Author Description

This book brings together exciting new work in archaeology, linguistics and genetics to reveal a varied and dynamic view of Australia's Aboriginal past, and its place in the prehistory of the Pacific region. Each discipline provides some pieces of the jigsaw: put these together and a fuller picture emerges. To the dates and excavations of archaeology we can fit linguistic models of cultural contact and spread, and genetic evidence for past patterns of marriage and migration. Alll three disciplines point to sweeping changes in the mid-Holocene, linked to expansion of the Pama-Nyungan language family over most of the continent. The book includes introductory chapters surveying the methods and current state of knowledge in each contributing discipline as well as sections dealing with regional patterns within Australia; culture contact; the Pama-Nyungan question; and the broader Asia-Pacific perspective