Simon Haberle
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 3604552 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Simon Haberle |
| PRENOMES | Simon |
| SOBRENOME | Haberle |
| ASSINATURA | HÄBERLE S |
| AFILIAÇÕES | Australian National University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5802-6535 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 45 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 201 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 44 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 1 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 1995 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 9 |
Spatial heterogeneity in Holocene vegetation dynamics across Bass Strait and its regional paleoclimatic implications
We present a Late Pleistocene paleoecological record from King Island in western Bass Strait, Tasmania, and compare this to existing records from the eastern Bass Strait islands to improve our understanding of the region’s paleoecology and paleoclimatology. Vegetation change across the region followed similar trajectories during the late glacial–Middle Holocene, characterized by homogeneous warming and wetting trends. Spatial divergence occurred …
Resilient futures using interdisciplinary research guided by local indigenous knowledge
Background: For thousands of years, the Murray–Darling River – one of the largest river systems in Australia – sustained large populations through periods of environmental change. Prior to European settlement, it was among the most densely populated regions on the continent. Today, the river system is highly regulated and ecologically vulnerable, with climate volatility, biodiversity loss, and water governance challenges threatening the resilienc…
Response of Remote Tropical West Pacific Islands to Climate Variability
Lake sediments are natural archives of past environmental dynamics and how these systems have responded to past climate variability. Sediment geochemistry, governed by local geology and climate processes, is unique to each lake‐catchment and geochemical proxies must be validated for each study site. The current study utilises a sediment core extruded from T‐Lake, Ngeruktabel, Belau (Palau), to generate a multiproxy record (organic matter %, charc…
Holocene tephras in the New Guinea highlands
In the highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG), tephras are key chronostratigraphic markers for archaeological and palaeoenvironmental studies. Here, mid-Late-Holocene tephras are geochemically fingerprinted and correlated across seventeen sites in PNG. This enables the first regional scale assessment of the distribution of these tephras, with implications for both assessing eruption magnitude and interpreting site stratigraphy. In the past, stratigr…
Millennia of climate and human influence on Gashaka-Gumti montane landscape, West Africa
Fire Histories and Rainforest Aboriginal Archaeology in the Wet Tropics Bioregion, North Queensland
Unlike the dominant Australian savanna‐sclerophyll vegetation, tropical rainforests do not burn easily. Any evidence of fire in Australian rainforests therefore invites explanations of its source. Analysis of 187 radiocarbon dates that include selected charcoal fragments from 23 soil pits and 7 archaeological sites from the Wet Tropics Bioregion (WTB) in far North Queensland, suggests a strong relationship between natural and cultural firing regi…
Human dispersal and plant processing in the Pacific 55 000-50 000 years ago
The dynamics of our species' dispersal into the Pacific remains intensely debated. The authors present archaeological investigations in the Raja Ampat Islands, north-west of New Guinea, that provide the earliest known evidence for humans arriving in the Pacific more than 55 000-50 000 years ago. Seafaring simulations demonstrate that a northern equatorial route into New Guinea via the Raja Ampat Islands was a viable dispersal corridor to Sahul at…
Landscapes created by millennia of cultural land use in the Fleurieu Group of Islands, Tasmania—a knowledge baseline for current and future land management under changing climates
Aboriginal peoples have managed Australian landscapes for millennia; however, deep-time paleoecological evidence of the nature of landscape modification remains rare. The Fleurieu Group of islands in Bass Strait was one of the areas actively used by Aboriginal people in lutruwita (Tasmania), until forced dispossession of their lands due to European colonization occurred over 230 years ago, with subsequent land use including leaseholder pastoralis…
Insights into the indigenous-managed landscape in southeast Australia during the Holocene
