Available Masters of Archaeological and Evolutionary Science student projects (ARCH8030):
Are you a Masters student looking to do an independent research project as part of your coursework? Check out this list of available supervisors and super interesting projects!
(Please note: Masters students need to agree a project and get supervisor permission before they can enrol in ARCH8030. The availability of some of the listed projects will be dependent on access to laboratories.)
Duncan Wright (Duncan.wright@anu.edu.au)
Please contact me if you are interested in HDR research in Australian archaeology. Feel free to approach me about research related to my interests (above). Alternatively, specific projects are:
1) Any project in Torres Strait (archaeology/ history). Specific examples might be:
Study of fish bone from a recently excavated initiation site on Mabuiag, Western Torres Strait
Sediment studies relating to the same initiation site
Geochemical/ residue testing of artefacts used during the Waiet initiation.
Using NVivo software to explore consistency and change between oral histories associated with wandering heroes / Torres Strait Sagas
2) Any project relating to the archaeology of ritual and religion e.g.
Exploration into the materiality of (rock art/ stone arrangements) of literature relating to songlines/ dreaming trackways in Australia.
Calibrate dates/ also bayesian analysis from/ of 'ritual' bone mound sites in Torres Strait to fine tune chronology for ritual expansion
3) Any projects relating to Australian archaeology e.g.
Site specific studies based on your own connections with landowners/ Aboriginal communities
Stone artefact analysis of materials recently discovered at a stone axe quarry near Queanbeyan
Charcoal/ sediment analysis from a 12000 year old site in the Wellington Range, Arnhem Land.
4) Environmental change over 70,000 years in the Moravian karst: Microfauna from Pod Hradem Cave, Czech Republic.
5) Archaeology of portable art (this might involve review of museum collections to explore regional and temporal change).
Justyna Miskiewicz (Justyna.miszkiewicz@anu.edu.au)
The following projects will be dependent on access to the laboratories:
Preservation of enamel microstructure in cremated teeth (S1 2021 Honours)
Limb bone microstructure in microbats and flying biomechanics (S2 2020/ S2 2021 Masters; can also be completed as part of ARCH8030)
Corroborating 2D histology and 3D laser confocal techniques in the analysis of bone microstructure (S1 2021 Honours/ S2 2021 Masters)
Catherine Frieman (Catherine.frieman@anu.edu.au)
Hidden Cornish Landscapes
This project will take advantage of the wealth of freely available LiDAR imagery of the British southwest to explore the Cornish landscape for previously unidentified archaeological sites. LiDAR is available at a number of different resolutions (with different areas of coverage), but the whole of Cornwall has been mapped and the data is free. Students will georeferenced and image LiDAR ascii tiles then compare notable features with the Cornwall County Council mapping tool (includes Historic Environment Records), freely available satellite imagery (google earth), and the UK Ordnance Survey maps of the county. Potential new archaeological features will be tabulated and interpretations/identifications offered. This list will be provided to the Cornwall County HER at the conclusion of the project and may be reworked for publication in Cornish Archaeology. If time prevails, the student can also pick a study region (1-4 LiDAR tiles) and compare the visibility of different classes of known monuments at different resolutions or different visualisations. The project requires some experience with GIS/QGIS. The student is welcome to experiment with any of the many freely available tools for visualising and presenting LiDAR imagery
Philip Piper (Philip.piper@anu.edu.au)
Animal remains from Nienburg Medieval castle (this project is dependent on access to laboratory space 2nd semester)
This project will continue the analysis of the terrestrial vertebrate remains recovered from the ANU field school excavations at Wolpe castle, Nienburg northern Germany. The aim will be to characterise the vertebrate assemblage and assess the diet of the local castle community between the 12th – 14th Centuries AD. Some previous experience in the analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites would be advantageous as this project relies on some background knowledge on skeletal identification.
Mathieu LeClerc (Mathieu.Leclerc@anu.edu.au)
Set up a database/online portal for Dickinson's petrographic data in the Pacific
This project does not require access to laboratories.
Here is a project for somebody interested in ceramic petrography, geology in the Pacific and exploring open-access outreach strategies. The project is to organise the collection of Dickinson's petrographic reports in an organised database that could be accessible online and equipped with a search engine allowing to search efficiently for specific mineral types or attributes. The student would go through every Dickinson's report published since 2006 as well as Dickinson's synthesis published in 2006. These reports describe the results from petrographic analysis of pottery from various locales in the Pacific. The first objective is to identify relevant attributes specific to collections/locations. The second aim is to organise the outcomes of this literature review in a user-friendly online portal that would facilitate future research in the area. The idea is that researchers undertaking petrographic analysis of pottery samples in the future will be able to use the database to efficiently compare their results with Dickinson's data and instantly identify other collections with similar attributes and associate them with provenance. Experience in geology, petrography/petrology is highly recommended.
ARCH8031: This course is the same as ARCH8030 but it is hosted by the College of Asia and Pacific and projects are supervised by staff that that college.
Jack Fenner (jack.fenner@anu.edu.au)
Isotopic analysis: Jack has offered potential projects for one or two students in isotopic analysis. Please contact Jack for more details (these projects will be dependent on access to laboratories in semester 2).
Janelle Stevenson (Janelle.stevenson@anu.edu.au):
Janelle has offered the opportunity to complete a project on palaeoenvironmental reconstruction using plant micro-fossils. This project is open to discussion with Janelle if anyone should be interested.
(Please note: Masters students need to agree a project and get supervisor permission before they can enrol in ARCH8030. The availability of some of the listed projects will be dependent on access to laboratories.)
