Dr Judith Cameron
B.A. (ANU), Grad. Dip. Chinese Art and Archaeology (SOAS), M. Phil. (Griffith), PhD (ANU)
ARC Future Fellow, School of Culture, History & Language
ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
T:
+61 2 61254312
Areas of expertise
- Archaeology Of Asia, Africa And The Americas 210103
Biography
My research focus is archaeological textiles, a generic term for a wide range of prehistoric fibre artefacts including cordage, basketry, matting and textiles and the tools used to produce them. The aim of the research is to use this specilialized data to provide insights into central issues in Southeast Asian prehistory.
Career highlights
ARC Future Fellow 2013-17 Chief Investigator
ARC Research Fellow 2008-2011 Chief Investigator
ARC International Fellow 2007
ARC Fellowship 2004-7
I am currently the grateful recipient of an ARC Future Fellowship (2013-2016) to investigate the archaeological evidence for long-distance trade and interaction on the Maritime Silk Route. The highlight of my career was the discovery and successful recovery (with Prof. Peter Bellwood) of a complete textile shroud from a waterlogged Dongson boat-burial from Dong Xa in the Red River region of northern Vietnam in 2004. The find was significant in Vietnamese archaeology as it was the first complete shroud and Dongson clothing found. The excavation funded, by the ARC, was a joint Australian/Vietnamese Archaeology Project with the National Museum of Australia and written up in Science, 21 April 2006, 312, p. 360.
Researcher's projects
Over the past decade, I have been involved as the textile specialist on the following international archaeology projects in Southeast Asia and the Pacific:
- The Maritime Silk Route: West meets East Chief Investigator
- The Origins of Angkor Project directed by Prof. Charles Higham (University of Otago) and Dr Rachanie Thosarat (The Fine Arts Department of Thailand)
- The Origins of Complex Societies in Sulawesi Project (OXIS) directed by Dr David Bulbeck (ANU) and Prof. Bagyo Prasetyo (Indonesian National Research Centre for Archaeology)
- The Rapa Island Project directed by Prof. Atholl Anderson (Australian National University) and Prof. Douglas Kennett (University of Oregon)
- The Origins of Rice Project (SAJOR) directed by the late Prof. Scotty McNeish (Andover Foundation), Prof. Yan Wenming (Peking University) and the Jiangxi Institute of Archaeology
- The Thai/Italian Archaeological Lopburi Regional Archaeological Project directed by Dr Fiorella Rispoli and Dr Roberto Ciarla (Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient) and Surapol Natapintu (Fine Arts Department of Thailand).
- The Niah Cave Project directed by Prof. Graeme Barker (University of Cambridge) ARC International Fellowship to J. Cameron 2007
- The Dong Son Textile Project, a joint Australian/Vietnamese ARC funded project directed by Prof. Peter Bellwood (ANU), Dr Nguyen Viet and Dr Bui Van Liem (Institute of Archaeology, Hanoi) with conservators from the National Museum of Australia. ARC Post-doctoral Fellowship awarded to J. Cameron 2004-2007
- The Indian Textile Project ARC Research Fellowship 2008-2012 Chief Investigator
- The Archaeology of Batujaya Project led by Prof. Pierre-Yves Manguin (EFEO) and the Urasan Arkeologi Nasional (Indonesia)
Available student projects
Australian Research Council Project, The Maritime Silk Route: West meets East
Publications
- Cameron, J 2015, 'Iron and Cotton in the Indian Ocean Littoral: New Data from ThaKae, Central Thailand', in S Tripati (ed.), Maritime Contacts of the Past: Deciphering Connections amongst Communities, Kaveri Book Service, Delhi, pp. 198-207.
- Cameron, J 2015, 'A Prehistoric Maritime Silk Road: Merchants, Boats, Cloth and Jade', The 6th Session of Academic Forum of China Maritime Museum 2015, ed. Zhang Dong Su, China Maritime Museum, Shanghai, pp. 58-69.
- Cameron, J 2014, 'Comment on "Rice, Psychology and Innovation"', Science, vol. 344, no. 6184.
- Cameron, J 2014, 'Textile Symbolism and Social Mobility during the Colonial Period in Sydney Cove', in Marie-Louise Nosch, Zhao Feng, Lotika Varadarajan (ed.), Global Textile Encounters, Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp. 189-199.
- Cameron, J 2014, 'The Dong Xa Shroud', North American Archaeologist, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 405-418.
