Andrew Fairbairn
Biographic Data
| ID | 1016597 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Andrew Fairbairn |
| GIVEN NAMES | Andrew |
| FAMILY NAME | Fairbairn |
| SIGNATURE | FAIRBAIRN A |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Queensland |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4004-6957 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 53 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 403 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 52 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1977 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 14 |
Archaeobotanical storytelling in a landscape of the mind: Community engagement and education at Neolithic Boncuklu Höyük, Türkiye
Boncuklu Höyük’s excavation over 18 years tracked the development of a forager wetland settlement that adopted food production in central Anatolia from ca. 9400–7500 cal bc and whose environment resembled little its modern setting within an irrigated agricultural landscape. The Boncuklu Project developed a multi-layered approach when presenting its scientific findings to a diverse community, including Turkish and international visitors attracted …
Developing a holistic and collaborative approach for the archaeology of Australian South Sea Islanders in Queensland
Australian South Sea Islanders are a distinctive cultural group comprising descendants of over 60000 labourers who came to Australia from Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and elsewhere in the Western Pacific between 1863 and 1904. “Blackbirded” labourers were commonly referred to as victims of a slave trade, though many also came voluntarily to work in the sugar plantations of northern New South Wales and Queensland. The advent of racist exclusionary imm…
Late Bronze Age agriculture and the early westward transmission of rice at Luanzagangzi, Northern Xinjiang, China
The Dzungar Basin of northern Xinjiang has previously been considered a marginal environment with little evidence for the development of prehistoric agriculture. Recent archaeobotanical studies have indicated the region as being a route for the transmission of domesticated plants, technologies and ideas between East and West Eurasia during prehistory, as early as 5000 BP. These interactions are still poorly understood and most evidence for early …
A Holocene sequence from Walufeni Cave, Southern Highlands Province, and its implications for the settlement of the Great Papuan Plateau, Papua New Guinea
This paper presents preliminary results from the 2019 excavations at Walufeni Cave, at the eastern end of the Great Papuan Plateau (GPP) in western Papua New Guinea. Preliminary dating and analysis of the unfinished excavations at Walufeni Cave span the Holocene and probably continue into the Late Pleistocene, confirming the presence of people on the Plateau from at least the Early Holocene and potentially much earlier. The data presented here of…
Archaeological identification of fragmented nuts and fruits from key Asia‐Pacific economic tree species using anatomical criteria: Comparative analysis of Canarium, Pandanus and Terminalia
The fats, protein and carbohydrates afforded by tree nuts and fruits are key resources for communities from Southeast Asia, through Melanesia, Australia and across Oceania. They are important in long‐distance marine trade networks, large‐scale ceremonial gatherings, and are core resources in a wide range of subsistence economies, including foraging systems, horticulture and swidden agriculture. Recent archaeobotanical evidence has also shown thei…
Rock engravings and occupation sites in the Mount Bosavi Region, Papua New Guinea: Implications for our understanding of the human presence in the Southern Highlands
An extensive body of engraved rock art on the Great Papuan Plateau is documented here for the first time, along with the first dates for occupation. Consisting largely of deeply abraded or pecked barred ovals and cupules, the rock art of this region does not fit comfortably into any regional models for rock art previously described. It does, however, exhibit some similarity to art in regions to the east and the west of the plateau. Subject to fur…
Plant Processing Technologies in Archaeology
We don’t have as much agency as you think
Lynley Wallis’s Disrupting Paradise provides a timely comment on contemporary Australian archaeology, taking in both the university and industry (Cultural Heritage Management (CHM)) sectors. While
Settlement change on the western Konya Plain: Refining Neolithic and Chalcolithic chronologies at Canhasan, Turkey
Gordon C. Hillman 20 July 1943 to 1 July 2018
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The Preservation and Interpretation of δ 34 S Values in Charred Archaeobotanical Remains
The measurement of sulphur isotope (δ 34 S) values in charred plant remains has the potential to inform understanding of the spatial configuration and ecology of crop production. We investigated the effects of charring, manuring, oxidation and anaerobic soil conditions on modern cereal grain/pulse seed δ 34 S values, and assessed the effect of chemical pre‐treatment on charred modern and archaeobotanical grain/seed δ 34 S values. We used these re…