Duncan Wright (Duncan.wright@anu.edu.au)
Please contact me if you are interested in HDR research in Australian archaeology. Feel free to approach me about research related to my interests (above). Alternatively, specific projects are:
1) Any project in Torres Strait (archaeology/ history). Specific examples might be:
Study of fish bone from a recently excavated initiation site on Mabuiag, Western Torres Strait
Sediment studies relating to the same initiation site
Geochemical/ residue testing of artefacts used during the Waiet initiation.
Using NVivo software to explore consistency and change between oral histories associated with wandering heroes / Torres Strait Sagas
2) Any project relating to the archaeology of ritual and religion e.g.
Exploration into the materiality of (rock art/ stone arrangements) of literature relating to songlines/ dreaming trackways in Australia.
Calibrate dates/ also bayesian analysis from/ of 'ritual' bone mound sites in Torres Strait to fine tune chronology for ritual expansion
3) Any projects relating to Australian archaeology e.g.
Site specific studies based on your own connections with landowners/ Aboriginal communities
Stone artefact analysis of materials recently discovered at a stone axe quarry near Queanbeyan
Charcoal/ sediment analysis from a 12000 year old site in the Wellington Range, Arnhem Land.
4) Environmental change over 70,000 years in the Moravian karst: Microfauna from Pod Hradem Cave, Czech Republic.
5) Archaeology of portable art (this might involve review of museum collections to explore regional and temporal change).
Justyna Miskiewicz (Justyna.miszkiewicz@anu.edu.au)
The following projects will be dependent on access to the laboratories:
Preservation of enamel microstructure in cremated teeth (S1 2021 Honours)
Limb bone microstructure in microbats and flying biomechanics (S2 2020/ S2 2021 Masters; can also be completed as part of ARCH8030)
Corroborating 2D histology and 3D laser confocal techniques in the analysis of bone microstructure (S1 2021 Honours/ S2 2021 Masters)
Catherine Frieman (Catherine.frieman@anu.edu.au)
Hidden Cornish Landscapes
This project will take advantage of the wealth of freely available LiDAR imagery of the British southwest to explore the Cornish landscape for previously unidentified archaeological sites. LiDAR is available at a number of different resolutions (with different areas of coverage), but the whole of Cornwall has been mapped and the data is free. Students will georeferenced and image LiDAR ascii tiles then compare notable features with the Cornwall County Council mapping tool (includes Historic Environment Records), freely available satellite imagery (google earth), and the UK Ordnance Survey maps of the county. Potential new archaeological features will be tabulated and interpretations/identifications offered. This list will be provided to the Cornwall County HER at the conclusion of the project and may be reworked for publication in Cornish Archaeology. If time prevails, the student can also pick a study region (1-4 LiDAR tiles) and compare the visibility of different classes of known monuments at different resolutions or different visualisations. The project requires some experience with GIS/QGIS. The student is welcome to experiment with any of the many freely available tools for visualising and presenting LiDAR imagery
Philip Piper (Philip.piper@anu.edu.au)
Animal remains from Nienburg Medieval castle (this project is dependent on access to laboratory space 2nd semester)
This project will continue the analysis of the terrestrial vertebrate remains recovered from the ANU field school excavations at Wolpe castle, Nienburg northern Germany. The aim will be to characterise the vertebrate assemblage and assess the diet of the local castle community between the 12th – 14th Centuries AD. Some previous experience in the analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites would be advantageous as this project relies on some background knowledge on skeletal identification.
Mathieu LeClerc (Mathieu.Leclerc@anu.edu.au)
Set up a database/online portal for Dickinson's petrographic data in the Pacific
This project does not require access to laboratories.
Here is a project for somebody interested in ceramic petrography, geology in the Pacific and exploring open-access outreach strategies. The project is to organise the collection of Dickinson's petrographic reports in an organised database that could be accessible online and equipped with a search engine allowing to search efficiently for specific mineral types or attributes. The student would go through every Dickinson's report published since 2006 as well as Dickinson's synthesis published in 2006. These reports describe the results from petrographic analysis of pottery from various locales in the Pacific. The first objective is to identify relevant attributes specific to collections/locations. The second aim is to organise the outcomes of this literature review in a user-friendly online portal that would facilitate future research in the area. The idea is that researchers undertaking petrographic analysis of pottery samples in the future will be able to use the database to efficiently compare their results with Dickinson's data and instantly identify other collections with similar attributes and associate them with provenance. Experience in geology, petrography/petrology is highly recommended.
ARCH8031: This course is the same as ARCH8030 but it is hosted by the College of Asia and Pacific and projects are supervised by staff that that college.
Jack Fenner (jack.fenner@anu.edu.au)
Isotopic analysis: Jack has offered potential projects for one or two students in isotopic analysis. Please contact Jack for more details (these projects will be dependent on access to laboratories in semester 2).
Janelle Stevenson (Janelle.stevenson@anu.edu.au):
Janelle has offered the opportunity to complete a project on palaeoenvironmental reconstruction using plant micro-fossils. This project is open to discussion with Janelle if anyone should be interested.
2020 Executive
President: Bella Shaw
Vice President: Iona Claringbold
Secretary: Britta Van Tiel
Treasurer: Sarah Lydon
Publications Officer: Brooke Zuidema
Postgraduate Representative: Andrea Ulrichsen
General Representatives: Tealeah Prior, Immy Crome and Zac Martin
Vice President: Iona Claringbold
Secretary: Britta Van Tiel
Treasurer: Sarah Lydon
Publications Officer: Brooke Zuidema
Postgraduate Representative: Andrea Ulrichsen
General Representatives: Tealeah Prior, Immy Crome and Zac Martin
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