The Archaeology of Marra Country: a new research program at Limmen National Park in northern Australia’s southwest Gulf country

Note: This is a hybrid event | Speakers via Zoom

Presenters:

• Liam Brady | ARC Future Fellow and Associate Professor, Flinders University
• Daryl Wesley | Senior Research Fellow, Flinders University
• with Amanda Kearney, John Bradley, Karen Steelman, and Marra Families)

Unlike other areas of northern Australia, the southwest Gulf of Carpentaria region has largely gone unnoticed by archaeologists in favour of regions dominated by extensive sandstone plateaus such as Arnhem Land and Kakadu National Park. However, a new partnership-based research program in Marra Country is beginning to reveal a remarkably abundant and diverse archaeology with an equally rich ethnographic record. Since 2017, we have been working with Marra Families, anthropologists, and the Parks & Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory to explore the cultural lifeways of Marra in the deep and recent past inside Limmen National Park.

In this seminar we share details and outcomes of some of our recent research at key sites inside the Park and contextualise them in terms of the region’s colonial history and resulting Aboriginal hybrid economies, interregional interaction, and their complex cultural and relational dimensions. By demonstrating the archaeological significance of Marra Country and the broader region, we also explore its potential to contribute new insights into Australia’s continental, archaeological narrative.

To be held on Campus at the Chau Chak Wing Museum and on Zoom. Please click here for CCW map.

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More information
Please contact Dr Michael Spate
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The Department of Archaeology is part of the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry (SOPHI).

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