Decolonising the Deep Past: Archaeological Narratives, Human Origins and Indigeneity

Session Submission Type: Traditional (Closed) Panel

Abstract

Since the ‘time revolution’ of the nineteenth century, which revealed the immense antiquity of the earth and all life upon it, Australian evidence has played a key role in shaping global debates about human evolution. This panel analyses the narratives about human origins that have defined the past two centuries, from the social Darwinism of the nineteenth century to the ongoing and problematic assumptions about human evolution and modernity in the twenty-first. It explores the ways in which different technologies have been used, and continue to be used, to categorise and stratify human societies over time. The papers also reflect on how the fields of archaeology and palaeoanthropology have transformed in recent decades, with research becoming increasingly concerned with social questions and with a growing number of Indigenous scholars using archaeological techniques to engage with their own heritage. In Australia, perhaps more than anywhere else, knowledge-making about the deep past is inextricably entwined with Indigenous politics. By approaching archaeological research as a socially embedded practice, the speakers demonstrate the relevance of postcolonial/decolonial reflection and critique for understanding deep time historical processes and their interpretation.

Sub Unit

• Closed Panels

Discussant

• Lynette Russell, Monash University

Individual Presentations

• Lost in translation: stone tool collecting and Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural endurance - Rebe Taylor, University of Tasmania

• The New Old World: global archaeological narratives in late twentieth-century Australia - Billy Griffiths, Deakin University

• Universalism, historical difference, and modern human origins - Martin Porr, University of Western Australia; Jacqueline Matthews, Monash University

Session Organizer

• Billy Griffiths, Deakin University