High schools | Research in the media | Seminars and lectures

The School of Humanities brings together experts in archaeology, classics and ancient history, gender and cultural studies, history, Linguistics, philosophy and studies in Religion.

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Featured talks

Archaeology

Norfolk Island find solves part of Pacific’s most enduring mystery

For six years, Pitcairn descendant Neil “Snowy” Tavener didn’t tell anyone that he believed he had found evidence of an ancient Polynesian settlement on Norfolk Island.
Sydney Archaeologists confirm findings (Julie Power, OCTOBER 29, 2022, SMH)


Earliest known human burial in Africa

Dr Patrick Faulkner is part of a team who unearthed the 78,000 year-old burial of “Mtoto”, a child of 2.5 – 3 years: the oldest human burial in Africa.

Working with a team of researchers from Kenya, Germany, Spain, France, Australia, Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States, Patrick Faulkner studied the burial. ‘Our results, published in Nature, reveal valuable insights into human cultural evolution, including how Middle Stone Age populations interacted with the dead 78,000 years ago’.

Agata Calabrese (Archaeology)

“Experiencing the dead: GIS and the Phenomenology of Funerary Practice”

Seminar for CAA Australasia | Sep 13, 2020


Torres Strait Islanders cultivated bananas for thousands of years, archaeologist proves
Robert Williams, lead researcher of the ANU team and Kambri-Ngunnawal man – and now PhD candidate in the SOPHI’s Department of Archaeology – says the findings help dispel the view that Australia’s First Peoples didn’t farm or cultivate the land.
ABC Drive: 8 minutes 22 seconds

Robert Williams, Indigenous archaeologist and PhD candidate
ABC RN: Breakfast | Earliest evidence of Indigenous communities cultivating bananas uncovered
The findings – published in this week’s Nature journal – add to a growing body of work challenging the view that Australia’s first peoples were only “hunter gatherers”.


Classics and Ancient History

Podcast | Anne Rogerson | 23 November 2021
Dogs in Antiquity
ABC Radio Sydney | Self Improvement Wednesday

Podcast | Louise Pryke | 26 May 2021
The turtle effect — their mysterious allure and surprising history
ABC Radio National | Conversations

Podcast | Anne Rogerson | 16 May 2021
Archimedes’ Eureka and other moments
ABC Radio Sydney | Self Improvement Wednesday


History

Cindy McCreery
On Prince Harry’s attendance at the coronation
of Charles III
Thursday 13 April 2023

Sabine Selchow
Syria Today: Syrian economy and Sanctions
ABC RN: A Foreign Affair | Panel discussion

Dr Sophie Chao
Multi-Sensory Mapping with the Marind People
The Re-(E)mergence of Nature in Culture series | May 7 2020

Professor Robert Aldrich and Associate Professor Cindy McCreery
Monarchies really aren’t as simple as we think

Hour of Power podcast | May 7 2020

Professor Glenda Sluga
Covid-19: global implications for the response and recovery
Community of Sydney Panel | April 3 2020

Professor Glenda Sluga | Laureate Research Program in International History | March 27, 2020
A conversation with Professor Glenda Sluga | Multilateralism, internationalism, and our capacity to imagine a better world | Podcasts from the United Nations


Gender and Cultural Studies

Professor Tess Lea
The Wire | Temperature Rise in Regional Australia | 8 November 2021

Professor Elspeth Probyn  | East Side FM Radio 89.7 | Fish, Sand, Sea Snails – Why Little Things Matter

Professor Meaghan Morris | Conversation on martial arts, violence, media and culture
Interview with Dr Sixt Westzler (Martial Arts Studies) | June 2020


Philosophy

Dr Luara Ferracioli
How important is trust in a society?
ABC RN: God Forbid | 31 Jan 2021

Professor Anik Waldow
How much should we care about climate change?
ABC RN: The Minefield |  21 Oct 2021

Associate Professor Luke Russell
Being Evil: A Philosophical Perspective (Oxford University Press, 2020)
New Books Network podcast series

Professor Moira Gatens
What’s the value of philosophy
ABC RN: The Minefield |5 Aug 2020

Dr Dalia Nassar
Is there a moral case against the COVID-19 “shutdown”?
ABC RN: The Minefield | 13 May 2020

Dr Luara Ferracioli
Do prosperous nations have the moral right to exclude?
ABC RN: The Minefield | 18 July 2018