I n s i d e t h i s

i s s u e :

Red Lily Rock Art

Recent Publications

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Dr. Hsiao-chun Hung returns to the Mariana Islands

In Other News

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Professor Judith Cameron presents at the Vatican Dr. Xaiyun Xiao returns to China

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ANH contributes to human health study

PNG Highlands Dissertations Digiti-zation Project

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Society for Ameri-can Archaeology 78th Annual Meeting Upcoming Conferences

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A jocular space-filler

Upcoming Events

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Archaeology and Natural History A p r i l 2 0 1 3 V o l u m e 4 , I s s u e 1

School of Culture, History and Language

ANU College of Asia & the Pacific

Fieldwork in the Namadgi Ranges

Archaeological work in the Namadgi

Ranges around Canberra is continuing

as part of Fenja Theden-Ringl's PhD

project into the archaeological and

palaeoenvironmental histories of the

region. Seven rock shelters have been

excavated since last October, distribut-

ed from Wee Jasper in the north to the

southern tip of the ACT. The excava-

tions have involved dozens of post-

graduate and undergraduate students

from the Archaeology and Natural His-

tory and the Archaeology and Anthro-

pology departments of the ANU as well

as interested researchers and locals.

With work likely to continue into May,

volunteers are always most welcome!

Email: fenja.theden-ringl@anu.edu.au

Excavation at Wee Jasper rock shelter

Pictured: Fenja Theden-Ringl

Pictured (only just): Subterraneous activity Pictured: Sievers Sieving Soil

P a g e 2

Recent Publications

ANH & ANSTO rock-art dating collaboration

During September last year Dr.

Vladimir Levchenko from the

Institute for Environmental

Research at ANSTO, joined

PhD Candidate Tristen Jones

in the field at Red Lily Lagoon,

western Arnhem Land. The

collaborative project aims to

investigate the radiocarbon

dating potential of mineral

accretion layers that encase

rock-art, utilising the carbon

compound found in calcium

oxalate, the main mineral in

the accretion layer. Dr.

Levchenko and Tristen sam-

pled 22 mineral accretion lay-

ers associated with rock art.

Samples have since been

analysed in RSES laboratories

by Tristen and RSES re-

searchers Dr. Penny King and

Dr. Ulrike Troitzsch using

FTIR, XRD and SEM-EDS

technologies. These tech-

niques have generated inter-

esting data on the content and

development of mineral accre-

tions. Samples that contained

calcium oxalate have been

AMS radiocarbon dated at

ANSTO facilities by Dr.

Levchenko and his team. Re-

sults of the age determinations

are currently being prepared

for publication. These dates

will be the first radiocarbon

age determinations for an art

style, known as Northern Run-

ning Figures, assumed to be of

mid Holocene antiquity. The

research is an ongoing project,

headed up by Dr. Christian

Reepmeyer and is supported

by an AINSE Research Grant,

ALNGRA12047P.

Cameron, J. 2013. Fibre Tech-nology, Prehistoric Art and Cognition at Blombos Cave,

South Africa. World Rock Art.

Newman, R. with contributions by Martin Allen, Katie Ander-son, Emma Beadsmoore, Ju-dith Cameron, Craig Cessford, Natasha Dodwell, Andy Hall, David Hall, Vicki Herring, Lor-rain Higbee, Rosemary Horrox, Phillip Mills, Mark Samuel, Simon Timberlake and Anne de Vareilles 2008. St John’s Tri-angle, Cambridge. An Archaeo-logical Excavation and Watch-ing Brief. Vols. I & II. Cam-bridge: Cambridge Archaeologi-cal Unit, University of Cam-

bridge.

Cameron, J. 2012. Textile Crafts in the Prehistoric Gulf of Tongking: The Intersection between Archaeology and History. Studies of Maritime History 4: 14-26. (In Chinese). This is a translation of a chap-

ter in a book published in 2012.

Benson, A. (2012). ―RSES—Laser ablation methods for Sr and U Series isotopes on hu-man teeth and bone‖. Journal

of American Science.

Carson, M.T., H.C. Hung, G. Summerhayes & P. Bellwood. 2013. On the trail of decorative pottery style from Southeast Asia to the Pacific. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology

8 (1): 17-36.

Zhang, C. and Hung, H.C. 2013. Jiahu 1: earliest farmers beyond the Yangtze River.

Antiquity 87:46-63.

