To the Islands: the archaeology of Barrow and Montebello Islands, north-west Australia

Public Lecture | Updated 1 decade ago

Image copyright of WA Museum
Batavia Gallery, Western Australian Museum – Shipwreck Galleries

Prof Peter Veth
Winthrop Professor of Archaeology, The University of Western Australia

Barrow and Montebello Islands offer remarkable windows into maritime occupations of the north-west shelf extending from before 30,000 years ago to the historic period when whaling, pearling and slavery occurred.

The Barrow Island Archaeology Project will study an exceptional record of Indigenous occupation on one of the largest islands lying off the northwest coast of Australia. The island and sites on it are optimally located to register first coastal occupations greater than 45,000 years ago.

The Project will advance research into peoples' responses to changes in sea level, climate and isolation from critical resources on the mainland. Excavation of cave sites and mapping of open sites is expected to show early occupation, subsequent abandonment of these landscapes 7,400 years ago and recent historic era maritime sites. This offers an opportunity to study the nature of a cultural landscape that represents a 'time-capsule' sealed in the early Holocene, as important climate and ecological records will be reconstructed from the contents of caves.

Join us to celebrate National Archaeology Week 2013, as Prof Peter Veth discusses the dynamism of maritime societies through deep time in northern Australia.

COST: $12 per person. Includes refreshments after the lecture
BOOKINGS: Essential on 9431 8455. Please RSVP by 5.00pm, Monday 13 May