New bioarchaeological perspectives on pre-contact lifeways in Sahul

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This project aims to establish a new bioarchaeology research program to study socio-economic changes in the Australia-New Guinea continent Sahul and provide new insights into the complexity of societies from diverse environments. Bioarchaeology provides a unique lens for interpreting the past, however research of this nature has largely been inactive due to the sensitivity of studying ancestral remains of Indigenous people. However, there is growing interest from Aboriginal groups in the narratives that can be reconstructed from their ancestors, and many Aboriginal communities now support research on skeletal remains. In collaboration with Aboriginal communities, the project will apply new developments in bioarchaeology to sensitively assess patterns of mobility and sedentism in three separate populations. This project is expected to initiate a new era of bioarchaeological research and redefine our understanding of the complexity of past Aboriginal and Papuan narratives.