Investigating the ancient settlement and food production systems of the Mithaka people, Channel Country

RGSQ Lecture Series

Professor Michael Westaway    

Archaeological research in Mithaka country, in Australia’s extraordinary desert channels is providing an exciting new insight into how the Mithaka people sustained large populations in this extraordinary cultural landscape. The research has generated important new insights into how we might think about defining the nature of ancient Mithaka society, with evidence of village settlements, large scale harvesting and aquaculture emerging from a large multidisciplinary project recovering new ethnohistoric, archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence. 

Bio: Michael is professor of archaeology and biological anthropology in the School of Social Science, University of Queensland. He undertakes research primarily investigating the nature of Aboriginal society and economic systems, attempting to understand how clans interacted with the local ecological niche in order to maintain healthy societies. He also is deeply interested in the biological origins of the First Australians, having undertaken research in the Willandra Lakes (including Lake Mungo), Ngandong in Indonesia and Nombe in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. 

Photo: Taking pollen cores on the NSW mid north coast, Michael Westaway