Professor Sue O'Connor
BA (Hons I) (UNE), PhD (UWA)
Distinguished Professor, School of Culture, History & Language
ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
Areas of expertise
- Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Archaeology 210101
- Archaeology Of Asia, Africa And The Americas 210103
- Archaeological Science 210102
- Archaeology Of New Guinea And Pacific Islands (Excl. New Zealand) 210106
- Archaeology 2101
Research interests
Australian and Southeast Asian archaeology; Pleistocene colonisation of Island Southeast Asia, Australia and Papua New Guinea by modern humans and the links between these regions; change and continuity across the boundary of the Neolithic transition in Island Southeast Asia; human impacts on the environment, rock art
Biography
I am currently conducting a major archaeological research project in East Timor investigating the cultural and environmental changes that took place across the Neolithic transition and into the Metal Age. This project complements and builds on previous research in the eastern Maluku region and Wallacea and current research in Papua New Guinea which is investigating Pleistocene colonisation in Island Southeast Asia and Greater Australia and subsequent patterns of migration, interaction and exchange.
Career highlights
Awarded Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship in 2012
Awarded Australian Research Council QEII Fellowship (1999-2003); Project title: Characterising the Island Southeast Asian Neolithic Transition: a comparison of preceramic and ceramic (Neolithic) maritime cultures.
Publications
- O'Connor, S, Balme, J, Fyfe, J et al 2013, 'Marking resistance? Change and continuity in the recent rock art of the southern Kimberly, Australia', Antiquity, vol. 87, no. 336, pp. 539-554.
- O'Connor, S & Bulbeck, F 2013, 'Homo Sapiens Societies in Indonesia and South-Eastern Asia', in (ed.), Oxford Handbooks Online, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 1-12.
- O'Connor, S & Ono, R 2013, 'The case for complex fishing technologies: a response to Anderson', Antiquity, vol. 87, pp. 1-4.
- O'Connor, S, Pannell, S & Brockwell, S 2013, 'The dynamics of culture and nature in a 'protected' Fataluku landscape', in Sally Brockwell, Sue O'Connor & Denis Byrne (eds) Transcending the Culture-Nature Divide in Cultural Heritage: Views from the Asia-Pacific Region. ANU ePress, Canberra Australia, pp. 203-234.
- Brockwell, S, O'Connor, S & Byrne, D, eds, 2013, Transcending the Culture-Nature Divide in Cultural Heritage: Views from the Asia-Pacific Region, ANU ePress, Canberra Australia.
- Gonzalez, A, Clark, G, O’Connor, S & Matisoo-Smith, L 2013, A 3000 year old dog burial in Timor-Leste Australian Archaeology 76: 13-20.
- Veth, P & O'Connor, S 2013, 'The past 50,000 years: an archaeological review', in Alison Bashford and Stuart Macintyre (ed.), The Cambridge History of Australia - The Commonwealth of Australia, Cambridge University Press, Victoria, pp. 17-42.
- Pannell, S & O’Connor S 2012, Where the wild things are: An exploration of sacrality, danger and violence in confined spaces. In H. Moyes (ed.), Sacred Darkness: A Global Perspective on the Ritual Use of Landscape, pp. 317-330. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.
- O'Connor, S. 2012. Out of Asia. Australasian Science 33, No. 4: 16-19.
- McWilliam, A., Bulbeck, D. Brockwell, S. & S. O'Connor 2012. 'The cultural legacy of Makassar stone in East Timor'.The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 13, No. 3: 262-279.
- O'Connor, S, McWilliam, A, Fenner, JN, Brockwell, S. 2012, 'Examining the Origin of Fortifications in East Timor: Social and Environmental Factors', Journal of Island & Coastal Archaeology, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 200-218.
- O'Connor, S, Ono, R & Clarkson, C 2011, 'Pelagic Fishing at 42,000 Years Before the Present and the Maritime Skills of Modern Humans', Science, vol. 334, no. 6059, pp. 1117-1121.
- O'Connor, S, Barham, A, Aplin, K et al 2011, 'The Power of Paradigms: Examining the Evidential Basis for Early to Mid-Holocene Pigs and Pottery in Melanesia', Journal of Pacific Archaeology, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 1-25.