Understanding the long-term interactions between people and the ecosystem in which they live is vital for informing present-day ecosystem management plans. The use of pollen data for palaeoecological reconstructions is often limited by the low taxonomic resolution of pollen, which often reduces the detail of reconstructions of human influence on past vegetation. This is true for Australia where Myrtaceae, particularly Eucalyptus species, dominate…
Colonialism and the environment
Mining has been a major contributor to economic development in Australia since British arrival in the late 1700s, with little to no thought regarding the long-term environmental consequences. This study assesses the metal pollution legacy caused by different smelting methods and mining activities during the British colonialism in western Tasmania. This region was the largest copper producer in the Southern Hemisphere during the 20th century. Lake…
European colonization and the emergence of novel fire regimes in southeast Australia
The rapid increase in severe wildfires in many parts of the world, especially in temperate systems, requires urgent attention to reduce fires' catastrophic impacts on human lives, livelihoods, health and economy. Of particular concern is southeast Australia, which harbours one of the most flammable vegetation types on Earth. While previous studies suggest climate and European activities drove changes in southeast Australian fire regimes in the la…
A quantitative synthesis of Holocene vegetation change in Nigeria (Western Africa)
Understanding long-term (centennial–millennial scale) ecosystem stability and dynamics are key to sustainable management and conservation of ecosystem processes under the currently changing climate. Fossil pollen records offer the possibility to investigate long-term changes in vegetation composition and diversity on regional and continental scales. Such studies have been conducted in temperate systems, but are underrepresented in the tropics, es…
The spatial legacy of Australian mercury contamination in the sediment of the Molonglo River
Mercury (Hg) contamination is an environmental concern as a by-product of legacy mining in Australia. Here we investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of Hg in the Molonglo River system in New South Wales, Australia, and assess the physical and chemical factors influencing that distribution. Mercury concentrations in sediment cores were measured in conjunction with 210Pb and 137Cs dating to establish historical contamination. This was do…
Background concentrations of mercury in Australian freshwater sediments
Waterways in the Southern Hemisphere, including on the Australian continent, are facing increasing levels of mercury contamination due to industrialization, agricultural intensification, energy production, urbanization, and mining. Mercury contamination undermines the use of waterways as a source of potable water and also has a deleterious effect on aquatic organisms. When developing management strategies to reduce mercury levels in waterways, it…
Evaluating the Radiocarbon Reservoir Effect in Lake Kutubu, Papua New Guinea
We examined the radiocarbon ( 14 C) reservoir effect in Lake Kutubu using tephrochronology and terrestrial plant material to deliver a precise age-depth profile and sedimentation rates for this lake. Based on the presence of two tephra horizons (Tibito and Olgaboli), we found a reservoir age offset in sediments of between 1490 and 2280 14 C yr using the sediment ages derived from the lead-210 ( 210 Pb) dating method. The live submerged biological…
Investigating Premodern Colonization of the Indian Ocean
A Late Holocene palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of Ulong Island, Palau, from starch grain, charcoal, and geochemistry analyses
This study represents the first starch grain analysis undertaken in Palau, performed on a sediment core extracted from a sinkhole on Ulong Island. Radiocarbon dating indicates the core spans the likely period of human occupation on Ulong (ca. 3000 years) as established by prior archaeological evidence. Samples were analysed for macrocharcoal, starch content, and geochemical composition. The results of the analyses indicate an initial period of in…
Modern pollen from small hollows reflects Athrotaxis cupressoides density across a wildfire gradient in subalpine forests of the Central Plateau, Tasmania, Australia
Pollen assemblages from 50 small hollows were used to resolve fire-caused vegetation patterns in a ~2-km 2 subalpine landscape on the Central Plateau of Tasmania, Australia. Sites were characterized by varying abundance of the dominant tree species, Athrotaxis cupressoides, reflecting mortality from a wildfire that occurred 53 years prior to sampling. Sites were classified a priori based on fire-related Athrotaxis mortality as burned (100% standi…
Evidence of Holocene climatic change and human impact in northwestern Yunnan Province
