Royal Society of Western Australia: Wallacea: Connecting Asia to the Australian Continent

Description

People, Place and Paint
Human Identities in Wallacea from Pleistocene to Present
The peopling of Sahul >50,000 years ago is an event – or series of events – known to us through archaeological investigations and genetic research. The latter source of evidence gives some indication of the ancestry of the First Australians – but who were they really? We present initial results from the Kimberley Visions: rock art style provinces of North Australia ARC project which explore both rock art and social linkages across northern Australia. These connections build on previous research, and we expand these linkages further to include desert fringes to the south, and island SE Asia to the north – where dating programs have identified 41,000-year-old painted rock art. Visually, this rock art – which consists of large irregularly infilled animal depictions – is very similar to what is thought to be one of the Kimberley’s oldest rock art types. Rock art provides a direct window in the past as perceived and intended by the creators of these images. We focus on the early human history between Sunda and Sahul, using rock art as a proxy for human movement – physically and culturally, linking Borneo (Sunda), Sulawesi (Wallacea) and Sahul (Kimberley). This approach repositions human activity away from the modern geography to a model in which Wallacea may have been less a line of division than a common landscape for people, who we have until now largely studied in geographic isolation.



The RSWA is pleased to announce the following Symposium:

"Wallacea: connecting Asia to the Australian continent"

Wallacea is the geographic region that lies in the tectonic collision zone between the Asian and Australian continents and is now recognized as one of the 32 global biodiversity hotspots. It includes many Islands, often separated by deep straits, which have a diversity of geological origins, landforms, ethnicities and biotas. This area has been the subject of many exciting and controversial scientific debates over the last 130 years ranging from:

The timing and nature of the geological collision and attempts at unravelling the resultant structural mélange;
Oceanographic changes resulting from collision that would have had a pronounced effect on regional climates;
Terrestrial and marine biogeographic patterns where the causes and sustainability of these distributions can be viewed on various time scales;
Early human migration patterns from Asia to Australia and how dispersal was achieved without a continuous land bridge;
Modern human ecology and associated anthropogenic-induced changes on the islands and how science, including science education, can benefit the modern economies of the region.
We are seeking expressions of interest for oral and poster presentation by 30 October 2019

The Royal Society of Western Australia and the UWA Oceans Institute are planning a symposium for Friday 14 February 2020 and invite expressions of interest for oral and poster presentations on scientific topics connecting South-East Asia, through Wallacea, to northwest Australia (including the Kimberley region of Western Australia).

The symposium will be held in the auditorium of the Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre at UWA. Participants will have to register but there will be no registration fee. Morning and afternoon tea will be provided. Lunches can be obtained from numerous cafes in the vicinity of the venue.

For planning purposes, we would appreciate expressions of interest and/or suggestions concerning the planned symposium by 30 October 2019. If you would like to make an oral presentation (15 minutes or 30 minutes depending on the number of papers offered) or display a poster on your research, please email your name, proposed topic, and type of presentation (oral, poster) to David Haig at: [email protected]

Organised by The Royal Society of Western Australia and The Oceans Institute, UWA

Period	14 Feb 2020
Event type	Conference
Location	Crawley, AustraliaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	National