffered in ancient Europe (31/10/2018).
- Nature Index - Movers and Shakers (19/09/2018): Griffith University named among the most improved institutions in the Nature Index between 2015 and 2017, with a special mention to the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution
- The Washington Post - Biological anthropologist’s book drills down into the scientific mysteries of our choppers (20/10/2018)
- Le Figaro - Le premier Européen, Homo antecessor, a au moins 800.000 ans [In French] (26/06/2018)
- ABC News - Oldest modern human fossil outside Africa discovered in Israel
- ABC News - What prehistoric toys can tell us about human evolution, by M.C. Langley (31/03/2018)
- El País - Los juguetes invisibles de la prehistoria [In Spanish] (22/03/2018)
- Nine News Queensland - A South-East scientist has played a critical role in re-writing the history of human evolution.
- Radio National - Fossilised finger bone found in Saudi Arabian desert sheds light on early human migration
- ABC Radio - The story of human evolution and migration
- Radio National - Fossilised finger bone found in Saudi Arabian desert sheds light on early human migration
- Radio National - New relatives on the human family tree
- Sapiens.org - Humanity’s Story Has No End of Surprising Twists
- Courier Mail - Archaeologists reveal their dirty secrets
Publications
World-first genomic study of Aboriginal Australians
Some of the most ancient secrets of Australia’s human past have been uncovered in a new study involving Griffith University researchers, which has found Indigenous Australians and Papuans are descendants of a single wave of migrants who left Africa around 70,000 years ago.
New fossils shed light in the origin of 'Hobbits'
Griffith University researchers are part of an international team of scientists that has announced the discovery of ancestors of Homo floresiensis—the enigmatic species of pygmy-like humans discovered more than a decade ago on the Indonesian island of Flores.
First Peoples were truly first
ARCHE researchers have found evidence that demonstrates Aboriginal people were the first to inhabit Australia, as reported in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Science journal.
The work refutes an earlier study that claimed to recover DNA sequences from the oldest known Australian, Mungo Man.