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The Ruth and Vincent Megaw Lecture

The Ruth and Vincent Megaw lecture in Archaeology and Art was established in 2014 to honour the commitment and contributions of Emeritus Professor Vincent Megaw and his late wife Dr M Ruth Megaw to the Flinders University Archaeology department and the Flinders University Museum of Art.

The lecture is supported by the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University.
 

2024 Megaw lecture 

Previous Megaw lectures 

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Danie Mellor, Bala Jindigal (of home and country) (detail), 2014, pastel, pencil, glitter, Swarovski crystal and wash on Saunders Waterford paper, commissioned by Emeritus Professor JVS Megaw and gifted to Flinders University Art Museum in memory of Dr M Ruth Megaw, Flinders University Museum of Art 4959, © courtesy of the artist

2024 Megaw lecture

Primate extinction; exploring the timing and drivers 

Presented by Dr Kira Westaway
School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University

With the prospect of a sixth mass extinction event looming there has never been a more compelling time to understand species extinction, especially for primates. Looking to past unresolved extinctions is a good starting point to try and establish what drives extinction and when it occurs. Dating, in all its different forms, is the key to understanding species extinction because without a robust timeline we end up looking for clues at the wrong time.  

In this talk, Dr Westaway will review three attempts we have made to define the extinction of three well-known primates; Homo floresiensis, in Flores Indonesia, Homo erectus in Ngandong Java and Gigantopithecus blacki in southern China. Dr Westaway will outline a dating strategy for each area and assess the implications of these resulting chronologies. These examples suggest that whether primates are large or small, whether they have been around for a long time or a short time, certain species' traits can make them vulnerable to climatic and environmental changes. A robust dating context helps us to pin-point these potential changes and allow us to assess primate response from a behavioural perspective. These findings have implications for primate survival in the future.
 

Wednesday 26 June 2024
5:30pm - 8:00 pm 
Level 14, Flinders City Campus at Festival Plaza
One Festival Tower, Station Road, Adelaide SA 5000
Free event, limited places, registrations essential!

Register now


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Dr Kira Westaway is a geochronologist recognised for her use of luminescence dating to establish when modern humans dispersed across Southeast Asia en route to Australia. She establishes robust timelines by dating early human and faunal evidence in cave sites across southern Asia and Southeast Asia.

As part of an international research team she provided chronological control for the ‘Hobbit’ discovery at Liang Bua cave, western Flores, Indonesia. She led the team that established chronologies for modern human arrival at the site of Lida Ajer in Sumatra and Tam Pa Ling in northern Laos. More recently she established a timeline for the extinction of Homo erectus at Ngandong and the presence of Denisovans in northern Laos at Cobra Cave. She also led a program of research to understand why the king of all primates Gigantopithecus blacki went extinct in southern China - this research has large implications for megafaunal extinction in Asia and Australia.

She is currently leading an international team attempting to disperse the myths about human dispersals through China and Southeast Asia - research the Flinders Archaeology Team has also been involved in. 

The annual Ruth and Vincent Megaw Lecture in Archaeology and Art was established in 2014 in honour of long-serving and esteemed academics Emeritus Professor Vincent Megaw and his late wife Dr M Ruth Megaw. Acknowledging their contributions to the University and their respective fields, the lecture is supported through the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences and the Art Museum.

Previous Megaw lectures

2022

Museums and the Yolŋu Community

Presented by Matt Poll
Manager of Indigenous Programs at the Australian National Maritime Museum
 

More information

Watch online


2020

Turning the Tide

Presented by Dr Fiona Foley
Multidisciplinary artist

More information


2019

The History of Aboriginal Art in 25 pictures...more or less...

Presented by Franchesca Cubillo
Senior Curator Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT, Australia

More information


2018

Identity and memory: Approaches to understanding the Early Celts of the First Millennium BCE

Presented by Professor Thomas Stöllner
Chair of Pre- and Protohistory, Ruhr-University, Bochum, Germany and Head, Department of Mining Archaeology, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum (DBM), Germany

More information


2017

Braiding Strands of Wellness:
Archaeology, Art and Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Learning

Presented by Associate Professor Dr Sonya Atalay 
Department of Anthropology
University of Massachusetts Amherst

More information


2016

Participant processes: Museums, collections and the creation of value

Presented by Distinguished Professor Howard Morphy
College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University

More information


2015

With guest speaker Dr Danie Mellor

Dr Danie Mellor
Senior Lecturer (Theoretical Enquiry), Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney
Chair of Arts Practice, Visual Arts, Australia Council for the Arts

More information


2014

With guest speaker Emeritus Professor Dr. Brian Fagan

Emeritus Professor Dr. Brian Fagan
Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

More information

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Flinders University Museum of Art
Flinders University I Sturt Road I Bedford Park SA 5042

Located ground floor Social Sciences North building, Humanities Road adjacent carpark 5

Telephone | +61 (08) 8201 2695
Email | museum@flinders.edu.au

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