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People and Place Research CentrePage contentsCentre historyThe People and Place Research Centre was established in late 1995 to bring together anthropological research within the Australian Museum and to develop multi-disciplinary collaborative research programs. Dr. Paul S.C. Taçon, an archaeologist and rock-art expert, is the current Head of the Centre.
A total of 26 research projects have been undertaken under the auspices of the Centre, with 16 ongoing. Research projects are undertaken with a wide range of scientists and Indigenous peoples across south-east Australia, the Northern Territory, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. There is close collaboration with the University of Sydney and the University of Wollongong. Some projects are also undertaken with colleagues at Southern Cross University and the Australian National University (ANU). In March 1998, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, ANU, for joint research and public programs. Much of the work of the Centre sets standards for international research in various fields, such as residue analysis, ancient starch identification and rock-art studies. Centre research results and publications have both national and international significance and research fellows are attracted to the Centre from around the world. Centre philosophyThe Centre coordinates and develops innovative research projects that focus on past and present human social relationships to place within the greater Australian-Pacific region, including island south-east Asia. Field and collection-based projects are chosen to explore important questions concerning the colonisation, landscape relationships and material culture of specific regions. The dynamic interplay between people and their environment is emphasised, and a major area of study is the nature of changing social relationships between people and the landscapes they create and inhabit. Projects emphasise collaboration between scientists and Indigenous peoples. Key regions include northern Australia, south-east Australia (especially New South Wales), Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Centre researchCurrent Centre research programs include investigations into the archaeology (including rock-art, material culture and human-landscape relationships) in south-east Australia, northern Australia and the western Pacific. Although these research programs focus on the prehistory/history of specific regions, results are discussed in broader contexts that include colonisation, megafaunal extinctions, the origins of certain behaviours, interactions between cultures, culture change and more general aspects of human adaptations to a range of environments. A further program, that explores the critical role of Asia in human biological and cultural development, as well as the colonisation of Australia and the Pacific, is in the initial stages of development. In many ways, the Australian Museum's anthropological research complements that of the ANU's Centre for Archaeological Research (CAR) but with more focused projects that help flesh out key aspects of concern to CAR's general umbrella Fore-Arc Project. The Australian Museum's research also has more of an emphasis on landscape and material culture, and considers south-east Australia of importance as an area for furthering our understanding of human development and change within the larger region.
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Copyright © Australian Museum, 2002 |
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