Ceremonial plant consumption at Middle Bronze Age Büklükale, Kırıkkale Province, central Turkey
Reduction intensity of backed blades: Blank consumption, regularity and efficiency at the early Neolithic site of Boncuklu, Turkey
Agricultural innovation and resilience in a long-lived early farming community: The 1,500-year sequence at Neolithic to early Chalcolithic Çatalhöyük, central Anatolia
Intensive archaeobotanical investigations at Çatalhöyük have created a unique opportunity to explore change and continuity in plant use through the ca 1,500-year Neolithic to early Chalcolithic sequence of an early established farming community. The combination of crops and herd animals in the earliest (Aceramic) part of the sequence reflects a distinct and diverse central Anatolian ‘package’ at the end of the eighth millennium cal. BC. Here we r…
Early Ceramics in Anatolia: Implications for the Production and Use of the Earliest Pottery. The Evidence from Boncuklu Höyük
Fragments of possible fired clay found at Boncuklu Höyük, central Turkey, appear to derive from rudimentary vessels, despite the later ninth- and early eighth-millennium cal. bc and thus ‘Aceramic’ dates for the site. This paper will examine the evidence for such fired clay vessels at Boncuklu and consider their implications as examples of some of the earliest pottery in Anatolia. The discussion will examine contextual evidence for the role of th…
The animate house, the institutionalization of the household in Neolithic central Anatolia
This paper explores the effectiveness of a domestic mode of production model in explaining the development of Neolithic households in South-west Asia, using evidence from the site of Boncuklu in central Anatolia. We present evidence that Boncuklu households were institutionalized through repetitive practice, highly structured and symbolically charged domestic activity, ritual and symbolism stressing the animate and transcendental nature of the ho…
Settlement Reorganisation and the Rebirth of the Ottoman Empire: Bayesian Modelling Narrows Dates for Post-Medieval Occupation at Kaman-Kalehöyük, Kırşehir Province, Turkey
Bronze Age olive domestication in the north Jordan valley: New morphological evidence for regional complexity in early arboricultural practice from Pella in Jordan
Woodland modification in Bronze and Iron Age central Anatolia: An anthracological signature for the Hittite state
Current Research at Kultepe-Kanesh: An Interdisciplinary and Integrative Approach to Trade Networks, Internationalism, and Identity
This book contains revised versions of papers presented at a special session that took place during the 2012 meeting of ASOR, dedicated to the celebrated site of Kultepe, the urban center of the second millennium BCE state of Kanesh in Anatolia. The material remains and the more than 23,500 cuneiform tablets unearthed at the site shed light on social, political, and economic aspects of the Middle Bronze age (MBA; c. 2000-1700 years BC) in central…
Archaeobotanical evidence for trade in hazelnut (Corylus sp.) at Middle Bronze Age Kültepe (c. 1950–1830 b.c.), Kayseri Province, Turkey
Current Research at Kultepe/Kanesh: An Interdisciplinary and Integrative Approach to Trade Networks, Internationalism, and Identity
Juniper smoke, skulls and wolves’ tails. The Epipalaeolithic of the Anatolian plateau in its South-west Asian context; insights from Pınarbaşı
This paper discusses the only substantive evidence for the Epipalaeolithic of central Anatolia. This evidence allows revised understandings of phenomena often proposed as characteristic of the Epipalaeolithic of South-west Asia including the appearance of sedentism, a putative Broad Spectrum Revolution, intensive plant exploitation and the emergence of distinctive ritual and symbolic practices. It also allows further evaluation of the effect of L…
Keeping Country: A Web-Based Approach To Indigenous Outreach In Cultural Heritage Management
Cultural heritage management (CHM) of Indigenous places is the dominant area of professional practice in Australian archaeology, yet relatively few Indigenous Australians take up a career in the sector. The internet is providing new and effective avenues for Indigenous outreach programmes. This paper describes a self-contained, web-enabled, free-to-user cultural heritage training programme designed in consultation with, and for the use of, Indige…
Th millennium plant subsistence in the central Anatolian highlands: New evidence from Pınarbaşı, Karaman Province, central Anatolia
Pleistocene occupation of New Guinea's highland and subalpine environments
New Guinea's mountains provide an important case study for understanding early modern human environmental adaptability and early developments leading to agriculture. Evidence is presented showing that human colonization pre-dated 35ka (ka = thousands of uncalibrated radiocarbon years before present) and was accompanied by landscape modification using fire. Sorties into the subalpine zone may have occurred before the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM), an…
Private pantries and celebrated surplus: Storing and sharing food at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Central Anatolia