- O'Connor, S, Brockwell, C & Pannell, S 2011, 'Whose Culture and Heritage for Whom? The Limits of National Public Good Protected Area Models in Timor Leste', in John N. Miksic, Geok Yian Goh and Sue O'Connor (ed.), Rethinking Cultural Resource Management in Southeast Asia, Anthem Press, London, pp. 39-65.
- Brockwell, C, Meehan, B, O'Connor, S et al 2011, 'Holocene settlement of the northern coastal plains, Northern Territory, Australia', Beagle: records of the museums and art galleries of the northern territory, vol. 2011, no. 27, pp. 1-22.
- Bulbeck, F & O'Connor, S 2011, 'The Watinglo mandible: A second terminal Pleistocene Homo sapiens fossil from tropical Sahul with a test on existing models for the human settlement of the region', Homo: Journal of Comparative Human Biology, vol. 62, no. 1, pp. 1-29.
- Miksic, J, Goh, G & O'Connor, S, eds, 2011, Rethinking Cultural Resource Management in Southeast Asia; Preservation, Development, and Neglect, Anthem Press, London.
- Reepmeyer, C, O'Connor, S & Brockwell, C 2011, 'Long-term obsidian use at the Jerimalai rock shelter in East Timor', Archaeology in Oceania, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 85-90.
- O'Connor, S, Aplin, K, St Pierre, E et al 2010, 'Faces of the ancestors revealed: Discovery and dating of a Pleistocene-age petroglyph in Lene Hara Cave, East Timor', Antiquity, vol. 84, no. 325, pp. 649-665.
- O'Connor, S, Ulm, S, Fallon, S et al 2010, 'Pre-bomb marine reservoir variability in the Kimberley region, Western Australia', Radiocarbon, vol. 52, no. 3, pp. 1158-1165.
- O'Connor, S, Barham, A, Spriggs, M et al 2010, 'Cave Archaeology and Sampling issues in the Tropics; A Case Study from Lene Hara Cave, a 42,000 year old occupation site in East Timor, Island Southeast Asia', Australian Archaeology, vol. 71, pp. 29-40.
- O'Connor, S 2010, 'Pleistocene Migration and Colonization in the Indo-Pacific region', in Atholl Anderson, James H Barrett & Katherine V Boyle (ed.), The Global Origins and Development of Seafaring, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge, pp. 41-55.
- O'Connor, S 2010, 'Continuity in Shell Artefact production in Holocene East Timor', 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. 219-233.
- Pannell, S & O'Connor, S 2010, 'Strategy Blurring: Flexible Approaches to subsistence in the East Timor', in Karen Hardy (ed.), Archaeological invisibility and forgotten knowledge: Conference Proceedings, Lodz, Poland, 5th-7th September 2007, Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 115-30.
- O'Connor, S & Frawley, S 2010, 'A 40,000 year wood charcoal record from Carpenter's Gap 1: New insights into palaeovegetation change and indigenous foraging strategies in the Kimberley, Western Australia', in Haberle, S.G., Stevenson, J. and Prebble, M. (ed.), Altered Ecologies: Fire, climate and human influence on terrestrial landscapes (Terra Australis 32), ANU ePress, Canberra Australia, pp. 257-279.
- O'Connor, S & Dickinson, W 2010, 'Stone Disc Beads from Watinglo Shelter, Northern Papua New Guinea', Journal of Pacific Archaeology, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 188-192.
- Frederick, U & O'Connor, S 2009, 'Wandjina, graffiti and heritage: The power and politics of enduring imagery', Humanities Research, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 153-183.
- Fairbairn, A, O'Connor, S & Marwick, B, eds, 2009, New Directions in Archaeological Science Terra Australis 28, ANU ePress, Canberra Australia.
- O'Connor, S 2009, 'Earliest Seafaring', in David Blumel, Stefan Malmoli, Jessa Netting (ed.), McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science and Technology 2009, McGraw-Hill Inc, United States, pp. 90-93.
- Clark, G, Leach, F & O'Connor, S, eds, 2008, Islands of inquiry: Colonisation, seafaring and the archaeology of maritime landscapes (terra australis 29), ANU ePress, Canberra Australia.
- O'Connor, S, Aplin, K & Collins, S 2008, 'A small salvage excavation in Windjana gorge, Kimberley, Western Australia', Archaeology in Oceania, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 75-81.
