Caroline Bird (archaeologist)

Last updated

Caroline Bird
Alma materUniversity of Western Australia
Scientific career
FieldsArchaeology
Thesis Prehistoric lithic resource utilisation: a case study from the Southwest of Western Australia
Doctoral advisor Sylvia Hallam and Charles Amsden

Caroline Bird FAHA is an Australian archaeologist and educator. She specialises in women's studies, [1] cultural heritage, and indigenous studies [2] in the archaeological context, specifically early Australian archaeology. Bird's other focuses include lithic technology and art. [3]

Contents

Bird has conducted archaeological fieldwork and laboratory research in the UK, Europe, Australia, and Egypt. Bird works on sites dating to various periods, ranging from Neolithic to historical Australia. [4] [5]

Education

Bird studied archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge University, Deakin University, and the University of Western Australia. [6] She received her BA in archaeology and anthropology (honors) from Cambridge University in 1977, followed by a Masters in Science and Technical Studies at Deakin University in 1997. Then, Bird went on to pursue a Ph.D. in archaeology at the University of Western Australia and was awarded her degree in 1985.

Career

Bird has taught archaeology and cultural heritage university and technical education (TAFE) classes in Western Australia and Victoria. Bird also developed and oversaw the site officer training program at the Victoria Archaeological Survey, and helped to expand the school curriculum regarding Aboriginal and Intercultural Studies in Western Australia. [6]

In February 2013, Bird joined Archae-aus, [7] an organization based in Perth, Western Australia committed to providing specialist historical and maritime heritage consultation and education services. [6] Within the organization, Bird has been involved in public presentations and publication (producing a book on the Archae-aus project "Kakutungutanta to Warrie Outcamp - 40,000 Years in Nyiyaparli Country") and continues to conduct fieldwork as a senior project officer. [6] Bird has also worked as a member of the Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists [8] in Western Australia.

Scientific contributions

Bird's most widely cited and praised article is "Woman the Toolmaker: Evidence for Women's Use and Manufacture of Flaked Stone Tools in Australia and New Guinea", published in 1993. This article took a feminist approach to archaeology where Bird aimed to confront and discredit the once commonly held gender-role assumption that "women hunt and men gather". [1] Bird's article helped to develop feminist archaeological theory [9] [10] [11] [12] and fuel discussion concerning the prevalence of male bias in the research process, inadequate ethnographic accounts, and the discipline of archaeology as a whole.[ citation needed ]

Bird's other work include research on radiocarbon chronologies. Bird and David Frankel have written extensively on dating sequences in Australia, illuminating new evidence regarding early colonization and population histories and distributions. [13] [4]

Recently, Bird has been involved in heritage and indigenous studies research in connection to her membership with Archae-aus. In her 2016 article, "Reflections on CB08-500 Alternative Narratives, Aboriginal Heritage and Significance Assessment in Western Australia," Bird argued for the importance of incorporating indigenous narratives into the archaeological research process. [2] Bird's article asserted that such inclusivity in archaeological reporting is necessary to progress the discipline and can also aid in engaging a wider audience in discussions concerning heritage and community values.

She was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities in 2022. [14]

Awards and recognitions

Select publications

Related Research Articles

Australian archaeology is a large sub-field in the discipline of archaeology. Archaeology in Australia takes four main forms: Aboriginal archaeology, historical archaeology, maritime archaeology and the archaeology of the contemporary past. Bridging these sub-disciplines is the important concept of cultural heritage management, which encompasses Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sites, historical sites, and maritime sites.

Devil's Lair is a single-chamber cave with a floor area of around 200 m2 (2,200 sq ft) that formed in a Quaternary dune limestone of the Leeuwin–Naturaliste Ridge, 5 km (3.1 mi) from the modern coastline of Western Australia. The stratigraphic sequence in the cave floor deposit consists of 660 cm (260 in) of sandy sediments, with more than 100 distinct layers, intercalated with flowstone and other indurated deposits. Excavations have been made in several areas of the cave floor. Since 1973, excavations have been concentrated in the middle of the cave, where 10 trenches have been dug. Archaeological evidence for intermittent human occupation extends down about 350 cm (140 in) to layer 30, with hearths, bone, and stone artefacts found throughout. The site provides evidence of human habitation of Southwest Australia 50,000 years before the present day.

