Archaeology of Ancient Australia

Peter Hiscock is a Reader at the Australian National University where he teaches the archaeology of Australia. His work on Australian sites has concentrated on ancient technology but has also explored human exploitation of coastal and desert landscapes.

• 1. The veil of Antipodean pre-history  2. Colonization of Australia  3. Early settlement across Australia  4. Extinction of Pleistocene fauna  5. Who were the first Australians?  6. Life in Pleistocene Australia  7. Tasmania isolated  8. Technology in the Holocene  9. Coastal economies in the Holocene  10. Inland economies in the Holocene  11. Arid zone economies in the Holocene  12. Population growth and mobility  13. Social identity and interaction during the Holocene  14. The ethnographic challenge: change in the last millennium.

‘His concern is to balance science and the humanities, teetering on the fine knife edge between oceans of technological detail and the need both to entertain and to explain the ambiguities of the archaeological record. The result is a fascinating, state-of-the-art journey through Australia’s past, which is certainly not aimed at freshmen or the general public, but at students and readers with a serious interest in the subject …’ – Australian Archaeology