High-resolution pollen and charcoal records from Chenghai Lake, northwestern Yunnan Province of China, are presented in this study. These records reveal changes in climate and human activity since 8220 cal. yr BP, and the drivers of climatic change are further discussed based on spectral analysis of Tsuga and evergreen oak pollen percentages. The pollen record indicated that the climate in the low altitude area was relatively warm and moderately …
Reconsidering Precolumbian Human Colonization in the Galápagos Islands, Republic of Ecuador
Fifty years ago, Heyerdahl and Skjølsvold (1956, 1990) collected material from five archaeological sites in the Galápagos Islands. They retained earthenwares of possible precolumbian origin and discarded ceramic, metal, and glass artifacts postdating the arrival of the Spanish in A.D. 1535. Consequently, they argued that each site was formed as the results of a series of discard events from unrelated short-term occupations extending from the prec…
Can we infer vegetation change from peat carbon and nitrogen content? A palaeoecological test from Tasmania, Australia
We set out to test the ability to detect vegetation change from organic soil nutrient (carbon and nitrogen) composition in the fire-determined forest/non-forest mosaic of western Tasmania, Australia. We find no relationship between organic soil nitrogen and carbon content, despite widely varying local vegetation and fire regimes. Pollen evidence supports the role of fire in driving an initial vegetation state change from forest to non-forest, whi…
Humification in northeast Australia
The identification of wetter and drier phases from the last deglaciation to the Late Holocene has been a valuable outcome of palaeoenvironmental (chiefly palynological) studies of northeastern Australia conducted over the past 40 years. Few studies have, however, focussed on the identification of wetter and drier phases in the wet tropics, and none have set their focus on the last 4000 years, a period when northeastern Australia is generally acce…
Wetland Archaeology in the Highlands of New Guinea
Island ecosystem and biodiversity dynamics in northeastern Australia during the Holocene
Vegetation changes of tropical Lizard Island (Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, Australia) over the last 8000 years are derived from palaeoenvironmental analysis of a 475 cm long sediment core. During early-Holocene sea-level rise, flooding of the continental shelf and thus isolation of Lizard Island, the pollen record shows the gradual establishment of a mangrove forest paralleled by contraction of the near-coastal palm and grass-dominated…
Peopled Landscapes
This impressive collection celebrates the work of Peter Kershaw, a key figure in the field of Australian palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Over almost half a century his research helped reconceptualize ecology in Australia, creating a detailed understanding of environmental change in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Within a biogeographic framework one of his exceptional
Badu 15 and the Papuan-Austronesian settlement of Torres Strait
Archaeological excavations on the island of Badu have for the first time revealed evidence of people in Torres Strait before 2500 years BP. We interpret this evidence as representing three phases of island use and occupation. Phase 1 (8000-6000 years BP), when the high islands of Torres Strait were part of terminal Greater Australia, saw permanent occupation of the region. During Phase 2 (6000-c.3500/3000 years BP), the Western Islands of Torres …
Peopled Landscapes
This impressive collection celebrates the work of Peter Kershaw, a key figure in the field of Australian palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Over almost half a century his research helped reconceptualize ecology in Australia, creating a detailed understanding of environmental change in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Within a biogeographic framework one of his exceptional
Archaeobotany in Australia and New Guinea
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…
Agricultural emergence and transformation in the Upper Wahgi valley, Papua New Guinea, during the Holocene
A practice-based method is advanced to understand the emergence and transformation of agricultural practices in the Upper Wahgi valley during the Holocene. Conceptually, practices represent the nexus of human—environment interactions, as well as of structure—agency relationships, while methodologically, they are the visible remains — whether encountered directly through archaeology, or inferred through palaeoenvironmental proxy — of people living…
Dating the evidence for agricultural change in the highlands of New Guinea
Dating the evidence for agricultural change in the highlands of New Guinea: The last 2000 years." Australian Archaeology, 47(1), pp. 1–19
The emergence of an agricultural landscape in the highlands of New Guinea