In the Neolithic megasite at Çatalhöyük families lived side by side in conjoined dwellings, like a pueblo. It can be assumed that people were always in and out of each others' houses - in this case via the roof. Social mechanisms were needed to make all this run smoothly, and in a tour-de-force of botanical, faunal and spatial analysis the authors show how it worked. Families stored their own produce of grain, fruit, nuts and condiments in specia…
New Directions in Archaeological Science
Archaeological Science meetings will have a personality of their own depending on the focus of the host archaeological fraternity itself. The 8th Australasian Archaeometry meeting follows this pattern but underlying the regional emphasis is the continuing concern for the processes of change in the landscape that simultaneously effect and illuminate the archaeological record
Nawarla Gabarnmang, a 45,180±910 cal BP Site in Jawoyn Country, Southwest Arnhem Land Plateau
Recent excavations at Nawarla Gabarnmang in Jawoyn country, southwest Arnhem Land have produced a long sequence of AMS radiocarbon determinations on individual pieces of charcoal reliably associated with stone artefacts dating back to 45,180±910 cal BP. It represents one of the earliest radiocarbon-dated archaeological sites in Australia. Here we report on initial results
The animate house, the institutionalization of the household in Neolithic central Anatolia
This paper explores the effectiveness of a domestic mode of production model in explaining the development of Neolithic households in South-west Asia, using evidence from the site of Boncuklu in central Anatolia. We present evidence that Boncuklu households were institutionalized through repetitive practice, highly structured and symbolically charged domestic activity, ritual and symbolism stressing the animate and transcendental nature of the ho…
A history of agricultural production at Neolithic Çatalhöyük East, Turkey
A history of agricultural production is proposed for Neolithic Çatalhöyük East, central Turkey, using archaeobotanical, environmental, population and settlement studies. In the aceramic early phase of site occupation, intensive strategies developed as
Macro-botanical evidence for plant use at Neolithic Çatalhöyük south-central Anatolia, Turkey
Wild plant seed storage at Neolithic Çatalhöyük East, Turkey
Woodland modification in Bronze and Iron Age central Anatolia: An anthracological signature for the Hittite state
Agricultural innovation and resilience in a long-lived early farming community: The 1,500-year sequence at Neolithic to early Chalcolithic Çatalhöyük, central Anatolia
Intensive archaeobotanical investigations at Çatalhöyük have created a unique opportunity to explore change and continuity in plant use through the ca 1,500-year Neolithic to early Chalcolithic sequence of an early established farming community. The combination of crops and herd animals in the earliest (Aceramic) part of the sequence reflects a distinct and diverse central Anatolian ‘package’ at the end of the eighth millennium cal. BC. Here we r…
Th millennium plant subsistence in the central Anatolian highlands: New evidence from Pınarbaşı, Karaman Province, central Anatolia
Archaeobotany in Australia and New Guinea: Practice, Potential and Prospects
Archaeobotany is the study of plant remains from archaeological contexts. Despite Australasian research being at the forefront of several methodological innovations over the last three decades, archaebotany is now a relatively peripheral concern to most archaeological projects in Australia and New Guinea. In this paper, many practicing archaeobotanists working in these regions argue for a more central role for archaeobotany in standard archaeolog…
An archaeobotanical perspective on Holocene plant-use practices in lowland northern New Guinea
Existing archaeobotanical and palynological records of plant use in the northern New Guinea lowlands are reviewed in light of recent work at Kuk and theoretical refocusing on plant use practice. A practice-based approach is supported as the most useful way of investigating the highly problematical area of tropical plant food production. The existing direct record of past plant use in lowland New Guinea is considered woefully inadequate to achieve…
A Neolithic Downland Monument in its Environment: Excavations at the Easton Down Long Barrow, Bishops Cannings, North Wiltshire
Excavations at the Easton Down long barrow were part of a wider programme of research into the Neolithic sequence and context of the Avebury area in north Wiltshire. The short barrow, on high chalk downland to the south-west of Avebury and the upper Kennet valley, and containing only a few inhumations according to Thurnam's 19th-century investigation, dates to the later 4th millennium BC. Test pits around the barrow produced very little struck fl…
Ritual in the landscape: Evidence from Pınarbaşı in the seventh-millennium cal BC Konya Plain
Excavations in the rockshelter at Pınarbaşı, 24.5km south-east of Çatalhöyük, have brought to light a sequence of structures and a rich assemblage of animal bones, with some of the bones embedded in plaster objects. The authors argue for a strong link with Çatalhöyük, and propose a hunter-herder site operated by a close-knit group from that settlement, supplying meat to it, but practising their own up-country rituals - so providing a glimpse of t…
