School of Archaeology and Anthropology

For many years, objects relating to pioneering archaeology and anthropology research have been collecting dust in boxes on campus.

DNA analysis of ancient human remains has shed new light on an "explosion" of intermixing cultures and genetics in an island region north of Australia known as Wallacea  -  an imprint that is still detectable in East Indonesians today.

Giant mysterious jars that may have been used for burial rituals have been unearthed across four new sites in Assam, India.  
 
The discovery comes from a major collaboration involving researchers at The Australian National University (ANU).   

The 65 newly discovered sandstone jars vary in shape and decoration, with some tall and cylindrical, and others partly or fully buried in the ground.   

Similar jars, some of which span up to three metres high and two metres wide, have previously been uncovered in Laos and Indonesia.   

A new study from The Australian National University (ANU) has revealed the death rate of babies in ancient societies is not a reflection of poor healthcare, disease and other factors, but instead is an indication of the number of babies born in that era.  

The findings shed new light on the history of our ancestors and debunk old assumptions that infant mortality rates were consistently high in ancient populations. 

Using a new technique that she and her thesis supervisor pioneered, Aleese Barron has discovered that sorghum and pearl millet were domesticated several hundred years earlier than previously determined.

An Emeritus Professor with the ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology whose work has changed the way we think about early human life has been honoured with a prestigious science prize.

Archaeologist Peter Bellwood's research explored how farming spread around the globe, the formation of Polynesian culture and human adaptation to island environments.