Paul S.C.Taçon

(MENAFN- The Conversation)

• Chair in Rock Art Research and Director of the Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit (PERAHU), Griffith University

Profile Articles Activity

Distinguished Professor Paul S.C. Taçon FAHA FSA is an archaeologist and anthropologist, past ARC Australian Laureate Fellow (2016-2021) and Chair in Rock Art Research at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. He also directs Griffith University's Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit (PERAHU) and is a member of both the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research and Griffith's Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution. He has conducted archaeological and ethnographic fieldwork since 1980 and has over 93 months field experience in remote parts of Australia, Cambodia, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, southern Africa, Thailand, The Philippines and the USA.

Prof Taçon co-edited The Archaeology of Rock-art with Dr Christopher Chippindale and has published over 315 academic and popular papers on rock art, material culture, colour, cultural evolution and identity. In 2015, he co-authored a book that outlines a new strategy for the conservation of world rock art and from 2016 to 2018 co-edited three major volumes on rock art. In December 2016, Prof Taçon was awarded the top award at the annual Australian Archaeological Association conference, the Rhys Jones Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Archaeology. He also received the 2016 Griffith University Vice-Chancellor's Research Excellence Award for Research Leadership.

Experience

• 2011–present Chair in Rock Art Research, Griffith University
• 2005–2011 Professor of Archaeology & Anthropology, Griffith University
• 1999–2005 Principal Research Scientist, The Australian Museum
• 1996–1999 Senior Research Scientist, The Australian Museum
• 1993–1996 Research Scientist, The Australian Museum
• 1991–1993 Scientific Officer, The Australian Museum
• 1989–1990 Associate Professor, Trent University

Education

• 1990 Australian National University, PhD
• 1984 Trent University, Ontario, Canada, MA
• 1980 University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, BA (Honours)

Publications

• 2014 A scientific study of a new cupule site in Jabiluka, western Arnhem Land, Rock Art Research
• 2013 Further geological and palaeoanthropolgocial investigations at the Maludong hominin site, Yunnan Province, Southwest China, Chinese Science Bulletin
• 2013 Mid-Holocene age obtained for nested diamond pattern petroglyph in the Billasurgam Cave complex, Kurnool District, southern India, Journal of Archaeological Science
• 2012 Uranium-series age estimates for rock art in southwest China, Journal of Archaeological Science
• 2012 Human remains from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition of Southwest China suggest a complex evolutionary history for East Asians, PLoS One
• 2011 The recent rock drawings of the Lenggong Valley, Perak, Malaysia, Antiquity
• 2010 A minimum age for early depictions of Southeast Asian praus in the rock art of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australian Archaeology
• 2010 Painting History: Indigenous observations and depictions of the 'other' in northwestern Arnhem Land, Australia, Australian Archaeology
• 2010 New rock art discoveries in the Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh, India, Antiquity
• 2010 Ancient bird stencils in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia, Antiquity
• 2010 Naturalism, nature and questions of style in Jinsha River rock art, northwest Yunnan, China, Cambridge Archaeological Journal
• 2010 The age of Australian rock art: a review, Australian Archaeology
• 2009 Thinking with animals in Upper Palaeolithic rock art, Cambridge Archaeological Journal
• 2008 Rainbow colour and power among the Waanyi of northwest Queensland, Cambridge Archaeological Journal
• 2007 Human dispersal into Australasia, Science
• 2006 Wollemi petroglyphs, NSW, Australia: an unusual assemblage with rare motifs, Rock Art Research
• 2006 Comparison of sedimentation and occupation histories inside and outside rock shelters, Keep-River Region, northwestern Australia, Geoarchaeology
• 2004 Transitional traditions: 'Port Essington' bark-paintings and the European discovery of Aboriginal aesthetics, Australian Aboriginal Studies
• 2003 Depicting cross-cultural interaction: figurative designs in wood, earth and stone from south-east Australia, Archaeology in Oceania
• 2002 Extraordinary engraved bird track from North Australia: extinct fauna, Dreamtime Being or aesthetic masterpiece?, Cambridge Archaeological Journal
• 2000 Visions of Dynamic power: archaic rock-paintings, Altered States of Consciousness and 'clever men' in western Arnhem Land (NT), Australia, Cambridge Archaeological Journal
• 2000 Minimum ages for pecked rock markings from Jinmium, north western Australia, Archaeology in Oceania
• 1999 All things bright and beautiful: the role and meaning of colour in human development, Cambridge Archaeological Journal
• 1998 The archaeology of rock-art, Cambridge University Press
• 1997 Cupule engravings from Jinmium-Granilpi (northern Australia) and beyond: exploration of a widespread and enigmatic class of rock markings, Antiquity
• 1996 Birth of the Rainbow Serpent in Arnhem land rock art and oral history, Archaeology in Oceania
• 1994 Socialising landscapes: the long term implications of signs, symbols and marks on the land, Archaeology in Oceania
• 1994 Australia's ancient warriors: changing depictions of fighting in the rock art of Arnhem Land, N.T. (with comments from 10 leading authorities and reply), Cambridge Archaeological Journal
• 1993 Regionalism in the recent rock art of western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Archaeology in Oceania
• 1991 The power of stone: symbolic aspects of stone use and tool development in western Arnhem Land, Australia, Antiquity

Grants and Contracts

• 2012 The peopling of East Asia and Australia Role: Chief Investigator Funding Source: ARC Linkage
• 2012 History places: Wellington Range rock art Role: Lead Chief Investigator Funding Source: Northern Territory Government
• 2010 Rock-art research task group: an international opportunity for the implementation of a new scientific network for the documentation, preservation and ethical management of world rock-art Role: Chief Investigator Funding Source: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
• 2008 Rock-art research task group: an international opportunity for the implementation of a new scientific network for the documentation, preservation and ethical management of world rock-art Role: Chief Investigator Funding Source: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
• 2008 The late Pleistocene peopling of East Asia and associated climate-environment history Role: Chief Investgator Funding Source: ARC Discovery
• 2008 Picturing Change: 21st Century Perspectives on Recent Australian Rock Art, especially that from the European Contact Period Role: Lead Chief Investigator Funding Source: ARC Discovery
• 2004 The landscape of Blue Mountains rock-art Role: Chief Investigator Funding Source: National Geographic
• 2004 Asia's first people: the role of East Asia in human evolution during the past half million years Role: Chief Investigator Funding Source: ARC Discovery

Honours

Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (FAHA); Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA)

MENAFN30032026000199003603ID1110920812