- Anderson, A & O'Connor, S 2008, 'Indo-Pacific Migration and Colonization - Introduction', Asian Perspectives, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 2-11.
- O'Connor, S 2008, 'Engendering Australian and Southeast Asian Prehistory. 'beyond epistemological angst'', Australian Archaeology, vol. 67, pp. 87-94.
- Ambrose, W, Allen, C, O'Connor, S et al 2008, 'Possible obsidian sources for artifacts from Timor: narrowing the options using chemical data', Journal of Archaeological Science, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 607-615.
- O'Connor, S, Barham, A & Woolagoodja, D 2008, 'Painting and repainting in the West Kimberley', Australian Aboriginal Studies, vol. 2008, no. 1, pp. 22-38.
- O'Connor, S & Arrow, S 2008, 'Boat images in the rock art of northern Australia with particular reference to the Kimberley, Western Australia', in Geoffrey Clark, Foss Leach & Sue O'Connor (ed.), Islands of inquiry: colonisation, seafaring and the archaeology of maritime landscapes (Terra Australis 29), ANU ePress, Canberra Australia, pp. 397-409.
- Balme, J & O'Connor, S, eds, 2008, Introduction to Special Volume: More Unconsidered Trifles, 67.
- Balme, J & O'Connor, S, eds, 2008, More Unconsidered Trifles: Papers to Celebrate the Career of Sandra Bowdler, 1.
- O'Connor, S & Anderson, A, eds, 2008, Maritime Migration and Colonization in Indo-Pacific Prehistory: Special Issue, 1.
- O'Connor, S, Zell, L & Barham, A 2007, 'Stone Constructions on Rankin Island, Kimberley, Western Australia', Australian Archaeology, vol. 64, pp. 15-22.
- O'Connor, S 2007, 'New evidence from East Timor contributes to our understanding of earliest modern human colonisation east of the Sunda Shelf', Antiquity, vol. 81, no. 313, pp. 523-535.
- O'Connor, S & Oliveira, N 2007, 'Inter- and Intra-regional Variation in the Austronesian Painting Tradition: A View from East Timor', Asian Perspectives, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 389-403.
- Lape, P, O'Connor, S & Burningham, N 2007, 'Rock Art: A Potential Source of Information about Past Maritime Technology in the South-East Asia-Pacific Region', International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 238-253.
- O'Connor, S & Aplin, K 2007, 'A Matter of Balance: An overview of Pleistocene occupation history and the impact of the Last Glacial Phase in East Timor and the Aru Islands, eastern Indonesia', Archaeology in Oceania, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 82-90.
- Aubert, M, O'Connor, S, McCulloch, M et al 2007, 'Uranium-series dating rock art in East Timor', Journal of Archaeological Science, vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 991-6.
- O'Connor, S & Veth, P 2006, 'Revisiting the Past: Changing Interpretations of Pleistocene Settlement Subsistence and Demography in Northern Australia', in Ian Lilley (ed.), Archaeology of Oceania: Australia and the Pacific Islands, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford, UK, pp. 31-47.
- O'Connor, S 2006, 'Unpacking the Island Southeast Asian Neolithic Cultural Package, and Finding Local Complexity', in Elizabeth A Bacus, Ian Glover (ed.), Uncovering Southeast Asia's Past: Selected Papers from the 10th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, NIAS Press, Singapore, pp. 74-87.
- Hiscock, P & O'Connor, S 2006, 'An Australian perspective on modern behaviour and artefact assemblages', Before Farming, vol. 2, pp. 1-10.
- Clarkson, C & O'Connor, S 2006, 'An Introduction to Stone Artifact Analysis', in Jane Balme and Alistair Paterson (ed.), Archaeology in Practice: A Student Guide to Archaeological Analyses, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford, UK, pp. 159-206.
- O'Connor, S 2006, Cave find a stepping stone back to early man, Sydney Morning Herald.
- Spriggs, M, Veth, P, O'Connor, S et al 2005, 'Three Seasons of Archaeological Survey in the Aru Islands, 1995-97', in S. O'Connor, M. Spriggs, P. Veth (ed.), The Archeology of the Aru Islands, Eastern Indonesia, Pandanus Books, Canberra, pp. 63-84.
- O'Connor, S, Spriggs, M & Veth, P, eds, 2005, The Archaeology of the Aru Islands, Eastern Indonesia, Pandanus Books, Canberra.
