
Protecting the resting place of the great explorer, Tommy Windich
In February, 1876, a young Balladong man was laid to rest on a beautiful beach track near the town of Esperance, southern Western Australia. Today, 140 years later, an integrated team is working to locate and protect the gravesite of the great tracker – Tommy Windich. Tommy is well-known for his critical role in guiding surveyors on expeditions across the interior of Western Australia and beyond. The Forest brothers were the colony’s great surveyors at the time; and became o

Marine Biodiversity Hotspot - Ancient Cultural Landscapes
On a remote island off the southern coast of Western Australia, a team of researchers (Finding Salisbury) have identified a connection between ancient landscapes and rich marine ecosystems. A massive limestone scarp sits atop a granite dome on the outer edge of the Recherche Archipelago. This scarp, now known as Salisbury Island, rises above a vast sandplain, submerged by the surging Southern Ocean. Rising some 80 to 100 metres above the flat coastal plain, this dramatic land

Turquoise Bend: Collaborative Archaeology on Private Land
A multi-year collaborative project commenced in 2017 that aims to protect and manage cultural places on private land associated with the Kenai River Valley in Alaska. The project was developed by Applied Archaeology International in collaboration with the Kenaitze Indian Tribe (KIT) and BE Surveys, with funding and support provided by Kenai-Mountains Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area. The work involved collaboration between Tribal representatives, landowners, and archaeolo

Restoring cultural places and landscape after fire: the Marbellup project
An intense wildfire impacted one of the most significant cultural landscapes within Tjaltjraak Country, near Esperance, Western Australia, causing damage at two major granite outcrops, major cultural wetlands and known burial sites. Esperance Tjaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (ETNTAC), Applied Archaeology Australia, and South Coast Natural Resource Management, have been coordinating a natural resource management project within the fire scar across UCL lands in t

Language, History and Archaeology: A GPR Project at Eyak Lake, Alaska
In 2016 and 2017, a team from Applied Archaeology International (AAI) were invited to the annual Eyak Cultural and Language Camp in Cordova, Alaska, hosted by Orca Adventure Lodge. The team included two archaeologists, three interns from the Kenaitze Tribe, and Elders from Australia - as part of AAI’s annual cultural ranger internship and international cultural exchange program. The camp is focused on Eyak language revitalization. The history of the Eyak language loss is ofte

Waljin Mia (Rainbow Cave) Restoration Project
This short video examines a cultural maintenance project for the Wadandi cultural place - Waljin Mia (Rainbow Cave) - in southwestern Australia. This sacred place has been subject to vandalism and environmental threats. The project team of Wadandi Elders, Applied Archaeology, and the Undalup Association, supported by a grant from the Department of Planning, Land and Heritage (Western Australia), worked together to restore and protect the limestone cave system. #culturalconse