Reduction intensity of backed blades: Blank consumption, regularity and efficiency at the early Neolithic site of Boncuklu, Turkey
Poromoi Tamu and the Case of the Drowning Village: History, Lost Places and the Stories We Tell
Historicising The Present: Late Holocene Emergence of a Rainforest Hunting Camp, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea
Historicising the emergence of ethnographic activities provides insights into the reliability of ethnographic analogies to aid archaeological understandings of past human societies, as well as allowing us to explore the historical emergence of ethnographically contextualised cultural traits. Epe Amoho is the largest hunting camp rockshelter used by the Himaiyu clan (Rumu people) of the Kikori River region, southern Papua New Guinea. Contemporary …
Re-Dating Mid-Holocene Betelnut ( Areca Catechu L.) and Other Plant Use at Dongan, Papua New Guinea
Direct accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating of anaerobically preserved plant remains from the Dongan site in New Guinea, combined with assessment of preservation condition, confirms earlier doubts about the antiquity of betelnut ( Areca catechu L.) found at the site. A possible sago leaf fragment is also identified as a modern contaminant. The mid-Holocene age of other fruit and nut remains is verified using these methods. The utility of AM…
Ceremonial plant consumption at Middle Bronze Age Büklükale, Kırıkkale Province, central Turkey
OJP, a terminal Pleistocene archaeological site from the Gulf Province lowlands, Papua New Guinea
Excavations at the limestone cave site OJP, in the Kikori River lowlands, Papua New Guinea, reveal the first evidence for human activity in this part of PNG during the terminal Pleistocene. This paper reports on the initial radiocarbon results and associated cultural materials
Extracting the social relevance of artefact distribution in Roman military forts
Engendering Roman Spaces' is a research project concerned with using artefact assemblage analyses to better understand spatial and gender relationships in the early Roman Empire and to produce more engendered perspectives of Roman society. \n \nThis paper discusses the methodology and analyses being used in this project to investigate social behaviour within Roman military forts and fortresses of the 1st and 2nd centuries CE through analyses of t…
Early Ceramics in Anatolia: Implications for the Production and Use of the Earliest Pottery. The Evidence from Boncuklu Höyük
Fragments of possible fired clay found at Boncuklu Höyük, central Turkey, appear to derive from rudimentary vessels, despite the later ninth- and early eighth-millennium cal. bc and thus ‘Aceramic’ dates for the site. This paper will examine the evidence for such fired clay vessels at Boncuklu and consider their implications as examples of some of the earliest pottery in Anatolia. The discussion will examine contextual evidence for the role of th…
Bronze Age olive domestication in the north Jordan valley: New morphological evidence for regional complexity in early arboricultural practice from Pella in Jordan
The Emo Site (OAC), Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea: Resolving Long-Standing Questions of Antiquity and Implications for the History of the Ancestral Hiri Maritime Trade
Since the 1970s the site of Emo (aka ‘Samoa’, ‘OAC’) in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea has been cited as one of the earliest-known ceramic sites from the southern Papuan lowlands. This site has long been seen as holding c.2000 year old evidence of post-Lapita long-distance maritime trade from (Austronesian-speaking) Motu homelands in the Central Province, where pottery was manufactured, to the (non-Austronesian) Gulf Province some 400km to…
Support for the Arts in England and Wales
Despite the efflorescence of the Arts in England and over the last 30 years on a scale not experienced since the industrial revolution, we cannot be complacent about the future. This to me is the chief message of Lord Redcliffe-Maud's Report for the Arts in England and Wales to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, U.K. & Commonwealth Branch. How has this flowering of the arts come about? The report puts this down to the development of public patro…
A Neolithic Downland Monument in its Environment: Excavations at the Easton Down Long Barrow, Bishops Cannings, North Wiltshire
Excavations at the Easton Down long barrow were part of a wider programme of research into the Neolithic sequence and context of the Avebury area in north Wiltshire. The short barrow, on high chalk downland to the south-west of Avebury and the upper Kennet valley, and containing only a few inhumations according to Thurnam's 19th-century investigation, dates to the later 4th millennium BC. Test pits around the barrow produced very little struck fl…
Macro-botanical evidence for plant use at Neolithic Çatalhöyük south-central Anatolia, Turkey
Technical Notes on the Preparation of Leaf and Epidermis Specimens for Reference Collections and Archaeobotanical Investigations
