Fiona Petchey – The Conversation

GunaiKurnai Elder Uncle Russell Mullett at entrance to Cloggs Cave, East Gippsland. Jess Shapiro, courtesy GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation

July 1, 2024

Oldest living culture: our new research shows an Indigenous ritual passed down for 500 generations

Russell Mullett, Indigenous Knowledge; Ashleigh Rogers, Monash University; Bruno David, Monash University; Carney D. Matheson, Griffith University; Fiona Petchey, University of Waikato, and Nathan Wright, University of New England

Matching new archological findings with ethnographic records, we can show ritual fireplaces have been in continuous use for at least 12,000 years.

Andrea Jalandoni

August 23, 2023

This cave on Borneo has been used for 20,000 years – and we’ve now dated rock art showing colonial resistance 400 years ago

Jillian Huntley, Griffith University; Andrea Jalandoni, Griffith University; Emilie Dotte-Sarout, The University of Western Australia; Fiona Petchey, University of Waikato, and Paul S.C.Taçon, Griffith University

New dates for the rock art in the Gua Sireh cave in Malaysia reveal resistance to frontier violence between 1670 and 1830.

Shutterstock/Anton Balazh

November 8, 2022

New research shows ancestral Māori adapted quickly in the face of rapid climate change

Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, James Cook University and Fiona Petchey, University of Waikato

A more precise timeline now shows Polynesian ancestors of Māori first settled in the North Island before expanding south and then retreating again when the climate changed.

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