- O'Connor, S, Aplin, K, Pasveer, J et al 2005, 'Liang Nabulei Lisa: A late Pleistocene and Holocene sequence from the Aru Islands', in S. O'Connor, M. Spriggs, P. Veth (ed.), The Archeology of the Aru Islands, Eastern Indonesia, Pandanus Books, Canberra, pp. 125-162.
- Hiscock, P & O'Connor, S 2005, 'Arid Paradises or Dangerous Landscapes: A Review of Explanations for Paleolithic Assemblage Change in Arid Australia and Africa', in Peter Veth, Mike Smith, Peter Hiscock (ed.), Desert Peoples: Archaeological Perspectives, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Malden, USA, pp. 58-77.
- Veth, P, O'Connor, S, Spriggs, M et al 2005, 'The Ujir Site: An Early Historic Maritime Settlement in Northwestern Aru', in S. O'Connor, M. Spriggs, P. Veth (ed.), The Archeology of the Aru Islands, Eastern Indonesia, Pandanus Books, Canberra, pp. 85-93.
- Veth, P, Spriggs, M, O'Connor, S et al 2005, 'Wangil Midden: a Late Prehistoric Site, With Remarks on Ethnographic Pottery Making', in S. O'Connor, M. Spriggs, P. Veth (ed.), The Archeology of the Aru Islands, Eastern Indonesia, Pandanus Books, Canberra, pp. 95-124.
- Spriggs, M, O'Connor, S & Veth, P 2005, 'The Aru Islands in Perspective: A General Introduction', in S. O'Connor, M. Spriggs, P. Veth (ed.), The Archeology of the Aru Islands, Eastern Indonesia, Pandanus Books, Canberra, pp. 1-24.
- O'Connor, S, Spriggs, M & Veth, P 2005, 'On the Cultural History of the Aru Islands: Some Conclusions', in S. O'Connor, M. Spriggs, P. Veth (ed.), The Archeology of the Aru Islands, Eastern Indonesia, Pandanus Books, Canberra, pp. 307-314.
- O'Connor, S, Aplin, K, Szabo, K et al 2005, 'Liang Lemdubu: A Pleistocene Cave Site in the Aru Islands', in S. O'Connor, M. Spriggs, P. Veth (ed.), The Archeology of the Aru Islands, Eastern Indonesia, Pandanus Books, Canberra, pp. 171-204.
- O'Connor, S & Veth, P 2005, 'Early Holocene shell fish hooks from Lene Hara Cave, East Timor establish complex fishing technology was in use in Island South East Asia five thousand years before Austronesian settlement', Antiquity, vol. 79, no. 304, pp. 249-256.
- Watchman, A, O'Connor, S & Jones, R 2005, 'Dating oxalate minerals 20-45 ka', Journal of Archaeological Science, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 369-374.
- Veth, P & O'Connor, S 2005, 'Archaeology, claimant connection to sites, and native title: employment of successful categories of data with specific comments on glass artefacts', Australian Aboriginal Studies, vol. 1, pp. 2-15.
- Veth, P, Spriggs, M & O'Connor, S 2005, 'Continuity in Tropical Cave Use: Examples from East Timor and the Aru Islands, Maluku', Asian Perspectives, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 180-192.
- Pannell, S & O'Connor, S 2005, 'Toward a Cultural Topography of Cave Use in East Timor: A Preliminary Study', Asian Perspectives, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 193-206.
- Veth, P, O'Connor, S & Spriggs, M 2004, 'Changing research perspectives from Australia's doorstep: the Joint Australian-Indonesian Aru Islands Initiative and the Archaeology of East Timor Project', in Tim Murray (ed.), Archaeology from Australia, Australian Scholarly Publishing Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 209-230.
- Carter, M, Barham, A, Veth, P et al 2004, 'The Murray Islands Archaeological Project: Excavations on Mer and Dauar, Eastern Torres Strait', Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Cultural Heritage Series: Torres Strait Archaeology and Material Culture, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 163-182.
- Szabo, K & O'Connor, S 2004, 'Migration and complexity in Holocene Island Southeast Asia', World Archaeology, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 621-628.
- Carter, M, Barham, A, Bird, D et al 2004, 'Archaeology of the Murray Islands, eastern Torres Strait: implications for a regional prehistory', in Richard Davis (ed.), Woven Histories Dancing Lives Torres Strait Islander Identity, Culture and History, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, pp. 234-258.
