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Sean Ulm
Profile Details
Sean Ulm
Prof.
Sean
Ulm

Sean’s research focuses on persistent problems in the archaeology of northern Australia and the western Pacific where understanding the relationships between environmental change and cultural change using advanced studies of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental sequences are central to constructions of the human past. His priority has been to develop new tools to investigate and articulate co-variability and co-development of human and natural systems.

Contact Details
ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures
James Cook University
Cairns
4870
QLD
Australia
Professional Details
James Cook University
PhD, The University of Queensland
Selective
Fellow, Australian Academy of the Humanities Fellow, Society of Antiquaries of London Honorary Research Fellow, Queensland Museum Fellow, Cairns Institute Editor, Australian Archaeology Editorial Board, Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology Editorial Board, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society Editor, Queensland Archaeological Research Member, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Member, Australian Archaeological Association Inc. Full Member, Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists Inc. Member, Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology Member, Australasian Quaternary Association Member, Archaeological and Anthropological Society of Victoria Member, Royal Society of Queensland Member, International Council for Archaeozoology Member, Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Member, Australian National Committee for Archaeology Teaching and Learning
Over 30 years of experience working as an archaeologist and cultural heritage consultant in Queensland and Western Australia. Extensive experience in EIS-related cultural heritage assessments, specialising in coastal and island Aboriginal archaeology in Queensland. Extensive experience in undertaking archaeological surveys, site recording and significance assessments (especially coastal environments). Extensive experience in project management and expert peer review.Research interests in:Differentiating between cultural and natural coastal deposits Coastal and island archaeology Impacts of people on new environments Cultural heritage management and climate change Refining archaeological chronologies Improving archaeology teaching and learning
Codilean, A.T., H. Munack, W.M. Saktura, T.J. Cohen, Z. Jacobs, S. Ulm, P.P. Hesse, J. Heyman, K.J. Peters, A.N. Williams, R.B. K. Saktura, X. Rui, K. Chishiro-Dennelly and A. Panta 2022 OCTOPUS database (v.2). Earth System Science Data 14:3695–3713. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3695-2022Ditchfield, K., S. Ulm, T. Manne, H. Farr, D. O’Grady and P. Veth 2022 Framing Australian Pleistocene coastal occupation and archaeology. Quaternary Science Reviews 293:107706. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107706McCarthy, J., C. Wiseman, K. Woo, D. Steinberg, M. O’Leary, D. Wesley, L.M. Brady, S. Ulm and J. Benjamin 2022 Beneath the Top End: A regional assessment of submerged archaeological potential in the Northern Territory, Australia. Australian Archaeology 88(1):65-83. https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2021.1960248Williams, A., S. Ulm and M.A. Smith 2022 Past Aboriginal populations and demographic change using radiocarbon data and time-series analysis. In I.J. McNiven and B. David (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous Australia and New Guinea. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190095611.013.18Benjamin, J. and S. Ulm 2021 The big flood: Responding to sea-level rise and the inundated continental shelf. In I.J. McNiven and B. David (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous Australia and New Guinea. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190095611.013.17Bradshaw, C.J.A., K. Norman, S. Ulm, A.N. Williams, C. Clarkson, J. Chadœuf, S.C. Lin, Z. Jacobs, R.G. Roberts, M.I. Bird, L.S. Weyrich, S.G. Haberle, S. O’Connor, B. Llamas, T.J. Cohen, T. Friedrich, P. Veth, M. Leavesley and F. Saltré 2021 Stochastic models support rapid peopling of Late Pleistocene Sahul. Nature Communications 12:2440. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21551-3Cook Hale, J., J. Benjamin, K. Woo, P.M. Astrup, J. McCarthy, N. Hale, F. Stankiewicz, C. Wiseman, C. Skriver, E. Garrison, S. Ulm and G. Bailey 2021 Submerged landscapes, marine transgression and underwater shell middens: Comparative analysis of site formation and taphonomy in Europe and North America. Quaternary Science Reviews 258:106867. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.106867Crabtree, S.A., D.A. White, C.J.A. Bradshaw, F. Saltré, A.N. Williams, R.J. Beaman, M.I. Bird and S. Ulm 2021 Landscape rules predict optimal superhighways for the first peopling of Sahul. Nature Human Behaviour 5:1303-1313. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01106-8Leach, J., C. Wiseman, M. O’Leary, J. McDonald, J. McCarthy, P. Morrison, P. Jeffries, J. Hacker, S. Ulm, G. Bailey and J. Benjamin 2021 The integrated cultural landscape of North Gidley Island: Coastal, intertidal and nearshore archaeology in Murujuga (Dampier Archipelago), Western Australia. Australian Archaeology 87(3):251-267. https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2021.1949085Mate, G. and S. Ulm 2021 Working in archaeology in a changing world: Australian archaeology at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Australian Archaeology 87(3):229-250. https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2021.1986651Rowland, M., B. Shaw and S. Ulm 2021 Maritime coastal and island societies of Australia and New Guinea. In I.J. McNiven and B. David (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous Australia and New Guinea. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190095611.013.29Wiseman, C., M. O’Leary, J. Hacker, F. Stankiewicz, J. McCarthy, E. Beckett, J. Leach, P. Baggaley, C. Collins, S. Ulm, J. McDonald and J. Benjamin 2021 A multi-scalar approach to marine survey and underwater archaeological site prospection in Murujuga, Western Australia. Quaternary International. 584:152-170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.09.005Benjamin, J., M. O’Leary, J. McDonald, C. Wiseman, J. McCarthy, E. Beckett, P. Morrison, F. Stankiewicz, J. Leach, J. Hacker, P. Baggaley, K. Jerbić, M. Fowler. J. Fairweather, P. Jeffries, S. Ulm and G. Bailey 2020 Aboriginal artefacts on the continental shelf reveal ancient drowned cultural landscapes in northwest Australia. PLoS ONE 15(7):e0233912. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233912Veth, P., J. McDonald, I. Ward, M. O’Leary, E. Beckett, J. Benjamin, S. Ulm, J. Hacker, P.J. Ross and G. Bailey 2020 A strategy for assessing continuity in terrestrial and maritime landscapes from Murujuga (Dampier Archipelago), North West Shelf, Australia. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 15(4):477-503. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2019.1572677Bird, M.I., S.A. Condie, S. O’Connor, D. O’Grady, C. Reepmeyer, S. Ulm, M. Zega, F. Saltré and C.J.A. Bradshaw 2019 Early human settlement of Sahul was not an accident. Scientific Reports 9:8220. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-42946-9Bradshaw, C.J.A., S. Ulm, A.N. Williams, M.I. Bird, R.G. Roberts, Z. Jacobs, F. Laviano, L.S. Weyrich, T. Friedrich, K. Norman and F. Saltré 2019 Minimum founding populations for the first peopling of Sahul. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3(7):1057-1063. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0902-6
Shell midden analysis Coastal archaeology Queensland archaeology
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http://research.jcu.edu.au/portfolio/sean.ulm
@SeanUlm