Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Jo McDonald is the Director of the Centre for Rock Art Research + Management at UWA. She holds the Rio Tinto Chair in Rock Art Studies. Jo has recently completed an ARC Future Fellowship. Her four year research project studied rock art, social and environmental change in two of the great deserts of the world: the Western Desert in Australia and the Great Basin in the USA.
Prior to taking up her role as Director of CRAR+M, Jo was Director of Jo McDonald CHM Pty Ltd, a leading cultural heritage practice based in Sydney. She has more than 35 years’ experience in managing Indigenous archaeology and has been researching rock art throughout this time.
Prior to taking up her role as Director of CRAR+M, Jo was Director of Jo McDonald CHM Pty Ltd, a leading cultural heritage practice based in Sydney. She has more than 35 years’ experience in managing Indigenous archaeology and has been researching rock art throughout this time.
Roles and responsibilities
Director, Centre for Rock Art Research + Management
Rio Tinto Chair of Rock Art Studies
ARC Future Fellow
Rio Tinto Chair of Rock Art Studies
ARC Future Fellow
Future research
Rock Art of the Pilbara
Kimberley and desert art connections
Pilbara and desert art connections
Great Basin rock art
Rock art of the early Americans and Australians
Kimberley and desert art connections
Pilbara and desert art connections
Great Basin rock art
Rock art of the early Americans and Australians
Funding overview
AIATSIS Grant for dating arid zone rock art 2005 Canning Stock Route ARC Linkage Project (Rock Art and Jukurrpa) 2007-2011
Jo was Principal Investigator and JMcD CHM was a Partner organisation.
ARC Future Fellowship: Arid zone rock art of the Western Desert and Great Basin 2011-2016
Lead Chief Investigator - Murujuga: Dynamics of the Dreaming ARC Linkage Project (2015-2018)
Jo was Principal Investigator and JMcD CHM was a Partner organisation.
ARC Future Fellowship: Arid zone rock art of the Western Desert and Great Basin 2011-2016
Lead Chief Investigator - Murujuga: Dynamics of the Dreaming ARC Linkage Project (2015-2018)
Previous positions
Director, Jo McDonald Cultural Heritage Management Pty Ltd
Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Australian National University
Director, Brayshaw McDonald Pty Ltd
Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Australian National University
Director, Brayshaw McDonald Pty Ltd
Industrial relevance
As a long term cultural heritage practitioner, Jo has good links with Industry and government, and is well versed in the practicalities of heritage management in Australia. This long term experience has seen her involved as an expert witness in Native Title and Land and Environment Court actions, as well as providing advice to government (Stage and Commonwealth) on heritage matters.
Teaching overview
ARCY 2004 - Rock Art in Archaeology Undergraduate course 2012
ARCY 2005 - Rock Art Field school (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)
ARCY 2005 - Rock Art Field school (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)
Research
Rock art and information exchange;
Gender and rock art;
Arid zone rock art;
The contemporaneity of rock art with other occupation evidence;
Direct-dating rock art;
Rock art and dreaming tracks (Jukurrpa);
Applied rock art research (Native Title arena, National Heritage and World Heritage)
Gender and rock art;
Arid zone rock art;
The contemporaneity of rock art with other occupation evidence;
Direct-dating rock art;
Rock art and dreaming tracks (Jukurrpa);
Applied rock art research (Native Title arena, National Heritage and World Heritage)
Languages
English
written and colloquial French
written and colloquial French
Keywords
- Rock art method and theory
- Archaeological method and theory
- Pleistocene archaeology
- Chronometric dating of pigment art
- Archaeology of gender
- The archaeology of Indigenous Australia
- Hunter-gatherer archaeology
- Open site archaeology
- Regional archaeological studies
- Application of geographical information systems in archaeology
- Rock art database development
- Visualization of rock art
Fingerprint Fingerprint is based on mining the text of the person's scientific documents to create an index of weighted terms, which defines the key subjects of each individual researcher.
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graphic arts
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Network
Recent external collaboration on country level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots.
Projects 2012 2016
- 12 Finished
Murujuga - Dynamics of the Dreaming
McDonald, J., Bourke, P., Glaskin, K., Hampson, J., Paterson, A., Veth, P. & Whitley, T.
Australian Research Council ARC
1/01/14 → 31/12/16
Project: Research
Research Output 2006 2018
Karnatukul (Serpent’s glen): A new chronology for the oldest site in Australia’s Western Desert
McDonald, J., Reynen, W., Petchey, F., Ditchfield, K., Byrne, C., Vannieuwenhuyse, D., Leopold, M. & Veth, P., 1 Sep 2018, In : PLoS One. 13, 9, e0202511Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Open Access
Chronology
Western Australia
Occupations
Excavation
Pigments
Murujuga desert, tide, and dreaming: Understanding early rock art production and lifeways in northwest Australia
Berry, M., 2018, (Unpublished)Research output: Thesis › Doctoral Thesis
File
rock art
tide
desert
Holocene
Pleistocene
Murujuga Rockshelter: First evidence for Pleistocene occupation on the Burrup Peninsula
McDonald, J., Reynen, W., Ditchfield, K., Dortch, J., Leopold, M., Stephenson, B., Whitley, T., Ward, I. & Veth, P., 1 Aug 2018, Quaternary Science Reviews, 193, p. 266-287Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article
rock art
occupation
Pleistocene
Holocene
art
Recognition and value of submerged prehistoric landscape resources in Australia
Ward, I., Smyth, D., Veth, P., McDonald, J. & McNeair, S., 15 Jun 2018, In : Ocean and Coastal Management. 160, p. 167-174 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
cultural heritage
resource
marine park
Western Australia
sea level
Testing predictions for symmetry, variability and chronology of backed artefact production in Australia's Western Desert
Mcdonald, J., Reynen, W. & Fullagar, R., 1 Oct 2018, In : Archaeology in Oceania. 53, 3, p. 179-190 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
desert
artifact
Symmetry
Testing
Western Desert
Datasets
Cape Lambert Site CL3-12-02
McDonald, J. (Creator), Carson, A. (Creator), Winton, V. (Creator), The University of Western Australia, 12 Oct 2012
Dataset
Bunuba Lifeways project
Balme, J. (Creator), Winton, V. (Creator), Carson, A. (Creator), McDonald, J. (Creator), The University of Western Australia, 22 Oct 2012
Dataset
Happy Valley field school 2012
McDonald, J. (Creator), Winton, V. (Creator), Carson, A. (Creator), The University of Western Australia, 12 Oct 2012
Dataset
Karnatukul, Katjarra (Serpents Glen)
McDonald, J. (Creator), The University of Western Australia, 23 Mar 2018
Dataset
File
Investigator Images 2011 - Subterranean Shelter Close-ups
Veth, P. (Creator), The University of Western Australia, 27 Feb 2013
Dataset
Prizes
archaeology