The Archaeological and Anthropological Society of Victoria is a group that promotes the study of archaeology, anthropology, ethno-archaeology and ethno-history in both Australia and further abroad. Lectures, from a range of talented presenters, are held every third Thursday of the month at 6:30pm at the Kathleen Syme Library & Community Centre (251 Faraday St, Carlton), and are also accessible online via Zoom.
Next Lecture: 6.30pm Thursday 16 October 2025
First Australian inventions: grinding, pounding and Ground Stone Tools
Presented by Dr Richard Fullagar
Madejedbebe, an excavated site in western Arnhem Land, has the earliest examples of edge-ground hatchets in the world and a continuous record of grinding and pounding implements (Ground Stone Tools) spanning 65,000 years. In other parts of northern Australia, deep gorges have ancient rock engravings and outwash streams that are bordered with thousands of Ground Stone Tools, providing evidence of grinding crushing and pounding materials for food, craft and other purposes. However, Ground Stone Tools are extremely rare in excavated sites and our understanding of this technology depends on analysis of the composition, distribution and function of undated surface collections. Australian typologies of Ground Stone Tools (with recent revisions) include about 30 classes that are described in terms of form, function, technology, usewear and residues.
Biography
Richard Fullagar is an Australian archaeologist who has published widely on the function of stone tools from key sites spanning early modern human dispersals in eastern Asia and the Australian region. His first job was with the Victoria Archaeological Survey (1978–1982). He is currently an Adjunct Professor involved with Australian Research Council projects led by researchers at University of Western Australia (Desert to the Sea: Managing Rock Art, Country and Culture), Flinders University (Rockshelters and Rock Art in the River Murray Gorge) and La Trobe University (Lake Mungo). He is currently writing (in collaboration with Colin Pardoe and Elspeth Hayes) a comprehensive book on Australian Aboriginal ground stone tools.
Previous Lectures: 18 September 2025
Graduate students from the University of Melbourne present their work
Locating Roman Africa’s rural markets: the contribution of measuring tables
Presented by Rosemary Morgan, PhD candidate, University of Melbourne
The ephemerality and geographic isolation of many rural periodic markets of Roman North Africa make them elusive – though not impossible – objects of study. Only four inscriptions located in the densely populated hinterlands of Numidia and Africa Proconsularis attest to the existence of privately owned periodic markets. By contrast, the periodic markets of the frontier zones, usually held on public land, offer no direct inscriptional evidence. The frontiers were nonetheless spaces of high mobility and concentrated heterogeneous populations, civilian and military. Periodic markets were central to the sustenance and survival of local inhabitants, although specific contextual factors influenced their siting.
Discoveries of measuring tables at three rural locations – Calceus Herculis/El Kantara, Mediani/Ouled Abdallah and Tiaret – provide compelling evidence for periodic markets: furthermore, the study of their respective geographies, climatic situations and proximity to trade routes reveals their importance to circulation of trade within and beyond the frontiers. Previous studies of measuring tables have largely concentrated on their volumetric capacity and likely contents. The focus of this talk is not only on what measuring tables themselves can impart, but what their installation has to say about the political, juridical, economic and infrastructural contexts in which they are found.
A journey for permanence: the enduring ancient Near Eastern tradition of the Scorpion-men
Presented by Dr Sarah King, University of Melbourne
Sarah King’s doctoral thesis closely examined the enigmatic hybrid creatures known as Scorpion-men, narrowing in on ancient Near Eastern seals as the largest repository of their glyptic imagery. Based on the glyptic evidence, the thesis established the first comprehensive Scorpion-man typology, consisting of eight types. The typological analysis reveals an emerging pattern of development concerning bodily structure, poses, and symbolism associated with and increasingly utilised in their imagery. At their core, Scorpion-men can be broken down into two broad categories: their physical attributes and their associations and behaviours. These factors, in turn, provide answers to the questions regarding the nature, function, and significance of Scorpion-men as potent agents of protection.
Previous Lectures: 21 August 2025
Graduate students from La Trobe University present their work
Enigmatic objects: an archaeological prosopography of an urban 19th-century neighbourhood
Presented by Ramona Angelico, PhD candidate, La Trobe University
Using creative fiction informed by detailed historical research and material culture analysis, Ramona Lola Angelico’s doctoral thesis explores the potential of prosopographical research as a framework for the archaeological interpretation of an evolving, urban 19th-century neighbourhood in Melbourne, Australia.
Environmental Changes in the South African Coastal Acheulian Period: Marine Isotope Stage 11 at Amanzi Springs
Presented by Eunice Lalunio, PhD candidate, La Trobe University
The Amanzi Springs site in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa is a series of 12 well-stratified spring eye deposits, dating from ~530 ka–90 ka ago, that preserve both Acheulian and Middle Stone Age (MSA) stone tools, lending to research about the timing of the Acheulian and the transition to the MSA in the region. The site also preserves wood remains in association with the Acheulian stone tools – representing some of the oldest wood remains in the archaeological record at ~400ka – abundant macroscopic plant remains, charcoal and pollen material, lending insight into the environmental conditions during a critical period in human evolution.
This presentation provides preliminary results of the palaeoenvironmental analyses associated with the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11 layers of Amanzi Springs, covering the Acheulian period at the site. Investigation of the pollen and charcoal material at Amanzi Springs suggests that the local, and perhaps regional, vegetation at the Eastern Cape underwent significant changes, potentially due to variation in precipitation regimes and sea level fluctuations during MIS 11, possibly affecting the transition of stone tool culture at the site.
Previous Lecture: 17 July 2025
Creating a ceramic typology using machine learning: a case study from the Middle Bronze Age South Caucasus
Presented by Rebecca Neville, MA candidate, Monash University
My research uses a case study of painted pottery from the Middle Bronze Age South Caucasus to evaluate the effectiveness of machine learning applications for creating a typology to support archaeological studies. This presentation will provide background on the ceramic artefacts being studied, introduce the machine learning approach used in the research, and examine key applications.
Notices
Post Office Boxes
We advise all members that AASV now has two mailing addresses. Membership address: PO Box 200, Benalla VIC 3672.
General Correspondence and Artefact subscription enquiries: PO Box 203, Carlton VIC 3053.
