Archaeology at UWA

The ArchaeoBots strike again!!! Emilie Dotte-Sarout will be talking with India Dilkes-Hall and Alifah for NAW - ARCAS CONVERSATIONS : Spotlight on Archaeobotany -
Saturday, May 23, 2026; AEST 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM (3-4pm in WA).
Dial in and bring your questions!

More info here:
https://archaeologyweek.org/events-list/spotlight-on-archaeobotany

Australasian Research Cluster for Archaeological Science - ARCAS
National Archaeology Week

ARCAS Conversations: Spotlight on Archaeobotany — National Archaeology Week Dream of growing up to be Dr. Ellie Sattler of Jurassic Park fame? Curious about how ancient plants can help us understand past peoples, places, and practices? Join us for a relaxed archaeobotany webinar featuring three researchers chatting about what they do, why it matters, and how tiny seeds and

National Archaeology Week and Pint of Science Week Talk on Heritage and Health!

“A Heritage Day Keeps the Doctor Away: How you can save yourself- and the country - $96 each time you visit a heritage site”

By UWA Archaeology’s Sven Ouzman

Everyone human is a walking house of heritage. Heritage is under your feet, around you, and in you (literally and metaphorically). This talk will consider what ‘heritage’ is, how it is managed and present emerging research on the very real concrete benefits of heritage – as the very real burdens when heritage is damaged (solastalgia anyone?). This presentation uses case studies beginning at the very venue of this presentation and extends outward include fracking, fire, flood and friendships to understand how heritage keeps us healthy.

https://pintofscience.com.au/event/what-makes-us-sick-and-what-makes-us-well/

Nice Prelude to National Archaeology Week!

Al Paterson in Conversation with Philip Clark on the Deep and Shallow History and Archaeology of Cossack, WA

Nightlife Travel - Cossack WA - ABC listen Philip Clark is joined by Professor Alistair Paterson, the Chair of Archaeology at the University of Western Australia, who has worked at Cossack for over 25 years.

Our final Archaeology Seminar for Semester 1 - please join us for Al Paterson, Corioli Souter and Dan Franklin who will be presenting on 2025 Vergulde Draeck fieldwork. SSLAWLINK 3.73, 3PM 14th May - on campus at UWA. See you there!

UWA’s ARCY3003 Concludes with Artefact Curation and Collections-Based Analysis

Using material from the Greenough fieldschool, students selected 5 artefacts of different materials to record, analyse, clean and store to complete the analytical life cycle. Potential residues and use wear identified, active and passive decay identified and strategies formulated. Accurate specimen photos taken and so on – with everyone putting one select artefact into the ‘Mother Box’ of curated materials (and that’s just one artefact, rinse-and-repeat thousands of times. Thaks to Elky for mobilising materials, cameras, cleaning materials, measuring tools and so on.

Next week the hard-working cohort do their final in-Lab Test – please all wish them luck for this essential and core unit (though luck will only get you so far)

UWA Archaeology Host Ballardong Marlak Rangers and Heritage Team for Cultural Heritage Knowledge Exchange and Experiment.

Great to have Judd Davis, Roland Loo, Mark Kickett, Travis Ryder from the Marlak Rangers and Nicole Curtin, Joleen Brown and Natasha Fitzgerald, from the Heritage Team (with ‘trainee’ Jasper..…) at the Archaeology and Forensics Experimental Facility for a skills, team building and knowledge exchange day. We wandered around UWA campus to get the official and unofficial stories (like Business School being the site of hot springs and the 400 year old jarrah tree that would have witnessed many event hundred if years before Europeans..). Then on to some stone tool making (and Jasper invented a new technique) plus doing hand stencils/prints to add to our long-term handprint s*x determination experiment. And, of course, a barbeque.

This helps reciprocate the on-Country hospitality and guidance we have received from Ballardong Mob - long may the relationship continue!

Chae Byrne's amazing work with the Desert to Sea Project and the Archaebotany Lab !!

From wood to charcoal: a deep dive into how wood anatomy and fire signatures shape archaeological interpretation in Australia. Discover how anthracology and controlled experiments help researchers tell more accurate stories from charcoal and wooden artefacts. Read the full study by Chae Byrne and Emilie Dotte-Sarout. https://wix.to/ytvD6Xd

Emilie Dotte The ArchaeoBot Introduces UWA Archaeology Students to Plant-Based Archaeology!

Well, Em’s not really a bot (she has that French flair – and slide animations!). In today’s ARCY3003 Lab she imparted both knowledge and passion for , in no particular order, fire, charcoal, big charcoal, little charcoal, sieves, monocots, even indigo…

A growing field and don’t forget the UWA Archaeobotany Lab - https://www.uwa.edu.au/schools/research/archaeobotany-lab

Thank you Emilie, and also Elly for prep work for a great Lab – the greatest thanks to an engaged body of students…

Next week is Curation and Artefact Analysis with Elly and some dodgy old codger… .

UWA ARCY3003 Historical Archaeology Lab Lithics Lab examines Last Year’s Fieldschool finds under Meg Drummond-Wilson’s Expert Guidance

If you ever wanted proof we make too much stuff, today’s Lab was both an exercise in artefact-specific analyses (MNVs,, catalogue’s, Elly’s reference collection etc.) and pondering what many of the fragmentary objects – which you feel you should know but don’t - are.

Building an artefact catalogue, measuring, looking really closely, using Google lens to very variable success, wondering what ‘St Joseph’s oil’ was plus other snake oil concoctions like Hadacol plus carcass hooks, poison bottles, chamber pot fragments (yes, we wore gloves), lots of cartridge casing, many buttons…. Meg was across it all….(thank you Meg) assisted by plentiful printed and actual reference material.

Next week is ArchaeoBotany with Emilie Dotte; the growing UWA botanical reference collection and a bunch of microscopes.

UWA ARCY3003 Faunal Analysis Lab in the Expert and Amenable hands of Dr. Loukas Koungoulos!

Today, with a full attendance, everyone got an intro into the essential realm of faunal analysis. After playing alphabet soup (NISP, MNE, MNI, ETC..) each group got a bunch of bones (technical term) to analyse against text and reference collection to see if they were quokka or possum and then separate elements to sides, look for pathologies etc.

Then we looked at last year’s Greenough fieldschool fauna – which was much less intact and much more in line with what faunal analysis encounters.

Thanks to the Desert People Project for loaning Loukas to us (can we keep him?) and to Elly Famlonga for expert preparation of materials. And to Steph Bayton and Tara Anderson for use of greatr lab and setting out microscopes etc.

Next week is Historical Archaeology (from Reference Collection and Greenough) with Meg Drummond-Wilson.