50,000 years of human subsistence behaviour in northern Australia (2015-2020)

For over 40 years archaeologists have debated the nature of initial colonisation of Australia and how people subsequently coped with large-scale climate change. This is the first study to systematically examine variation in human subsistence behaviour and animal community structure across northern Australia.Through analyses of archaeofaunas from key archaeological sites, this project will test assumptions of why and how northern Australia was first occupied and the manner in which people responded to dramatic environmental shifts. An additional outcome of this project is insight into the causes of fragmentation in Australian fauna assemblages and in particular, the recognition of carnivore damage.