That pollen and sedimentological evidence can make a significant contribution to our understanding of the nature and antiquity of agricultural development in the highlands of New Guinea has long been recognised and promoted by Jack Golson. Detecting the beginnings of agriculture and subsequent impact on landscape and vegetation is, however, not straightforward. A conceptual model for the identification of human impact in palaeoecological records …
Can Climate Influence Cultural Development? A View through Time
Despite the devastating impact that flooding, drought and fire associated with the 1982/3 and 1997/8 El Nino events had on both the natural environment and human society, there is little information on the persistence or impact similar events may have had in the 'deeper' past. Palaeoecologists can offer insight into the nature of environmental change over a range of spatiotemporal scales, utilising high-resolution techniques that can broaden the …
Identification of cultivated Pandanus and Colocasia in pollen records and the implications for the study of early agriculture in New Guinea
Palaeoenvironmental changes in the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea
A 4500 year old record of vegetation disturbance and sediment mobilisation is presented for the Arona Valley and Noreikora basin in the eastern highlands' of Papua New Guinea. Three distinct episodes of landscape change in the Arona Valley and Noreikora basin can be interpreted from the palaeoecological records: (1) by 4500 BP erosion of catchment sediments, possibly due to vegetation disturbance by human activity, led to the formation and extens…
The fire, human and climate nexus in the Sydney Basin, eastern Australia
It is widely believed that Australian Aborigines utilized fire to manage many landscapes; however, to what extent this use of fire impacted on Australia's ecosystems remains uncertain. The late Pleistocene/ Holocene fire history from three sites within the Sydney Basin (Gooches Swamp, Lake Baraba and Kings Waterhole) were compared with archaeological and palaeoclimatic data. The Gooches Swamp record appeared to be most influenced by climate and t…
Historicising The Present
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 …
European colonization and the emergence of novel fire regimes in southeast Australia
The rapid increase in severe wildfires in many parts of the world, especially in temperate systems, requires urgent attention to reduce fires' catastrophic impacts on human lives, livelihoods, health and economy. Of particular concern is southeast Australia, which harbours one of the most flammable vegetation types on Earth. While previous studies suggest climate and European activities drove changes in southeast Australian fire regimes in the la…
The Emo Site (OAC), Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea
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…
Evaluating the Radiocarbon Reservoir Effect in Lake Kutubu, Papua New Guinea
We examined the radiocarbon ( 14 C) reservoir effect in Lake Kutubu using tephrochronology and terrestrial plant material to deliver a precise age-depth profile and sedimentation rates for this lake. Based on the presence of two tephra horizons (Tibito and Olgaboli), we found a reservoir age offset in sediments of between 1490 and 2280 14 C yr using the sediment ages derived from the lead-210 ( 210 Pb) dating method. The live submerged biological…
Evidence of Holocene climatic change and human impact in northwestern Yunnan Province
High-resolution pollen and charcoal records from Chenghai Lake, northwestern Yunnan Province of China, are presented in this study. These records reveal changes in climate and human activity since 8220 cal. yr BP, and the drivers of climatic change are further discussed based on spectral analysis of Tsuga and evergreen oak pollen percentages. The pollen record indicated that the climate in the low altitude area was relatively warm and moderately …
Island ecosystem and biodiversity dynamics in northeastern Australia during the Holocene
Vegetation changes of tropical Lizard Island (Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, Australia) over the last 8000 years are derived from palaeoenvironmental analysis of a 475 cm long sediment core. During early-Holocene sea-level rise, flooding of the continental shelf and thus isolation of Lizard Island, the pollen record shows the gradual establishment of a mangrove forest paralleled by contraction of the near-coastal palm and grass-dominated…
Historic fuel wood use in the Galápagos Islands
Explanations for palaeoecological changes on the northern plains of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
The first records of wetland development and vegetation change from the northern grassland plains of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, are presented. Changes in sedimentation and vegetation over the last 3200 years, inferred from pollen and sediment analysis from two inland swamp sites, suggest human activity may have played a role in changing vegetation patterns on the northern plains of Guadalcanal. Catastrophic events, such as tectonic activity, c…
