Principal speaker
Dr Michelle C Langley
The first part of this seminar will outline findings from the recently concluded ARC project "Australia's Living Technologies: Bone Tools from First Peoples to Contact". Despite intensive study and advanced understandings of bone tool technology produced by early Modern Humans in Africa and Europe, and notwithstanding their ubiquity across the Australian continent and appearance in archaeological contexts dating back to at least 46,000 years BP, Australian collections of bone tools have not yet been the subject of sustained, systematic research in the same way that assemblages based on stone have been. It is crucial that Australian tools made from durable bony materials (including tooth and claw) are properly studied and integrated into our understanding of Australia's deep past if we hope to fully appreciate the diversity and richness of her cultures.
In the second part of the seminar, we will move to exploring a new avenue in archaeological research - the role of children in the communities of the deep past. Archaeologists are now developing new ways of identifying children's playthings and play spaces in sites dating back many thousands of years - but what about for Australia?
Immediately following the seminar Dr Langley and the ARCHE team will host an online information session specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander undergraduate students interested in learning more about archaeology/anthropology as a possible research area and/or career. The session will provide you with a great opportunity to hear from staff and students engaged in Aboriginal cultural heritage/archaeology research and learn about the breadth of projects currently being undertaken by the ARCHE team. We would particularly encourage anyone interested in pursuing studies in this field, or wanting to learn more about this area, to join in to this Indigenous Knowledges and Research Seminar!
Event categories
RSVP
RSVP on or before Friday 10 July 2020 , by email RED@griffith.edu.au , or by phone 0755529107 , or via http://events.griffith.edu.au/d/znqhwt/4W