Research
The Department of Archaeology and History is global in its outlook and reach, undertaking research into issues of fundamental disciplinary import in different geographic areas and time periods covering the last 4 million years.
La Trobe ranks as the top university in Victoria for Archaeology research, and our research in History & Archaeology and Historical Studies ranks ‘above world standard’ (ERA 2018 assessment).
Please click on a research area or specialisation below to find out which teaching and research staff are linked to that area.
Archaeological Research Partnerships (ARP)
- Rebekah Kurpiel (Director)
- Alice Mora (Laboratory Support)
- Paul Penzo-Kajewski (Field Support)
Archaeological & Palaeo-science (research labs & collections)
- Ancient Environments Lab (Pollen)
- Geoarchaeology Lab
- Hominin Casts & Zooarchaeology comparative collections
- Molecular Archaeology Laboratory
- The Australian Archaeomagnetism Laboratory (Archaeological Geophysics)
Asian, African & American Archaeology & History
- Phillip Edwards (Archaeology) - the Archaeology of Jordan
- Ruth Gamble (History) - History of Tibet and the Himalayan region
- Claudia Haake (History) Native American History
- Andy Herries (Archaeology) - Human Origins in southern China, Kenya, and South Africa
- Matt Meredith-Williams (Archaeology) - The archaeology of Oman
- Timothy Minchin (History) - 20th C. US History
- Keir Strickland (Archaeology) - Mediaeval Sri Lanka & southern Asia.
Australia: from deep time to the present
- Richard Cosgrove (Archaeology) Indigenous Tasmania
- Peter Davies (Archaeology) - Historical Archaeology
- Ruth Ford (History) -20th C. Australian Modern History
- Jillian Garvey (Archaeology) - Zooarchaeology
- Andy Herries (Archaeology) - Archaeomagnetism
- Katie Holmes (History) 20th C. History/environmental history
- Timothy Jones (History) gender, sexuality and religion
- Susan Lawrence (Archaeology) -Historical Archaeology
- Agathe Lise-Pronovost (Archaeology) - Archaeomagnetism/palaeoenvironments
- Liz Conner (History)
- Yves Rees (History) - Australia in the World/gender & modernity
- Nicola Stern (Archaeology) - Indigenous Australian Archaeology
- Clare Wright (History)
Centre for the Study of the Inland (CSI)
Environmental Archaeology & History
- Ruth Gamble (History) - Environmental History of Asia
- Jillian Garvey (Archaeology) -zooarchaeology
- Andy Herries (Archaeology) - Environmental Magnetism
- Katie Holmes (History) - Environmental History of Australia
- Susan Lawrence (Archaeology) - Effects of early mining in Australia
- Agathe Lise-Pronovost (Archaeology) - Environmental Magnetism
- Matt Meredith-Williams (Archaeology) - Pollen
- Colin Smith (Archaeology) - Stable Isotopes and Diet
- Nicola Stern (Archaeology)
European, Mediterranean and Levant Archaeology & History
- Phillip Edwards (Archaeology) - Archaeology of Jordan
- Timothy Jones (History) Gender, sexuality and religion
- Emma Robertson (History) - Modern European History
Human Origins & Migrations
- Phillip Edwards (Archaeology) - Hunter-gatherers and the transition to farming
- Andy Herries (Archaeology) - Geochronology of Human Evolution & the Palaeolithic
- Matt Meredith-Williams (Archaeology) - Coasts & early modern human migrations
- Colin Smith (Archaeology) - diet & mobility
- Nicola Stern (Archaeology) - Archaeology of Indigenous Australia
- Cris Valdiosera (Archaeology) - Ancient DNA
Indigenous pasts
- Liz Conor (History)
- Richard Cosgrove (Archaeology) Indigenous Tasmania
- Katherine Ellinghaus
- Jillian Garvey (Archaeology) - Indigenous Australian Archaeology
- Claudia Haake (History) - Native American History
- Andy Herries (Archaeology) - African Archaeology
- Maddy Maitri (Archaeology) - Cert. IV. in Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Management
- Nicola Stern (Archaeology) - Indigenous Australian Archaeology
PhD Student Projects
- Haley Banks (Archaeology) - Tourism and Identity in Victoria; an archaeological perspective
- Alex Blackwood (Archaeology) - The Acheulian to Middle Stone Age transition at Amanzi Springs, South Africa
- Toni Boyko (Archaeology) - Investigation of the persistence of touch DNA in forensic sampling
- Max Boyd (Archaeology) - The royal mail hotel: an archaeological investigation
- Matthew Carter (Archaeology) - The cultural landscapes of pre-colonial shipbuilding in New Zealand (1795-1840).