- Higham, C, Cameron, J, Chang, N et al 2014, 'The excavation of Non Ban Jak, Northeast Thailand- A Report on the First Three Seasons", Journal of Indo-Pacific Archaeology, vol. 34, pp. 1-41.
- Cameron, J 2013, 'The Spinning Tools from Sunget, Anaro and Savidug', in Peter Bellwood and Eusebio Dizon (ed.), 4000 Years of Migration and Cultural Exchange: The Archaeology of the Batanes Islands, Northern Philippines (Terra Australis 40), ANU ePress, Canberra, pp. 115-121.
- Cameron, J 2013, 'Indian Textile Fragments from the site of Pontanoa Bangka, Sulawesi, Indonesia', Journal of Indian Ocean Archaeology, vol. 7&8, pp. 1-8pp.
- Cameron, J. Prehistoric Cloth Production in Southeast Asia. OXBOW and CTR. Ancient Textiles series (in prep.)
- Cameron, J., 'Preliminary results on an analysis of the textile fragments found in the Buddhist stupa at Deliwala'. (Zeitschrift für Archäologie Außereuropäischer Kulturen (forthcoming).
- LLoyd-Smith, L, Barker, G, Barton, H, Cameron, J et al 2013, ''Neolithic' Societies c. 4000-2000 Years Ago: Austronesian Farmers?', in Graeme Barker (ed.), 2013. Rainforest foraging and farming in Island Southeast Asia. Volume 1, Cambridge, University of Cambridge, UK, pp. 255-298.
- Cameron, J 2012, 'Cordage from Rapan archaeological sites', in Atholl Anderson and Douglas J. Kennett (ed.), Taking the High Ground (Terra Australis 37): The archaeology of Rapa, a fortified island in remote East Polynesia, ANU ePress, Canberra Australia, pp. 97-103.
- Cameron, J 2012, 'The Spinning Tools', in C.F.W. Higham and A. Kijngam (ed.), The Excavation of Ban Non Wat: Part Four: The Iron Age, Summary and Conclusions (The Origins of the civilization of Angkor, Volume Six), Thai Fine Arts department, Bangkok, Thailand, pp. 115-119pp.
- Cameron, J 2012, 'Leonard Aurousseau's hypothesis revisited: the intersection between history and archaeology', in Tjoa-Bonatz, M. L, Reinecke, A. and Bonatz, D. (ed.), Crossing borders: selected papers from the 13th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, volume 1, NUS Press - National University of Singapore, Singapore, pp. 221-229.
- Cameron, J 2012, 'The Spinning Tools', in C.F.W. Higham and A Kijngam (ed.), In the Origins of Angkor Part Volume V, The excavation of Ban Non Wat: Part Three: The Bronze Age. Bangkok: Fine Arts Department, pp. 497-504.
- Cameron, J. 2012, Textile Crafts in the Prehistoric Gulf of Tongking: The Intersection between Archaeology and History. Studies of Maritime History 4: 14-26. (In Chinese)
- Cameron, J 'Archaeological textiles from the Great Cave at Niah: Analysis and Technical Implications', in G. Barker, D. Gilbertson, T. Reynolds (eds.), Archaeological Investigations in the Niah Caves, Sarawak, 1954-2003. Volume 2. Cambridge: McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research (forthcoming).
- Cameron, J 2011, 'Fibre technology depicted in archaic art from south-eastern Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo', Antiquity, vol. 85, no. 330, pp. 1-3.
- Cameron, J 2011, 'Iron and cloth across the Bay of Bengal: New data from Tha Kae, central Thailand', Antiquity, vol. 85, no. 328, pp. 559-567.
- Cameron, J 2011, 'Recent research in Southeast Asia: A tribute to Peter Bellwood', Antiquity, vol. 85, pp. 490-491.
- Cameron, J 2011, 'New archaeological evidence for the movement of Yueh spinners into Mainland Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Island Southeast Asia during the late prehistoric period', Navigation: Trace of Civilization, the China-Maritime Museum International Academic Forum, China Maritime Museum, Shanghai China, pp. 1-13.
- Cameron, J 2011, 'Textile Crafts in the Gulf of Tongking: The Intersection Between Archaeology and History', in Nola Cooke, Li Tana and James A.Anderson (eds.), The Tongking Gulf Through History, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, pp. 25-38.
