The Archaeology of Sydney Research Group

BACKGROUND

The Archaeology of Sydney Research Group (ASRG) is a joint initiative between academic staff from the Department of Archaeology, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, University of Sydney and professional archaeologists and researchers who work in Sydney. We aim to provide a focus and forum for supporting, developing and promoting research, professional, educational and other public benefit outcomes from archaeology conducted in the Greater Sydney region.

In late 2008 the ASRG Steering Group started to define current shared Research Themes to guide immediate future activities and joint funding applications. These include but are not limited to:

Life in Sydney: Food and diet, fish and marine resources, market gardening; Ethnicity and gender; Mercantilism.
Convicts: Convict institutions; development of a free society.
Industry and Infrastructure: Maritime, potteries, defence, transport, standing buildings
Landscapes: Urbanisation, Aboriginal land use, Parramatta, cemeteries
Aboriginal Sydney: Stone tool evolution, resource use, land use patterns, rock art, contact
Public Archaeology and Heritage: Synthesis and publication, grey literature, sustainable digital archives, public education
History of Sydney Archaeology

ASRG is a work in progress. Subject to funding we plan to hold workshops, organise a conference on Sydney archaeology and have begun applying for grants to support projects. As ASRG develops we’d like to develop further linkages and project collaborations with other interested researchers, professionals, industry partners, students and community groups. We are also collating lists of potential co-supervised Honours and postgraduate research projects based on Sydney archaeology.