AQUA are pleased to be undertaking a joint session with the Australian Archaeological Association, who are hosting their annual conference in Darwin at the same time as the AQUA meeting in December, 2022.

The joint session “Human-Environment Interactions: A Joint Session for the Australian Archaeological Association and Australasian Quaternary Association” will be run simultaneously in Darwin and Adelaide with speakers joining on both ends (and transmitted to the other via Zoom/Teams). The session aims to share knowledge between the archaeological and social sciences and allow archaeologists working in the Quaternary sciences, who attend AAA, to participate with the AQUA conference.

Abstract submission for AAA is now live and AQUA attendees who wish to submit to this session should submit via the AAA webpage by 22 July, 2022.

Please indicate at the end of your abstract text that you are an AQUA attendee. If you have an issues or queries please contact Caroline (caroline.mather@uwa.edu.au). A full description of the joint session theme is provided at the end of the email.

Human-Environment Interactions: A Joint Session for the Australian Archaeological Association and Australasian Quaternary Association

The Australasian region has an expansive history of human occupation and migration over the last 65,000 years. The evolution of climate, environment and landscape over time had the potential to profoundly influence human habitation and social interaction. Notably, there has been extreme climatic and geographic change since the Last Glacial Maximum, after which sea levels rose ~130 m and transformed the landscape. So too, modification of the environment by humans is apparent in many locations, including petroglyphs, evidence of large-scale aquaculture, and charcoal deposits from traditional burning practices. The degree to which human practices may have altered the environment is still being uncovered, although significant changes in land use since European colonisation in Australasia are readily apparent in environmental records. We welcome presentations that discuss the palaeoenvironmental frame of human occupation and activities and highlight the varying interactions between peoples and their environment – including the effects of contact between cultures. This is the first joint session between the Australian Archaeological Association and Australasian Quaternary Association aiming to share knowledge between the archaeological and social sciences with the environmental-focussed Quaternary sciences.

Convenors: Patrick Morrison (AAA) and Caroline Mather (AQUA), The University of Western Australia