Human dispersal and plant processing in the Pacific 55 000-50 000 years ago
The dynamics of our species' dispersal into the Pacific remains intensely debated. The authors present archaeological investigations in the Raja Ampat Islands, north-west of New Guinea, that provide the earliest known evidence for humans arriving in the Pacific more than 55 000-50 000 years ago. Seafaring simulations demonstrate that a northern equatorial route into New Guinea via the Raja Ampat Islands was a viable dispersal corridor to Sahul at…
Insights into the indigenous-managed landscape in southeast Australia during the Holocene
Understanding the long-term interactions between people and the ecosystem in which they live is vital for informing present-day ecosystem management plans. The use of pollen data for palaeoecological reconstructions is often limited by the low taxonomic resolution of pollen, which often reduces the detail of reconstructions of human influence on past vegetation. This is true for Australia where Myrtaceae, particularly Eucalyptus species, dominate…
Reconsidering Precolumbian Human Colonization in the Galápagos Islands, Republic of Ecuador
Fifty years ago, Heyerdahl and Skjølsvold (1956, 1990) collected material from five archaeological sites in the Galápagos Islands. They retained earthenwares of possible precolumbian origin and discarded ceramic, metal, and glass artifacts postdating the arrival of the Spanish in A.D. 1535. Consequently, they argued that each site was formed as the results of a series of discard events from unrelated short-term occupations extending from the prec…
A quantitative synthesis of Holocene vegetation change in Nigeria (Western Africa)
Understanding long-term (centennial–millennial scale) ecosystem stability and dynamics are key to sustainable management and conservation of ecosystem processes under the currently changing climate. Fossil pollen records offer the possibility to investigate long-term changes in vegetation composition and diversity on regional and continental scales. Such studies have been conducted in temperate systems, but are underrepresented in the tropics, es…
A Late Holocene palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of Ulong Island, Palau, from starch grain, charcoal, and geochemistry analyses
This study represents the first starch grain analysis undertaken in Palau, performed on a sediment core extracted from a sinkhole on Ulong Island. Radiocarbon dating indicates the core spans the likely period of human occupation on Ulong (ca. 3000 years) as established by prior archaeological evidence. Samples were analysed for macrocharcoal, starch content, and geochemical composition. The results of the analyses indicate an initial period of in…
Can we infer vegetation change from peat carbon and nitrogen content? A palaeoecological test from Tasmania, Australia
We set out to test the ability to detect vegetation change from organic soil nutrient (carbon and nitrogen) composition in the fire-determined forest/non-forest mosaic of western Tasmania, Australia. We find no relationship between organic soil nitrogen and carbon content, despite widely varying local vegetation and fire regimes. Pollen evidence supports the role of fire in driving an initial vegetation state change from forest to non-forest, whi…
Humification in northeast Australia
The identification of wetter and drier phases from the last deglaciation to the Late Holocene has been a valuable outcome of palaeoenvironmental (chiefly palynological) studies of northeastern Australia conducted over the past 40 years. Few studies have, however, focussed on the identification of wetter and drier phases in the wet tropics, and none have set their focus on the last 4000 years, a period when northeastern Australia is generally acce…
Identification of cultivated Pandanus and Colocasia in pollen records and the implications for the study of early agriculture in New Guinea
Explanations for palaeoecological changes on the northern plains of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
The first records of wetland development and vegetation change from the northern grassland plains of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, are presented. Changes in sedimentation and vegetation over the last 3200 years, inferred from pollen and sediment analysis from two inland swamp sites, suggest human activity may have played a role in changing vegetation patterns on the northern plains of Guadalcanal. Catastrophic events, such as tectonic activity, c…
Palaeoenvironmental changes in the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea
A 4500 year old record of vegetation disturbance and sediment mobilisation is presented for the Arona Valley and Noreikora basin in the eastern highlands' of Papua New Guinea. Three distinct episodes of landscape change in the Arona Valley and Noreikora basin can be interpreted from the palaeoecological records: (1) by 4500 BP erosion of catchment sediments, possibly due to vegetation disturbance by human activity, led to the formation and extens…
Dating the evidence for agricultural change in the highlands of New Guinea
Dating the evidence for agricultural change in the highlands of New Guinea: The last 2000 years." Australian Archaeology, 47(1), pp. 1–19
Late Quaternary Vegetation and Climate Change in the Amazon Basin Based on a 50,000 Year Pollen Record from the Amazon Fan, ODP Site 932
Hemipelagic sediments from the Amazon deep-sea fan, ODP Site 932 (5° 12.7′N, 47° 1.8′W), and continental shelf provide a 50,000-yr-long pollen record of Amazon Basin vegetation. The age model for Hole 932A is constrained by eight magnetic remanence intensity features, one paleomagnetic excursion, and three AMS 14 C dates. Alchornea, Melastomataceae, Myrtaceae, and Moraceae/Urticaceae are dominant taxa in the pollen record between 40,200 and 19,80…
Can Climate Influence Cultural Development? A View through Time
Despite the devastating impact that flooding, drought and fire associated with the 1982/3 and 1997/8 El Nino events had on both the natural environment and human society, there is little information on the persistence or impact similar events may have had in the 'deeper' past. Palaeoecologists can offer insight into the nature of environmental change over a range of spatiotemporal scales, utilising high-resolution techniques that can broaden the …
Correlations Among Charcoal Records of Fires from the Past 16,000 Years in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Central and South America
Microscopic charcoal preserved in lake and swamp sediments from 10 sites in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea and from 5 sites in Central and South America have been used to reconstruct long-term fire histories for these two regions. Comparison of these records demonstrates that fire is promoted during periods of rapid climate change and high climate variability, regardless of the presence or absence of humans. Broad synchrony of changes in correcte…
Origins of Agriculture at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of New Guinea
Multidisciplinary investigations at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea show that agriculture arose independently in New Guinea by at least 6950 to 6440 calibrated years before the present (cal yr B.P.). Plant exploitation and some cultivation occurred on the wetland margin at 10,220 to 9910 cal yr B.P. (phase 1), mounding cultivation began by 6950 to 6440 cal yr B.P. (phase 2), and ditched cultivation began by 4350 to 3980 cal yr B.P.…
The emergence of an agricultural landscape in the highlands of New Guinea
That pollen and sedimentological evidence can make a significant contribution to our understanding of the nature and antiquity of agricultural development in the highlands of New Guinea has long been recognised and promoted by Jack Golson. Detecting the beginnings of agriculture and subsequent impact on landscape and vegetation is, however, not straightforward. A conceptual model for the identification of human impact in palaeoecological records …
New evidence and revised interpretations of early agriculture in Highland New Guinea
This review of the evidence for early agriculture in New Guinea supported by new data from Kuk Swamp demonstrates that cultivation had begun there by at least 6950–6440 cal BP and probably much earlier. Contrary to previous ideas, the first farming in New Guinea was not owed to SouthEast Asia, but emerged independently in the Highlands. Indeed plants such as the banana were probably first domesticated in New Guinea and later diffused into the Asi…
Badu 15 and the Papuan-Austronesian settlement of Torres Strait
Archaeological excavations on the island of Badu have for the first time revealed evidence of people in Torres Strait before 2500 years BP. We interpret this evidence as representing three phases of island use and occupation. Phase 1 (8000-6000 years BP), when the high islands of Torres Strait were part of terminal Greater Australia, saw permanent occupation of the region. During Phase 2 (6000-c.3500/3000 years BP), the Western Islands of Torres …
A 23,000-yr Pollen Record from Lake Euramoo, Wet Tropics of NE Queensland, Australia
A new extended pollen and charcoal record is presented from Lake Euramoo, Wet Tropics World Heritage rainforest of northeast Queensland, Australia. The 8.4-m sediment core taken from the center of Lake Euramoo incorporates a complete record of vegetation change and fire history spanning the period from 23,000 cal yr B.P. to present. The pollen record is divided into five significant zones; 23,000–16,800 cal yr B.P., dry sclerophyll woodland; 16,8…