Zhang, C. and Hung, H.C. 2013. Eastern Asia: archaeolo-gy, in I. Ness and P. Bellwood (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration, Vol. 1 Prehistory, pp. 209-216. New

York: Wiley-Blackwell.

Dr. Vladimir Levchenko microscopically analysing mineral accretions

overlying rock-art, Red Lily Lagoon, Arnhem Land.

Dr. Hsiao-chun Hung returns to the Mariana Islands

P a g e 3 V o l u m e 4 , I s s u e 1

In February-March 2013, Hsiao-chun Hung and Mike Carson returned to the Mariana Islands in far western Micronesia, searching for more evidence of the oldest human habitation at the House of Taga Site, ca. 3500-3400 BP.

Following on their 2011 field-work, they uncovered more than 90 sq m of a very well preserved habi-tation layer, very dense with artefacts and midden, as well as arrangements of post-holes and other structural features. This work confirms that the very first inhabitants in the Marianas made red-slipped pottery of various forms with or without carination, including hundreds of decorated pieces that appeared from the earliest deposit of this site.

This excavation produced the largest so far known collection of decorated red-slipped pottery in the Marianas, with beautifully dentate-stamped de-signs highlighted by white lime in-fill. Some early pottery with painting was noticed, too! Certainly, the large amount of decorated pottery can help us to understand more about cross-regional relations.

Thanks are due to the funding sources, including both Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation and Australian Research Council. Strong support from local scholars and authorities graciously made this pro-ject gain fruitful results. The preliminary results have been invited for presentation at several loca-tions, such as at Archaeology Center of Stanford University (USA) and Northern Marianas Humani-ties Council (Saipan), as well as featured in media such as Radio Australia News and Archaeology Magazine‘s top news story on 14 March 2013.

The ANU library is interested in digitizing old Terra Australis and other ANH (and predecessor organizations) publications. Publications will be put online, and acces-sible in the DSpace. The department has donated a copy of each TA we have avail-able but there are a number missing. If you have any ANH publications that you are willing to donate for digitisation please contact Dr. Jack Fenner, jack.fenner@anu.edu.au

It is a pleasure to announce that Dr Julien Louys who is currently a post doc at the University of Queensland and Stuart Hawkins who is a PhD candidate in ANH will be joining the Department as Post-doctoral Fellows in July 2013 on the ARC Laureate project 'From Sunda to Sahul: Understanding Modern Human Dispersal, Adaptation and Behaviour en Route to Australia'. These appointments are for 5 years and involve field research through-out Island Southeast Asia.

In Other News Congratulations also to ANH’s Dr.

Matthew Prebble who from February 1st

was appointed acting Convener, for the

Masters of Archaeological Science Pro-

gram, CASS, ANU. Dr Prebble has been

involved in the Program in the past,

teaching of the Vanuatu Field School for

the program in 2012. Well done Matt!

The House of Taga site, Marina Islands

A shard of decorated red-slipped pottery

Ambrose, W. and S. Novak. 2012.

Obsidian hydration chronomet-

rics using SIMS and optical meth-

ods from 26-year temperature

controlled exposures. In I.Liritzis

and C. Stevenson (eds.) Obsidian

and Ancient Manufactured Glass-

es. Albuquerque: University of

New Mexico Press. Pp. 15-25.

Bowler, JM, R. Gillespie, K.

Bolkjovac, and H. Johnson. 2012.

Wind v Water: Glacial Maximum

records from the Willandra

Lakes. In S.G. Haberle & B. David

(eds.) Peopled Land-

scapes: Archaeological and Bio-

P a g e 4

Dr Xaiyun Xiao returns to China

Professor Judith Cameron presents at the Vatican

Dr Xaiyun Xiao (Nanjing Institute of

Geography and Limnology, Chi-

nese Academy of Sciences) has

been a visiting fellow at ANH for the

last 3 months, working with Simon

Haberle to develop a collaborative

research program between ANH

and the Chinese Academy of Sci-

ences in Nanjing. During her stay

she was able to take part in field-

work in southern NSW (Bega

Swamp) and has prepared two

significant manuscripts on the last

20,000 years of environmental

change in Yunnan Province for

publication. We look forward to

ongoing collaboration in the future.