- O'Connor, S & Chappell, J 2003, 'Colonisation and coastal subsistence in Australia and Papua New Guinea: different timing, different modes?', in Christophe Sand (ed.), Pacific Archaeology: assessments and prospects, proceedings of the International Conference for the 50th anniversary of the first Lapita excavation, Service des Musees et du Patrimoine, New Caledonia, pp. 17-32.
- O'Connor, S 2003, 'Nine New Painted Rock Art Sites from East Timor in the Context of the Western Pacific Region', Asian Perspectives, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 96-129.
- Spriggs, M, O'Connor, S & Veth, P 2003, 'Vestiges of Early Pre-agricultural economy in the landscape of East Timor - Recent research', International Conference of the EurASEAA 2003, ed. Anna Karlstrom and Anna Kallen, Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, Sweden, pp. 49-59.
- O'Connor, S & Chappell, J 2003, 'Colonisation and coastal subsistence in Australia and Papua New Guinea: different timing, different modes', International Conference for the 50th anniversary of the first Lapita excavation (July 1952), ed. Christophe Sand, Le Cahiers de l¹Archéologie en Nouvelle-Calédonie, Noumea, pp. 17-32.
- O'Connor, S 2002, 'Pleistocene Timor: Further corrections, A reply to Bednarik', Australian Archaeology, vol. 54, pp. 46-51.
- O'Connor, S, Spriggs, M & Veth, P 2002, 'Excavation at Lene Hara Cave establishes occupation in East Timor at least 35,000 years ago', Antiquity, vol. 76, pp. 45-50.
- O'Connor, S, Aplin, K, Spriggs, M et al 2002, 'From Savannah to Rainforest: Changing Environments and Human Occupation at Liang Lembudu, Aru Islands, Maluku (Indonesia)', in P. Kershaw, B. David, N. Tapper, D. Penny and J. Brown (ed.), Bridging Wallace's Line: The environmental and cultural history and dynamics of the SE-Asian-Australian Region, Catena Verlag GMBH, Germany, pp. 279-307.
- Gould, R, O'Connor, S & Veth, P 2002, 'Bones of Contention: reply to Walshe', Archaeology in Oceania, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 96-102.
- O'Connor, S & Fankhauser, B 2001, 'Art at 40,000BP? One Step Closer: An Ochre Covered Rock from Carpenters Gap Shelter1, Kimberley Region, Western Australia', in A.Anderson, I.Lilley & S.O'Connor (ed.), Histories of Old Ages: Essays in honour of Rhys Jones, Pandanus Books, Canberra, pp. 287-301.
- Watchman, A, Ward, I, Jones, R et al 2001, 'Spatial and Compositional Variations within Finely Laminated Mineral Crusts at Carpenters Gap, an Archaeological Site in Tropical Australia', Geoarchaeology: an international journal, vol. 16, no. 7, pp. 803-824.
- Anderson, A, Lilley, I & O'Connor, S, eds, 2001, Histories of Old Ages: Essays in honour of Rhys Jones, Pandanus Books, Canberra.
- Veth, P, O'Connor, S & Wallis, L 2000, 'Perspectives on ecological approaches in Australian archaeology', Australian Archaeology, vol. 50, pp. 54-66.
- O'Connor, S & Veth, P 2000, 'East of Wallaces Line: An Introduction', in O?Connor, S.; Veth, P. (ed.), East of Wallace?s Line: Studies of past and present maritime cultures of the Indo-Pacific region, A A Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 1-13.
- O'Connor, S & Veth, P 2000, 'The worlds first mariners: Savannah dwellers in an island continent', in O?Connor, S.; Veth, P. (ed.), East of Wallace?s Line: Studies of past and present maritime cultures of the Indo-Pacific region, A A Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 99-139.
- O'Connor, S, Veth, P & Barham, A 1999, 'Cultural versus natural explanations for lacunae in Aboriginal occupation deposits in northern Australia', Quaternary International, vol. 59, no. 1, pp. 61-70.
- Bryce, M, Jones, R & O'Connor, S 1999, 'Archaeological Evidence for the Extinction of a Breeding Population of Elephant Seals in Tasmania in Prehistoric Times', International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, pp. 430-437.