Technical notes are provided for the preparation of reference specimens and archaeological specimens of leaves and epidermis fragments (including cuticles) for transmitted light microscopy. Equipment requirements, logistical considerations and processing steps are outlined and a method of clearing, staining and mounting is described and evaluated.Keywords: ARCHAEOBOTANYMETHODOLOGYLEAVESEPIDERMISSLIDE PREPARATION
Technical Notes on the Preparation of Leaf and Epidermis Specimens for Reference Collections and Archaeobotanical Investigations
Technical notes are provided for the preparation of reference specimens and archaeological specimens of leaves and epidermis fragments (including cuticles) for transmitted light microscopy. Equipment requirements, logistical considerations and processing steps are outlined and a method of clearing, staining and mounting is described and evaluated
Archaeological identification and significance of ÉSAG (agricultural storage pits) at Kaman-Kalehöyük, central Anatolia
Evidence for the presence of storage pits described in Hittite texts by the Sumerogram ÉSAG is presented from Kaman-Kalehöyük, a multi-period tell site in central Turkey occupied during the second and first millennia BC. Small earthen pits matching the description of ÉSAG were part of the normal suite of domestic installations at the site throughout the period. Similar to pits seen across western Eurasia, they were probably used to store seed cor…
Re-Dating Mid-Holocene Betelnut ( Areca Catechu L.) and Other Plant Use at Dongan, Papua New Guinea
Direct accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating of anaerobically preserved plant remains from the Dongan site in New Guinea, combined with assessment of preservation condition, confirms earlier doubts about the antiquity of betelnut ( Areca catechu L.) found at the site. A possible sago leaf fragment is also identified as a modern contaminant. The mid-Holocene age of other fruit and nut remains is verified using these methods. The utility of AM…
Extracting the social relevance of artefact distribution in Roman military forts
Engendering Roman Spaces' is a research project concerned with using artefact assemblage analyses to better understand spatial and gender relationships in the early Roman Empire and to produce more engendered perspectives of Roman society. \n \nThis paper discusses the methodology and analyses being used in this project to investigate social behaviour within Roman military forts and fortresses of the 1st and 2nd centuries CE through analyses of t…
An archaeobotanical perspective on Holocene plant-use practices in lowland northern New Guinea
Existing archaeobotanical and palynological records of plant use in the northern New Guinea lowlands are reviewed in light of recent work at Kuk and theoretical refocusing on plant use practice. A practice-based approach is supported as the most useful way of investigating the highly problematical area of tropical plant food production. The existing direct record of past plant use in lowland New Guinea is considered woefully inadequate to achieve…
A history of agricultural production at Neolithic Çatalhöyük East, Turkey
A history of agricultural production is proposed for Neolithic Çatalhöyük East, central Turkey, using archaeobotanical, environmental, population and settlement studies. In the aceramic early phase of site occupation, intensive strategies developed as
Wild plant seed storage at Neolithic Çatalhöyük East, Turkey
Pleistocene occupation of New Guinea's highland and subalpine environments
New Guinea's mountains provide an important case study for understanding early modern human environmental adaptability and early developments leading to agriculture. Evidence is presented showing that human colonization pre-dated 35ka (ka = thousands of uncalibrated radiocarbon years before present) and was accompanied by landscape modification using fire. Sorties into the subalpine zone may have occurred before the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM), an…
The process of care management with people with dementia
Seeds From The Slums: Archaeobotanical Investigations at Mountain Street, Ultimo, Sydney, New South Wales
Analysis of seeds from cesspits and other deposits excavated at Mountain Street, Ultimo, Sydney, provided insights into the diet, ethnicity and socio-economic status of the site's inhabitants. Sample composition was similar to seed finds from urban cesspit assemblages in both Australia and Europe, combining locally produced dietary 'staples' with occasional imports and even a collected wild plant. It is unlikely that the seed analysis provided a …
OJP, a terminal Pleistocene archaeological site from the Gulf Province lowlands, Papua New Guinea
Excavations at the limestone cave site OJP, in the Kikori River lowlands, Papua New Guinea, reveal the first evidence for human activity in this part of PNG during the terminal Pleistocene. This paper reports on the initial radiocarbon results and associated cultural materials
Procedures for measuring women's influence: Data translation and manipulation and related problems
Preparing data from artefact catalogues of previously published German excavation reports, in the project 'Engendering Roman Spaces', required ongoing refinement of data translation and digital manipulation using a variety of software packages. This process included the use of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software, spreadsheets, database and graphics programs, and the final presentation of the data in ArcGIS as an interpretative tool. With…
