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CRAR+M researchers have excavated some of Australia’s oldest archaeological sites, undertaken programmes to directly date paintings, analysed the role of symbolic behaviour in human evolution, explored the nature of contact era rock art, investigated rock art as a social information in arid and coastal Australia, collected baseline data on rock art and Tjukurrpa from the Canning Stock Route, prepared of management plans for rock art regions (e.g. Sydney, Port Hedland) and specific sites (Whale Cave), and undertaken the scientific assessments for National Heritage Listing and World Heritage nominations.

UWA archaeologists are also involved in early Upper Palaeolithic art research in central Europe, as well as comparative studies in North America, South Africa and China. They are leaders in the development, refinement, and application of digital recording and enhancement techniques of heavily deteriorated rock-paintings and engravings.

Current Projects

Dating Murujuga's Dreaming

ARC LINKAGE PROJECT

Aims to understand the age of the rock art and stone features of Murujuga, reconstructing and modelling Holocene voyaging around the Dampier Archipelago.

Desert to the Sea

ARC LINKAGE PROJECT

This Project will expand our understanding of Aboriginal settlement and land-use in north-west Australia by investigating how the mythological narratives of Australia’s deserts enable the transmission of knowledge in water-limited environments.

Pilbara Rock Art Research Project

CAT2 FUNDED PROJECT

Research, education and training for undergraduate and postgraduate students in Pilbara Indigenous communities and Indigenous ranger groups.

Recently Completed Projects

Collecting the West

ARC LINKAGE PROJECT

What do the collections from Western Australia tell us about who we were, who we are and who we can be?

Lifeways of the first Australians

ARC LINKAGE PROJECT

Investigated the archaeology of the limestone ranges in the south central Kimberley to understand the complexity of the life ways of the Indigenous people of this region. 

Kimberley Visions

ARC LINKAGE PROJECT

Aims to combine high resolution rock art and excavation data from the NE Kimberley, providing a critical link in the Kimberley-Arnhem Land nexus.

Murujuga: Dynamics of the Dreaming

ARC LINKAGE PROJECT

Investigated the world’s largest rock art galleries of Murujuga (the Burrup Peninsula) and the Dampier Archipelago.

Rock Art of the Western Desert & Great Basin

ARC FUTURE FELLOWSHIP

This project explores the nature of graphic and stylistic responses to changing environment over time in the Western Desert of Australia.

Conferences

Recent Conferences

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