School of Archaeology and Anthropology
A Career up in Smoke title
Please join us for the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences Inaugural Professorial Lecture Series. In this lecture, we welcome Professor Simone Dennis from the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, School of Archaeology and Anthropology.
No ape jape: gibbons need protection from COVID-19 too title
Experts studying how tourism affects wild gibbons say visitors should wear PPE masks and have health checks before visiting them.
While tourism to wild gibbon populations halted with the first COVID-19 lockdowns, tour operators in Cambodia and China are gearing up to resume visits.
The recommendations build on world-first research on wild gibbon populations in Cambodia and China, which shows the apes significantly alter their behaviour, to their own detriment when tourists are present.
Indigenous banana cultivation dates back over 2,000 years title
ANU archaeologists from the ANU Achool of Archaeology and Anthropology have found the earliest evidence of Indigenous communities cultivating bananas more than 2,000 years ago.
The evidence of cultivation and plant management dates back 2,145 years and was found at Wagadagam on the tiny island of Mabuyag in the western Torres Strait.
The site comprised a series of retaining walls associated with gardening activities along with a network of stone arrangements, shell arrangements, rock art and a mound of dugong bones.
Brando’s atoll was holiday getaway for Tahitian royalty title
A paradise lost has been re-discovered by on the tiny Pacific atoll of Teti'aroa, once owned by Hollywood icon Marlon Brando.
The finds from ANU include two rarely-seen archery platforms and a huge open-air altar, likely used for ceremonial purposes and ritual offerings.
They are among 115 important structures mapped by the researchers, giving the strongest evidence yet the island was the exclusive preserve of the Tahitian royal family in the 18th century.
Archaeology at home: The Garbage Project title
By Evana Ho
You’ve no doubt seen it in a film or TV show: the private investigator combing through a suspect’s rubbish that was left out on the curb. And it’s no wonder TV detectives do this. It’s a great way to gain insight into a person.
Welcome to modern archaeology. Instead of sifting through the items left behind by people who lived long ago, this is about examining contemporary rubbish to understand something about those still among us.
Caring for mates not number of beers is responsible drinking title
As the festive season gears up, new research from The Australian National University has found Australians don't know, and 'wildly underestimate' guidelines for responsible drinking.
Despite this, Australians felt a deep sense of social responsibility to others when drinking and uniformly cited drink driving as the ultimate act of irresponsible drinking.
The research also uncovered some astonishing strategies used to mitigate the effects of alcohol, like switching from beer and brown liquors to white spirits and champagne over the course of an evening.