At the invitation of Professor San-tamaria, Chief Scientist at the Vati-can, Judith Cameron presented a paper on prehistoric textiles in Southeast Asia to archaeologists and conservators at the Vatican Museum on January 28th 2013. Excavations of burial beneath the

Necropolis had produced large frag-ments of woven asbestos cloth and such finds are exceptionally rare. Prof. Santamaria had read Judith‘s paper ‗Asbestos Cloth and Elites in Southeast Asia’ published in 2000 in the Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 2000 19: 47-51 and was interested in archaeological parallels. Judith is currently investigating asbestos fibres from Kamrej in India with Sunil Gupta and tiny fragments from

Batujaya, a 2nd century temple site in West Java as part of The Ar-chaeology of Batujaya Project by Prof. Pierre-Yves Manguin (EFEO) and the Urasan Arkeologi Nasional (Indonesia). Her new collaboration with the Vatican Museum dovetails well into Judith‘s Future Fellowship which is concerned with long-distance interaction in Southeast Asia.

The Romans, legend has it, would often throw asbestos napkins

and tablecloths into the fire to clean them (e.g.: mesothelioma-help-

network.com)

Pictured: Professor Judith Cameron (Far left)

Picture: Farewell lunch at the Dumpling House with members of the ANH Palaeoworks Lab and friends

P a g e 5 V o l u m e 4 , I s s u e 1

The working group hope to develop a strong

case for funding to support ongoing monitoring

of daily pollen counts in cities around Australia

and New Zealand.

More information on the working group and

ACEAS can be found at

http://www.aceas.org.au

Pollen are routinely used to understand

palaeoecological change yet there remains

knowledge gaps regarding how modern

pollen rain relates to different landscape

settings and to different climatic regions. A

new study funded through ACEAS

(Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis

and Synthesis) will provide important infor-

mation on the relationship of land cover

changes associated with urbanization and

rural land management. We know that

pollen assemblages can provide a very

cost-effective measure perspective of

landscape phenological patterns, including

identification of invasive allergenic spe-

cies. We can also gain insights into how

these are driven by current climate pat-

terns and potentially map the influence of

future climates on pollen production. Ex-

panding urbanization and climate change

are likely influences of aerobiological distri-

bution of allergenic pollens. It is likely that

the relative distribution of pollen from

clinically important species, will be affected

by changes in temperature, precipitation and

CO2 concentrations associated with climate

change.

Simon Haberle attended the first workshop of

the working group for "Australian aerobiology

to monitor environmental change" met on

Stradbroke Island on 11-15 March 2013 to

develop a framework for the establishment of

a national pollen count monitoring program

with the potential to assist with management

of patients with allergic respiratory diseases

such as hay fever and asthma that can be

triggered by airborne pollens, particularly but

not exclusively from grasses. The group

included leaders in the measurement and

analysis of pollens in Australia. This exciting

multi-disciplinary team includes scientists and

clinicians with expertise ecology, botany,

archaeology, climate change science, allergy,

immunology, public health and biostatistics.

ANH has been involved in a number of aero-

biology studies over the last decade in loca-

tions such as Darwin, Canberra, Hobart,

Brisbane and even the Daintree Rainforest.

Library’s Digital Library Program coordi-

nated the work of getting the scans made

and a million other details. Hanley Cocks

and Marilu Vallejo worked on creating

catalog records for each title; Arwen Hutt

ensured that these records were adapted

for metadata describing the digital ver-

sions. All of the authors generously gave

permission to include their works with-

out restriction. Special thanks to scholars

who supplied advice, contact infor-

mation, missing pages, scans of original

plates, loans of original typescripts, and

other treasures: Chris Ballard, Philip

Gibbs, Terrence Hays, Robin Hide, Allison

Jablonko, Ragnar Johnson, Deveni Temu,

Paige West, Polly Wiessner and many

others. A huge thank you to everyone

above—and apologies if anyone has been

left off the list.

The UC San Diego Library has recently

completed a project to digitize and pro-

vide online access to fifty-two disserta-

tions and theses which document an-

thropological (and related) research in

Papua New Guinea. With one exception

(Kenneth Read’s 1946 master’s thesis)

the research was situated in the High-

lands. This work was done with permis-

sion granted by the authors or their

heirs. Funding was provided by the UC

San Diego Library.

