Associate Professor Duncan Wright
Position: Associate Professor in Archaeology
School and/or Centres: Archaeology
Email: duncan.wright@anu.edu.au
Phone: 612 58936
Location: Room 224, Upper Floor, Banks Building (#44), Linnaeus Way
Qualification:
PhD Monash University; MA ANU; BA University of Wales, LampeterResearcher profile: https://researchportalplus.anu.edu.au/en/persons/duncan-wright
I am an Associate Professor at the Australian National University, specialising in Australian Indigenous archaeology. I am committed to making archaeology accessible to Indigenous and non-Indigenous public, showcasing Australia's vibrant past.
To do so I develop partnership projects with descendant communities, tracing the long term history of ancestral sites and stories. Currently we are following the footsteps of Waiet (the bringer of death dances to Torres Strait), excavating sites in western and eastern Torres Strait. I am also working with traditional custodians and colleagues in the Wellington Range region, Arnhem Land.
Previously I held research positions at Griffith and Monash Universities and completed a PhD at Monash University in 2010. My thesis explored the potential for using archaeology to historicise ethnographically-signficant "villages" in western Torres Strait. Since beginning my studies at Lampeter University (Wales) in 1998, I have participated in a wide variety of projects including excavations of rock shelters and open sites in Western Australia (Hope Downs) and Arnhem Land (Northern Territory), highland Papua New Guinea (Simbai), Palau (Ulong, Angaur), Torres Strait (Mabuyag) and most recently Czech Republic (Blansko).
- Australian Aboriginal archaeology (primarily Torres Strait and Arnhem Land)
- Archaeology of ritual and religion
- Archaeology of Aboriginal ethnographies/ cosmologies
- Coastal and island studies
- Resurrecting stories using archaeology
- Human/ environment interactions
- Archaeology of art
- Pacific Island archaeology
Current collaborative research includes excavations at a ceremonial site complex in Torres Strait, a Mid-Upper Palaeolithic site in Czech Republic and public archaeology projects in Canberra and on the South Coast. Projects follow a public (community) archaeology paradigm whereby Indigneous and non-Indigenous custodians are brought to the heart of the debate.
2015-ongoing (ARC Discovery, DP160101832)
History Places: Wellington Range rock art in a global context
Collaborators: Paul Taçon, Sally K. May, Liam Brady, Joakim Goldhahn, Ines. Domingo Sanz
2014-ongoing (ARC Linkage, LP140100387)
Establishing the provenance of Torres Strait Islander remains: genetics, craniometrics and isotopes
Collaborators: D. Lambert, J. Olley, M. Westaway, A. Miller, B. Fry, S. Sankarasubramanian, R. Li
2014-2015(ACT Heritage funded)
The Springbank archaeology project (Public Archaeology initiative)
Collaborators: P. Dowling, Canberra Archaeology Society and ANU students
2014-ongoing
Archaeology of Sacred (Zogo) in Torres Strait
2011–ongoing
Hominid occupation of Pod Hradem Cave (Czech Republic) during the mid-upper Palaeolithic
Collaborator: L Nejman
- History Places: Wellington Range rock art in a global context (Secondary Investigator)
- Establishing the provenance of Torres Strait Islander remains: genetics, craniometrics and isotopes (Primary Investigator)
Available student projects
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) Archaeology of portable art (this might involve review of museum collections to explore regional and temporal change).
2) Local archaeological projects involving Aboriginal Traditional Owners (including survey/ excavation of a newly discovered stone axe quary).
3) Study of past environment in Wellington Range, Arnhem Land (Australia) using the proxy of excavated charcoal or sediments.
4) Study of past environment in Czech Republic through analysis of micro-fauna from a palaeolithic cave dating back to 70,000 years ago.
5) Archaeology of ritual sites in Australia - Laidar or aerial photography of Bora grounds
Past student projects
Changing Places: An Archaeological Study of. Manilakar Country in Western Arnhem Land