- Cameron, J 2010, 'The Archaeological Textiles from Ban Don Ta Phet in broader perspective', in Berenice Bellina, Elisabeth A Bacus, Thomas Oliver Pryce, Jan Wisseman Christie (ed.), 50 Years of Archaeology in Southeast Asia: Essays in Honour of Ian Glover, River Books, Bangkok, pp. 141-151.
- Bellwood, P, Cameron, J & Pawlik, A (eds.), 2009, Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Volume 29.
- Cameron, J., Bellwood, P., Bui Van Liem, Nguyen Viet, 2009, 'Kêt Qua Nghiên Cuu Vai Trong Van Hoa Dông Son Tai Di Tich Dông Xa (Hung Yên) Trong Hop Tac Khoa Hoc Viê t Nam-Uc Lân Thu Nhât'. Khao Co Hoc 2: 20-25 (In Vietnamese). Khao Co Hoc 2, pp. 20-25. (in Vietnamese).
- Bellwood, P, Cameron, J, Huffer, D (eds.) 2008, Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Volume 28 Proceedings of the 18th Congress of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Manila, Philippines.
- Cameron, J 2008, 'Prehistoric Interaction in the Asian Mediterranean', in Li Tana (ed.), A mini Mediterranean Sea: Gulf of Tong king through History, Nanning:Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pp. 99-110.
- Cameron, J 2008, 'Trans-oceanic transfer of bark-cloth technology from South China-Southeast Asia to Mesoamerica?', in Geoffrey Clark, Foss Leach & Sue O'Connor (eds.), Islands of Inquiry: Colonisation, Seafaring and the Archaeology of Maritime Landscapes (Terra Australis 29), ANU ePress, Canberra, pp. 203-210.
- Bellwood, P, Cameron, J, Bui Van Liem, Nguyen Viet, 2007, 'Ancient Boats, Boat Timbers, and Locked Mortise-and-Tenon Joints from Bronze/Iron-Age Northern Vietnam', International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 2-20.
- Cameron, J 2007, 'Report on the Spindle Whorl from the Linaminan Site, Palawan', Hukay, vol. 11, pp. 28-29.
- Cameron, J. 2007, 'Appendix H1 Report on an analysis of spindle whorl J-2514 Callao Cave, Penablanca, northern Luzon Philippines', in Armand Salvador B Mijares (ed.), Unearthing Prehistory: The Archaeology of Northeastern Luzon, Philippine Islands, John and Erica Hedges Ltd, England, p. 129.
- Cameron, J. 2007, 'Barkcloth Beaters from Linaminan', Hukay, vol. 11, p. 23.
- Cameron, J & Mijares, A 2006, 'Report on an Analysis of Spindle Whorl from Callao Cave, Penablanca, Northern Luzon, Philippines', Hukay, vol. 9, pp. 5-13.
- Cameron, J 2006, 'The Archaeological Evidence for Bark-cloth in Southeast Asia', in Michael C. Howard (ed.), Bark-cloth in Southeast Asia: Studies in the Material Cultures of Southeast Asia No.10, White Lotus Press, Bangkok, Thailand, pp. 65-74.
- Cameron, J 2006, 'New Research into Dongson Cloth from Waterlogged Sites in Vietnam', in Elizabeth A Bacus, Ian Glover (eds.), Uncovering Southeast Asia's Past: Selected Papers from the 10th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, NUS Press, Singapore, pp. 196-202.
- Bellwood, P, Cameron, J & Keates, S (eds.) 2005, 'Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association: Indo-Pacific Prehistory Volume 25: The Taipei Papers (Volume 3), 25'.
- Cameron, J 2005, 'Spindle Whorls', in Higham, C F W & Thosarat, R (eds.), The Excavation of Ban Lum Khao. Bangkok: Fine Arts Department, pp. 211-216.
- Cameron, J 2001, 'Textile technology and Austronesian dispersals', in Clark, G R, Anderson, A J, Vunidilo, T (eds.), The Archaeology of Lapita Dispersal in Oceania, Pandanus Books, Canberra ACT, pp. 177-182.
- Cameron, J 2000, 'Asbestos cloth and elites in Southeast Asia', Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 47-51.
Projects and Grants
Grants are drawn from ARIES. To add Projects or Grants please contact your College Research Office.
- The Maritime Silk Route as a World System: West meets East (Primary Investigator)
- Indian Textile Technology as archaeological evidence for population movements in Early Southeast Asia (Primary Investigator)
- The Niah Cave Project: archaeological textile analysis (Primary Investigator)
- Bronze Age Textiles from Dong Son Coffins in Vietnam (Secondary Investigator)
