Paul Tacon

Biography

Paul S.C. Taçon FSA FAHA is Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology in the School of Humanities, Griffith University and a Visiting Fellow, Research School of Humanities and the Arts, ANU, Canberra. Professor Taçon has conducted archaeological and ethnographic fieldwork since 1980 and has over 73 months field experience in remote parts of Australia, Canada, China, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, southern Africa, Thailand and the USA. Extensive field expeditions have been undertaken in rugged, wild areas of the Northern Territory and Wollemi National Park, NSW, Australia.

Taçon co-edited The Archaeology of Rock-art (with Dr. Christopher Chippindale, 1998 and republished four times) and has published over 170 academic and popular papers on prehistoric art, body art, material culture, colour, cultural evolution, identity and contemporary Indigenous issues. Professor Taçon has made key archaeological discoveries in western Arnhem Land (NT) and Wollemi National Park (NSW) that have been published in journals and also have made world headlines. Much of his current research is related to better situating Australian archaeology and contact history in a South East Asia regional context and to more fully involving Indigenous peoples in archaeological research.