Archaeobotany in Australia and New Guinea: Practice, Potential and Prospects
Archaeobotany is the study of plant remains from archaeological contexts. Despite Australasian research being at the forefront of several methodological innovations over the last three decades, archaebotany is now a relatively peripheral concern to most archaeological projects in Australia and New Guinea. In this paper, many practicing archaeobotanists working in these regions argue for a more central role for archaeobotany in standard archaeolog…
New Directions in Archaeological Science
Archaeological Science meetings will have a personality of their own depending on the focus of the host archaeological fraternity itself. The 8th Australasian Archaeometry meeting follows this pattern but underlying the regional emphasis is the continuing concern for the processes of change in the landscape that simultaneously effect and illuminate the archaeological record
From Foragers to Farmers: Papers in Honour of Gordon C. Hillman
This volume celebrates the career of archaebotanist Professor Gordon C. Hillman. Twenty-eight papers cover a wide range of topics reflecting the great influence that Hillman has had in the field of archaeobotany. Many of his favourite research topics are covered, the body of the text being split into four sections: Personal reflections on Professor Hillman's career; archaeobotanical theory and method; ethnoarchaeological and cultural studies; and…
Private pantries and celebrated surplus: Storing and sharing food at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Central Anatolia
In the Neolithic megasite at Çatalhöyük families lived side by side in conjoined dwellings, like a pueblo. It can be assumed that people were always in and out of each others' houses - in this case via the roof. Social mechanisms were needed to make all this run smoothly, and in a tour-de-force of botanical, faunal and spatial analysis the authors show how it worked. Families stored their own produce of grain, fruit, nuts and condiments in specia…
Human Adaptation and Plant Use in Highland New Guinea 49,000 to 44,000 Years Ago
New Guinea's Ancient Colonies Isolated by water, Australia and New Guinea were some of the last major parts of the world colonized by modern humans. Summerhayes et al. (p. 78 ; see the Perspective by Gosden ) describe an archaeological site in the highlands of New Guinea that sheds light on this migration. The record extends back to nearly 50,000 years ago and thus represents one of the earliest known records. Nuts and yams were widely consumed, …
The Emo Site (OAC), Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea: Resolving Long-Standing Questions of Antiquity and Implications for the History of the Ancestral Hiri Maritime Trade
Since the 1970s the site of Emo (aka ‘Samoa’, ‘OAC’) in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea has been cited as one of the earliest-known ceramic sites from the southern Papuan lowlands. This site has long been seen as holding c.2000 year old evidence of post-Lapita long-distance maritime trade from (Austronesian-speaking) Motu homelands in the Central Province, where pottery was manufactured, to the (non-Austronesian) Gulf Province some 400km to…
Historicising The Present: Late Holocene Emergence of a Rainforest Hunting Camp, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea
Historicising the emergence of ethnographic activities provides insights into the reliability of ethnographic analogies to aid archaeological understandings of past human societies, as well as allowing us to explore the historical emergence of ethnographically contextualised cultural traits. Epe Amoho is the largest hunting camp rockshelter used by the Himaiyu clan (Rumu people) of the Kikori River region, southern Papua New Guinea. Contemporary …
The Power of Paradigms: Examining the Evidential Basis for Early to Mid-Holocene Pigs and Pottery in Melanesia
The origin and timing of the introduction of pigs and pottery into New Guinea are contentious topics. Arguments have centred on whether domestic pigs and pottery technology entered New Guinea following the ‘Austronesian expansion’ from Southeast Asia into Island Melanesia, c. 3,300 calBP, or in the early to mid-Holocene. We review the history of the debate and present new dates on pig bone and pottery contexts from archaeological sites, including…
Nawarla Gabarnmang, a 45,180±910 cal BP Site in Jawoyn Country, Southwest Arnhem Land Plateau
Recent excavations at Nawarla Gabarnmang in Jawoyn country, southwest Arnhem Land have produced a long sequence of AMS radiocarbon determinations on individual pieces of charcoal reliably associated with stone artefacts dating back to 45,180±910 cal BP. It represents one of the earliest radiocarbon-dated archaeological sites in Australia. Here we report on initial results
Archaeology (45 works) · Geography (45 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (36 works) · History (32 works) · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies (23 works) · History (21 works) · Ancient history (18 works) · Biology (17 works) · Ecology (17 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (14 works)