Access is through the Digital Library Collections at https:libraries.ucsd.edu/digital/ and the dissertations are easily found by browsing “By Collection/Library” and selecting “Papua New Guin-ea Highlands dissertations” under the “Tuzin Archive for Melanesian Anthro-pology”. Links are also present in the records for individual titles in our library catalog (http://roger.ucsd.edu), most easily found by a keyword search on “Papua New Guinea Highlands Dissertations”. This project could not have happened

without help from many people. Janel

Kozlowski Fink managed the permission-

seeking process. Roger Smith, Joaquim

(Jack) Neves, Gabriela Montoya and

Cristela Garcia-Spitz of the UC San Diego

PNG Highlands Dissertations Digitization Project

ANH contributes to human health study

Picture: Pollen and human health collage

Picture provided by Professor Simon Harberle

P a g e 6

Ambra Calo (Australian National University) “Bronze, Copper and Gold from the Metal Age Sites of Sembiran and Pacung, Bali, Indonesia: Exchange and Local Production”

Geoffrey Clark (Australian National University) “Culture Contact and Chiefly Lineages in Tonga AD 1250 – 1880”

Hsiao-chun Hung (Australian National University) “The Emergence of Metal Age in Taiwan and Its Relation with Southeast Asia”

Christian Reepmeyer (The Australian National University) “Modeling Social Interaction in the South-Western Pacific: A View from the Obsidian Sources in Northern Vanuatu”

Katherine Seikel (Australian National University) “Architectural Analysis of Stone Monuments from Pohnpei”

Ella Ussher (Australian National University), Alex Pryor (University of Cambridge) and Matthew Prebble (Australian National University) “Development of an Accessible Parenchyma Comparative Collec-tion for the Pacific and beyond” Alexa Benson (Australian National University) RSES—Laser ablation methods for Sr and U Series isotopes on human teeth and bone‖

From 3rd to the 7th April, ANH Department staff members Prof. Sue O'Connor, Assoc. Prof. Geoff Clarke, Dr. Sally Brockwell, Dr. Ambra Calo, Dr. Christian Reepmeyer and Dr. David Bulbeck, along with PhD candidates Mirani Lister, Ella Usher, Katherine Seikel, Alexa Benson and Tony Bar-ham travelled to Honolulu, Hawaii to attend the 78th Annual Meeting for the Society for American Archaeology. Many of the Departmental participants presented papers (while some co-authors also remained at home in the of-fice!), congratulations to all for an outstanding effort! Jane Balme (University of Western Australia) and Sue O'Connor (Australian National University) “Traditions and Change in Scaphopod Shell Beads in the South-ern Kimberley, Australia from the Pleistocene to the Recent Past”

Sue O’Connor (The Australian National University) “Pleistocene Maritime Societies in Island Southeast Asia”

David Bulbeck (Australian National University),

Ben Marwick (University of Washington), Sue O'Connor (Australian National University), Ambra Calo (Australian National University) and Jack Fenner (Australian National University) “The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Routa Region of Central Sulawesi” Anthony Barham (Australian National University), Philip Hughes (HEH Pty Ltd, Australian National University), Marjorie Sullivan (HEH Pty Ltd, Australian National University), Sue O’Connor (Archaeology and Natural History) and Patrick Faulkner (University of Queensland ) “Geoarchaeological Advances in Identifying Shell “Scatters” As Middens Located on Tropical Shorelines Influenced by Cata-strophic Marine Inundation Events (Cyclones and Tsunamis)”

Society for American Archaeology 78th Annual Meeting

A Centenary of Celebrating heritage Accessing, presenting and interpreting heritage places and their collections that have contribut-

ed to 100 years and more in Canberra and the region.

Hosted by Canberra Archaeological Society, National Trust of Australia (ACT) and Signifi-cance International with sponsors: Australia ICOMOS; Donald Horne Institute for Cultural Heritage University of Canberra; and the Insti-tute of Professional Practice in Heritage and the Arts ANU. When: Saturday 20th July 2013; time:

8.30am to 5pm. Where: Sir Roland Wilson Building Theatre, Bldg 120, ANU campus. Cost: $70 full, $50 members of the host organizations, $30 concession & full-time students - registration details will be availa-ble by the end of April 2013. Call for presentations to be submitted by Friday 3 May 2013 to Helen.cooke@anu.edu.au.

The 2nd International Contact Rock Art

Symposium Contributors have been invited based on their

experience researching and writing about con-tact rock art in their respective countries and

also for their interest in moving contact rock art research away from purely description-based

studies towards a more theoretically-grounded area of specialisation within rock art studies.

