Toowoomba archaeologists uncovered

Audiences will have an opportunity to meet Toowoomba's very own ‘Time Team' USQ's first Twilight Archaeology Seminar next week (27 May).

Husband-wife duo, Assoc Prof Bryce Barker and Dr Lara Lamb got the ‘Archaeology bug' from an early age.

'I was always interested in archaeology,' says Assoc Prof Barker.

'I come from New Zealand originally and my father's farm was located next to an ancient Maori obsidian quarry and a Maori hill fort and as kids we were always picking up artefacts and visiting old Maori sites.

'For Lara, a similar thing happened; her family are American and they often visited her grandma in Arizona and the Anazazi and Pueblo Indian ruins throughout the American south-west.'

Ultimately, it was a love of Archaeology which brought the two together, while completing their studies at the University of Queensland, and now sees them including their two children on their Archaeological adventures.

Lecturers in Anthropology at USQ, the pair have worked on a range of projects including local sites at the Eagles Nest Depression camp in Redwood Park, the old Toowoomba jail, the Ballard Cottage ruin and the Gummingurru stone arrangement site near Gowrie Junction.

They have also worked extensively on pre-European Aboriginal archaeology of the central Queensland coast in the Whitsunday/Bowen region, focussing on the human response to sea level rise over the last few thousand years.

This has included the discovery and excavation of one of the oldest archaeological sites on the east coast of Australia.

'The site at Nara Inlet, which I excavated as part of my PhD in 1996, has been the most interesting dig I've worked on," said Assoc Prof Barker.

'Prior to this, the oldest site on the east coast of Australia was about 3 000 years old; Nara Inlet 1dated to 9 000 years of continuous occupation establishing evidence of the oldest human use of the east coast of Australia.'

Since 2006, the pair has been part of a large Australian Research Council funded project in Papua New Guinea focussing on the western gulf, looking at the antiquity, origins and extent of the pottery trade along the coast.

'Much of our work focuses on community-based work, incorporating not only academic research output and contributions to knowledge about our past, but also real community outcomes.

'Our talk will focus on some of the discoveries our research has uncovered and how our research can contribute to the wider community, as well as our experiences as an archaeological family carrying out field work in remote places for extended periods of time.'

The informal seminar commences at 6pm on Wednesday 27 May in the USQ Concert Hall and is hosted by the USQ Public Memory Research Centre.

Tickets are $17.50 adult, $14.50 concession, $12.50 student, $7.50 child and can be purchased through the USQ Artsworx Box Office on 07 4631 1111.

Media Contact: Michelle Fox, USQ Artsworx, +61 7 4631 1114 or 0439 911 623