Aboriginal Australians have inhabited Western Australia from around 50,000–70,000 years ago to present.

The Jardwadjali (Yartwatjali), also known as the Jaadwa, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Victoria, whose traditional lands occupy the lands in the upper Wimmera River watershed east to Gariwerd (Grampians) and west to Lake Bringalbert.

The Djab Wurrung, also spelt Djabwurrung, Tjapwurrung, Tjap Wurrung, or Djapwarrung, people are Aboriginal Australians whose country is the volcanic plains of central Victoria from the Mount William Range of Gariwerd in the west to the Pyrenees range in the east encompassing the Wimmera River flowing north and the headwaters of the Hopkins River flowing south. The towns of Ararat, Stawell and Hamilton are within their territory. There were 41 Djab Wurrung clans who formed an alliance with the neighbouring Jardwadjali people through intermarriage, shared culture, trade and moiety system before colonisation. Their lands were conquered but never ceded.

Peter John Frazer Coutts was an Australian archaeologist who was first director of the Victoria Archaeological Survey (VAS), the precursor to the Heritage Branch of Aboriginal Affairs Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimberley points</span> Aboriginal stone tool

Kimberley points are a type of Aboriginal stone tool made by pressure flaking both discarded glass and stone. Best known for the points made of glass, these artifacts are an example of adaptive reuse of Western technology by a non-western culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aboriginal Victorians</span> Indigenous people of the Australian state of Victoria

Aboriginal Victorians, the Aboriginal Australians of Victoria, Australia, occupied the land for tens of thousands of years prior to European settlement. Aboriginal people have lived a semi-nomadic existence of fishing, hunting and gathering and associated activities for at least 40,000 years.

Ian D. Clark is an academic historian and Toponymist whose primary work has focused on Victorian Aboriginal history, aboriginal toponymy and the frontier conflict between Indigenous Australians and immigrant settlers during the European settlement of Victoria, Australia.

David Frankel is Emeritus Professor in Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Archaeology and History at La Trobe University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aboriginal sites of Victoria</span>

Aboriginal sites of Victoria form an important record of human occupation for probably more than 40,000 years. They may be identified from archaeological remains, historical and ethnographic information or continuing oral traditions and encompass places where rituals and ceremonies were performed, occupation sites where people ate, slept and carried out their day to day chores, and ephemeral evidence of people passing through the landscape, such as a discarded axe head or isolated artefact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tachylite in Victorian archaeological sites</span> Glassy volcanic stone discovered in Victoria, Australia, archaeological sites

Tachylite is an unusual and relatively rare stone used in making flaked stone tools, and which is found in Aboriginal archaeological sites in Victoria, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Queensland Anthropology Museum</span>

The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum is located in Brisbane, Australia. It houses the largest university collection of ethnographic material culture in Australia.

Sandra Bowdler is an Australian archaeologist, emeritus professor of archaeology and former head of the Archaeology Department at the University of Western Australia.

Johan (Jo) Kamminga is an archaeologist based in Canberra, Australia. He has played a prominent role in the formation of the practice of Australian archaeology and in particular the Academic discipline.

The Yapurarra or Jaburara, also rendered Yaburara, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands are in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and the Dampier Archipelago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deborah Bird Rose</span> American ethnographer of Aboriginal peoples

Deborah Bird Rose (1946-2018) was an Australian-based ethnographer of Aboriginal peoples; plus, in her lifetime, an increasingly ecological, multi-species ethnographer and leader in multidisciplinary ethnographic research

Her research since the 1980s has focused on entwined social and ecological justice, based on long-term fieldwork with Aboriginal people in Australia. Her approach has drawn on elements of anthropology, history, philosophy, cultural studies, religious studies, and animal studies and has led to innovative understandings of ethnographic and ecological knowledge, most recently in the new area of multispecies ethnography

Dr Josephine McDonald is an Australian archaeologist and Director of the Centre for Rock Art Research + Management at the University of Western Australia. McDonald is primarily known for her influence in the field of rock art research and her collaborative research with Australian Aboriginal communities.

