Investigating the archaeology of human settlement in the highlands of PNG

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Around 50 000 years ago, people crossed the Wallace Line and set foot on Sahul (Pleistocene Australia-New Guinea) for the first time. Rapid dispersal across the Sahul continent followed during a period of climatic deterioration. Subsequent human impacts on the landscape are well preserved in the fossil record, particularly plants. This project aims to implement an archaeological and palaeobotanical approach to investigate the temporal and spatial patterning of landscape use through a period of climatic change in the Late Quaternary. The results are expected to provide a fuller understanding of the subsistence strategies and dynamics of human responses to climate change over long time periods.