Lecture Series

Library Lecture Series 2013

All lectures are held at 6.30pm at the RACP Education Centre, Level 8, 52 Phillip Street, Sydney.

Entry is $10 at the door.  There will be refreshments with discussion before and after the lecture.

On Monday 17th June Denise Donlan  will present her lecture on the " The Narrabeen Man".

Denise Donlon is curator of the Shellshear Museum of Physical Anthropology and a senior lecturer in the Department of Anatomy and Histology, University of Sydney. She has a PhD in physical anthropology and a BA (Hons) in archaeology. She coordinates courses in comparative primate anatomy and forensic osteology and supervises postgraduate students. Research interests include forensic anthropology of the Sydney region, dental and postcranial skeletal variation and Australian Aboriginal burial archaeology. Recent publications include Donlon, D. 2008 Forensic anthropology in Australia: A brief history and review of casework, Ch 7 in Oxenham, M. (ed.) pp. 97-110 Forensic Approaches to Death, Disaster and Abuse. Perth: Western Australia University Press. She is a consultant to the NSW Department of Forensic Medicine where she assists in the identification of skeletonised remains and a member of the RAAF Specialist Reserves where her role is in the recovery and identification of Australian war dead.

 

Excavation in a coastal dune near Narrabeen Beach in Sydney in 2005 uncovered the articulated skeletal remains of an adult Aboriginal male (estimated age 30-40 years) who had been slain approximately 4000 years ago. This man was particularly tall (183 cm) for an Aboriginal of that period and he displayed evidence of a very active lifestyle. This presentation describes the first archaeological evidence in Australia for the use of backed artefacts as spear armatures and for death by spearing. The associated stone artefact assemblage consists of 17 small flaked artefacts including 3 fragments embedded between or lying on bones. Ritual punishment using barbed death spears was witnessed at European contact in the Sydney region and this site provides early evidence of such violent conflict or punishment.

 

Note also the upcoming History of Medicine Course  2013 starting on 20th July. Please click here for the relevant brochure.