Juukan Gorge is a gorge in the Hamersley Range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) from Tom Price. It was named by the daughter of Puutu Kunti Kurrama man Juukan, also known as Tommy Ashburton, who was born at Jukarinya.

Puritjarra is an archaeological site located in the western part of Central Australia in Cleland Hills, 350 kilometers west of Alice Springs. An ancient rock shelter, this site is located within the traditional Aboriginal lands of the Kukatja people. The site is significant due to its ancient rock art and the stone artifacts that have been found there.

References

  1. 1 2 Bird, Caroline (1993). Woman the toolmaker: evidence for women's use and manufacture of flaked stone tools in Australia and New Guinea. OCLC   1011261262.
  2. 1 2 Bird, Caroline; Hook and Rhodes (2016). "Reflections on CB08-500 Alternative narratives, Aboriginal heritage and significance assessment in Western Australia Reflections on CB08-500". Hunter Gatherer Research. 2. doi:10.3828/hgr.2016.23. S2CID   134007148.
  3. Frankel, David; Webb, Jennifer M.; Lawrence, Susan, eds. (2013). Archaeology in environment and technology intersections and transformations. Routledge. ISBN   9780415832014. OCLC   820119634.
  4. 1 2 Bird, C. F. M.; Frankel, David (1991). "Chronology and explanation in western Victoria and south-east South Australia". Archaeology in Oceania. 26 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4453.1991.tb00244.x. ISSN   1834-4453.
  5. Bahn, Paul (2014). The History of archaeology : an introduction. Taylor and Francis. ISBN   9781317999423. OCLC   868491144.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "About us - Cultural Heritage Consultants Perth WA | Archae-aus". Archae Aus. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  7. "About Us". Archae-aus. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
  8. "Caroline Bird". Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
  9. Sarah Milledge Nelson (2007). Worlds of gender : the archaeology of women's lives around the globe. AltaMira Press. ISBN   9780759110830. OCLC   754652693.
  10. [VNV], Arthur, Kathryn Weedman (2017). The lives of stone tools : crafting the status, skill, and identity of flintknappers. The University of Arizona Press. ISBN   9780816537136. OCLC   1041460695.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. Arthur, Kathryn Weedman (19 May 2010). "Feminine Knowledge and Skill Reconsidered: Women and Flaked Stone Tools". American Anthropologist. 112 (2): 228–243. doi:10.1111/j.1548-1433.2010.01222.x. ISSN   0002-7294.
  12. Moira Donald; Linda Hurcombe, eds. (2002). Gender and material culture in archaeological perspective. St. Martin's Press. ISBN   0312223986. OCLC   1080756576.
  13. Bird, C. F. M.; Frankel, David; Waarden, Nora van (1998). "New radiocarbon determinations from the Grampians-Gariwerd region, western Victoria". Archaeology in Oceania. 33 (1): 31–36. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4453.1998.tb00398.x. ISSN   1834-4453.
  14. Tutton, Samantha (23 November 2022). "Announcing 2022 Academy Fellows". Australian Academy of the Humanities. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  15. Bird, Caroline; McDonald, Edward (2015). Kakutungutanta to Warrie Outcamp - 40,000 Years in Nyiyaparli Country. Fremantle. ISBN   9780994229700.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  16. "John Mulvaney Book Award | Australian Archaeological Association | AAA". australianarchaeologicalassociation.com.au. Retrieved 8 February 2019.[ permanent dead link ]
  17. The University of Western Australia (16 December 2016). "Australian Archaeological Association Conference 2016 Awards". www.research.uwa.edu.au. Retrieved 7 February 2019.