Our aims are: 1: To share international perspectives on rock

art depicting/representing contact between different cultural groups. 2: To explore different approaches to the inter-

pretation of contact rock art. 3: To highlight similarities, differences and

themes in the nature of representing ‗contact‘ in different parts of the world and at different times. 4: To discuss options for promoting the study

and protection of contact rock art globally. This symposium will include a field trip for pre-senters to meet local Aboriginal Traditional Owners and visit important contact rock art sites in Kakadu National Park and western Arnhem Land. For more information, contact Sally May (sally.may@anu.edu.au) or Ben Smith (benjamin.smith@uwa.edu.au) When: 13-15 September 2013 Where: North Australia Research Unit

(NARU), 23 Ellengowan Drive, Brinkin (Darwin) NT 0810

Upcoming Conferences

Pictured: Christian Reepmeyer, Ella Ussher and Katherine Seikel

Canberra Archaeological Society & ANU Students

Archaeological Association: Recording Signifi-

cant sites in the Tuggeranong Valley

Daryl Wesley, Peter Dowling, Helen Cooke and Tris-ten Jones offer all ANU undergraduate students, CAS and CAR members the opportunity to participate in a

day fieldtrip to record significant sites in the Tuggera-nong Valley. The group will revisit known sites of culturally modified trees and artefact grinding grooves. Lab session outlining recording techniques and field-work safety briefing will take place on Friday 17 May, 2 - 3.30pm at Coombs (Building 9) Teaching Lab: 6002. Field survey will take place on Sunday 19 May, at 2 pm. For more information, or to RSVP please contact Helen Cooke on 0408 443 243 or email Hel-en.cooke@anu.edu.au Lunchtime talks The Department is still looking for presenters for ANH‘s monthly ―Lunch Time Talks‖. If you are happy to informally present on any recent fieldwork or re-search activities please contact Dr. Janelle Steven-son, Janelle.stevenson@anu.edu.au

Canberra Archaeological Society Inaugural Welcome BBQ The CAS Committee invites all CAS members and prospective members to join them on Friday 17 May 4pm, at the grassy BBQ area outside Coombs Building, near the Coombs Lecture Theatre for the inaugural welcome BBQ. Come and enjoy the free sausage sizzle, mingle with colleagues and catch up on all things archaeological in the Canberra region!

Deadline for 2013 Rhys Jones Fieldwork Schol-

arship application.

This scholarship is given annually upon competi-

tive application to a postgraduate student at the

ANU in the field of archaeology and palaeoanthro-

pology in order to assist with fieldwork expenses

above those available from their College funds.

This year the closing date for applications is the

30th April 2013. Details of eligibility, selection

criteria and application procedure can be request-

ed via Simon.Harberle@anu.edu.au

Morning Tea

Also for all department members who haven‘t yet

signed up to host a morning tea this year, please

sign up on the noticeboard in the tea room. We

have still have free spots from September through

to December!

HC Coombs Building 9

Australian National University

Canberra, ACT 0200

Australia

Website: http://chl.anu.edu.au/archaeology/

For newsletter inquiries and contributions

please email:

Tristen.Jones@anu.edu.au or

Billy.O.Foghlu@anu.edu.au

Research in Archaeology and Natural History at the

ANU School of Culture, History and Language aims

to understand prehistoric human societies, the envi-

ronments in which they developed and the environ-

mental consequences of human presence. Depart-

mental research ranges from southeast Asia and the

Pacific, through the tropical forests of New Guinea

and the savannahs of Australia, to the islands of Oce-

ania.

Field research in ANH is supported by well-equipped

laboratories that were fully updated and refurbished

during 2009. Our laboratories support research into

prehistoric textiles, archaeobotanical remains, rock

art, prehistoric environments, zoological material and

ceramics. ANH houses the largest pollen reference

collection in Australia, as well as plant, bone, shell

and ceramic collections. We also have access to

world-class ANU facilities for archaeological dating,

stable isotope analysis, and electron microscopy.

Archaeology and Natural History

School of Culture, History & Language

College of Asia & the Pacific

ANU

Upcoming Events ...

―Ah! Alas, such is the way of airborne Saharan dust particles,

their 2µm and 3µm brethren are so often exiled to the depths

of the Atlantic‖*

Meanwhile, in the karst vastness of The Burren, Co. Clare, Ireland...

―What say you!!?‖

―Widthways? Forsooth I make this particle to

be half a metric mile, I have also discovered

organic content, and have plucked it hence

for precarious examination…‖

* See Morales, C. (1986). ―The Airborne Transport of Saharan Dust: A Review‖,

Climate Change Vol. 9 Issue 1 – 2. pp. 219 – 214.

This space-filler, entitled ―Particle Size Analysis‖ is brought to you, albeit begrudgingly,

by ―Dodgy River Folk‖ Somewhere. In a lab. Alongside a Mastersizer...

―Mass median radius? Oh about 1µm‖