Biography

Dr Jillian Huntley specialises in the physicochemical characterisation of rock art and other archaeopigments, as well as rock shelter/cave environments. Based in the Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit within the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, her current research program is split across two major themes: rock art conservation and early human pigment use in Australia & Southeast Asia. A field archaeologist by trade, Jillian has 15 years' experience in public archaeology and has worked with Aboriginal peoples across Australia co-designing and conducting commercial archaeology, academic research and rock art conservation projects. Best known as an archaeological scientist, Jillian has published on diverse topics from the complex socio-psychological impacts of mining on Aboriginal people to cultural appropriation and pseudoarchaeology. Jillian's research interests include the materiality of rock art and ochre, the origins of human behavioural complexity (image making and pigment use), the taphonomy of rock shelter/cave environments and the movement of goods and ideas via trade and exchange.