- Samuel Crooks (Archaeology) - The Late Chalcolithic to Middle Bronze Age of Cyprus
- Richard Curtis (Archaeology) - Geochronology & palaeoenvironments of Taung, South Africa
- Belinda D'Angelo (Archaeology) - Hellenistic Funerary Architecture of Pelagonia
- Hilary Davidson (Archaeology) - Dress and Textiles, 1500-1850
- Tara Edwards (Archaeology) - Geochronology of the Bolt's Farm Fossil site, South Africa
- Adrienne Ellis (Archaeology) - Yorktown: archaeological investigations at a nineteenth-century British settlement site
- Elizabeth Foley (Archaeology) Stone tool technology from lake Mungo during the last glacial maximum
- Emmy Frost (Archaeology) - Investigating dietary change in north-western Tasmania
- Jessie Garland (Archaeology) - 19th C material culture from Christchurch, New Zealand
- Greg Hil (Archaeology) - The impact of past gold mining on waterways in Victoria, Australia
- Fleur King (Archaeology) - Coastal subsistence and land use at Sisters Creek Cave, Tasmania
- Angeline Leece (Archaeology) - Early hominin dental remains from Drimolen, South Africa
- Richard MacNeill (Archaeology) - Spatial Patterns of Culture and Industry in Australian Landscapes
- Tom Mallett (Archaeology) - Rock magnetism of South African Palaeokarst
- Jesse Martin (Archaeology) - Early hominin cranial fossils from Drimolen, South Africa
- Rebecca Mirams (Archaeology) - Historical development of maritime Northern Territory
- Jamin Moon (Archaeology) - Aboriginal cultural heritage management
- Ashleigh Murszewski (Archaeology) - Geoarchaeology of the Drimolen hominin site, South Africa
- Jeff Theys (Archaeology) - Lithic procurement and mobility in eastern Tasmania
- Katherine Thomas (Archaeology) - Human-environment interactions in the Willandra Lakes
- Catherine Tucker (Archaeology) - Pentridge Prison, through the analysis of the archaeology
- Adam Valka (Archaeology) - Natufian stone tool technology in Jordan
- Gary Vines (Archaeology) - The Origins of Victoria's Flour Miller's.
- Wenjing Yu (Archaeology) - Electron Spin Resonance Dating of South African hominin sites
Staff Research Projects, Funding, & Field Schools
- Amanzi Springs Archaeology Project (South Africa) - National Geographic/Australian Research Council
- Collapse of Polonnaruva (Sri Lanka) Australian Research Council
- Dawn of Farming by the Dead Sea (Jordan) Shelby White & Leon Levy
- Drimolen Palaeoanthropology Field School (South Africa) - Australian Research Council
- History of Transplant Car Makers in the U.S.(US) - Australian Research Council
- Improving Spiritual Health Care for LGBT Victorians (Australia) -Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet
- Faith on the Goldfields: Rediscovering religious diversity from 1852-today (Australia) Australian Research Council
- Mungo Archaeology Project: Landscape archaeology at Lake Mungo (Australia) - Australian Research Council
- Palaeoenvironments and human adaptation in northwestern Victoria (Australia) -Australian Research Council
- River's of Gold (Australia) Australian Research Council
- Well beaten tracks: antiquity of Aboriginal land use in Tasmania (Australia) Australian Research Council
- Women in male-dominated work, 1840-2000 (Australia) Australian Research Council