Mid-Holocene Development of Mangrove Communities Featuring Rhizophoraceae and Geomorphic Change in the Richmond River Estuary, New South Wales, Australia
This paper describes the hitherto unreported occurrence of mid-Holocene mangrove deposits in the Richmond River estuary, southeastern Australia, thereby providing evidence for changes in the distribution and composition of mangrove communities within a subtropical estuarine system during the Holocene. Stratigraphic, radiocarbon and palynological evidence indicates that widespread development of mangrove communities took place in the upstream reac…
The fire, human and climate nexus in the Sydney Basin, eastern Australia
It is widely believed that Australian Aborigines utilized fire to manage many landscapes; however, to what extent this use of fire impacted on Australia's ecosystems remains uncertain. The late Pleistocene/ Holocene fire history from three sites within the Sydney Basin (Gooches Swamp, Lake Baraba and Kings Waterhole) were compared with archaeological and palaeoclimatic data. The Gooches Swamp record appeared to be most influenced by climate and t…
Agricultural emergence and transformation in the Upper Wahgi valley, Papua New Guinea, during the Holocene
A practice-based method is advanced to understand the emergence and transformation of agricultural practices in the Upper Wahgi valley during the Holocene. Conceptually, practices represent the nexus of human—environment interactions, as well as of structure—agency relationships, while methodologically, they are the visible remains — whether encountered directly through archaeology, or inferred through palaeoenvironmental proxy — of people living…
Archaeobotany in Australia and New Guinea
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…
Altered Ecologies (Terra Australis 32)
Like a star chart this volume orientates the reader to the key issues and debates in Pacific and Australasian biogeography, palaeoecology and human ecology. A feature of this collection is the diversity of approaches ranging from interpretation of the biogeographic significance of plant and animal distributional patterns, pollen analysis from peats and lake sediments to
Historic fuel wood use in the Galápagos Islands
The Emo Site (OAC), Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea
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
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 …
Wetland Archaeology in the Highlands of New Guinea
Island ecosystem and biodiversity dynamics in northeastern Australia during the Holocene
Vegetation changes of tropical Lizard Island (Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, Australia) over the last 8000 years are derived from palaeoenvironmental analysis of a 475 cm long sediment core. During early-Holocene sea-level rise, flooding of the continental shelf and thus isolation of Lizard Island, the pollen record shows the gradual establishment of a mangrove forest paralleled by contraction of the near-coastal palm and grass-dominated…
Peopled Landscapes
This impressive collection celebrates the work of Peter Kershaw, a key figure in the field of Australian palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Over almost half a century his research helped reconceptualize ecology in Australia, creating a detailed understanding of environmental change in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Within a biogeographic framework one of his exceptional
Humification in northeast Australia
The identification of wetter and drier phases from the last deglaciation to the Late Holocene has been a valuable outcome of palaeoenvironmental (chiefly palynological) studies of northeastern Australia conducted over the past 40 years. Few studies have, however, focussed on the identification of wetter and drier phases in the wet tropics, and none have set their focus on the last 4000 years, a period when northeastern Australia is generally acce…
Can we infer vegetation change from peat carbon and nitrogen content? A palaeoecological test from Tasmania, Australia
We set out to test the ability to detect vegetation change from organic soil nutrient (carbon and nitrogen) composition in the fire-determined forest/non-forest mosaic of western Tasmania, Australia. We find no relationship between organic soil nitrogen and carbon content, despite widely varying local vegetation and fire regimes. Pollen evidence supports the role of fire in driving an initial vegetation state change from forest to non-forest, whi…
Geography (35 obras) · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research (28 obras) · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies (27 obras) · Archaeology (26 obras) · Ecology (25 obras) · Holocene (19 obras) · Geology (18 obras) · Biology (16 obras) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (15 obras) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (15 obras)