Projects at ARCHE
Our work spans the globe and covers every major geological period associated with human evolution.
Sustainable Development Goals
Griffith University is aligned with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is committed to providing affordable housing for students, contributing to a sustainable future, protecting our planet’s ecosystems, and ensuring a liveable environment for present and future generations.
The environment and human origins in the Kalahari, South Africa
This project investigates the role that interior environments played in the emergence and evolution of Homo sapiens.
South Africa has a rich archaeological record documenting the origins of our species. However, current research has been biased toward coastal rockshelter sites. Consequently, conflicting hypotheses about the role of environmental change in the emergence of modern humans cannot be adequately tested. This project expands the narrative of modern human origins away from the coast to investigate the distribution and success of early modern humans in the deep interior of the country. Through the excavation and dating of newly discovered deposits at Ga-Mohana Hill North Rockshelter, cutting-edge archaeological materials analysis, and local studies of palaeohydrology, this study is generating a new record of early human-environment interaction.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Dr Jayne Wilkins,
Bharti Jangra
External Researchers:
- Benjamin J Schoville, University of Queensland,
Robyn Pickering, University of Cape Town,
Sechaba Maape, University of the Witwatersrand,
Luke Gliganic, University of Wollongong,
Precious Chiwara-Maenzanise, University of Cape Town,
Jessica von der Meden, University of Cape Town
Funding:
- Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) – (DE190100160)
The impact of water stress on early humans in the Kalahari Desert
How did the earliest humans respond to climate change in dynamic, arid environments?
This project aims to understand the impacts of water stressed environments for early modern human behaviour through state-of-the-art excavation techniques and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction at two new archaeological sites in the Kalahari. How humans mitigated water stress during a major technological transition is significant because adaptability to arid environments was crucial for humans expanding beyond Africa and into Australia. The expected outcome of this project is creation of new knowledge on the origins of human resilience to water stress. The benefit lies in the potential to gain insights into meeting future climate challenges by exploring the adaptive strategies developed by early modern humans in the southern Kalahari.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Dr Jayne Wilkins, Bharti Jangra
External Researchers:
- Benjamin J Schoville, University of Queensland
Robyn Pickering, University of Cape Town
Irene Esteban, University of Barcelona Luke Gliganic, University of Wollongong
Luke Gliganic, University of Wollongong
Funding:
- ARC Discovery Projects - (DP220100167)
Children in human evolution
This project explores the roles of children in human technological and cultural evolution.
This project aims to investigate the role of children in cultural and technological innovation throughout human evolution. By developing new methods and applying cutting-edge techniques to archaeological datasets, this project aims to build a better understanding of innovation in our species and the relationship between childhood, creativity, and innovation.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Dr Michelle Langley
External Researchers:
Funding:
- Wenner-Gren Foundation Workshop Grant
Records in bone and shell
This project investigates the use of hard animal materials (bone, tooth, antler, ivory, shell, etc.) to create material cultures throughout the past.
This project explores the diversity and richness of material culture made from hard animal materials (bone, tooth, antler, ivory, shell, etc.) the world over. Through applying traceological and experimental archaeological methods, this project reconstructs how tools and ornaments were made, utilised, and discarded by different communities dating back tens of thousands of years.
ARCHE Researchers:
- Dr Michelle Langley, Eva Martellotta
External Researchers:
Funding:
- ARC DECRA DE170101076
Contact details
- Phone
- (07) 3735 8523
- j.papas@griffith.edu.au
- Location, mail and delivery address
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution
- Griffith University
- 170 Kessels Road
- Nathan, Qld 4111