Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Dr Chris Urwin is a postdoctoral fellow at the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution, USA) and an affiliate of Monash Indigenous Studies Centre. His current research examines narratives of Indigenous voyaging and American collecting through the social histories of Pacific canoes acquired by the Smithsonian Institution.
Chris is an archaeologist by training and has worked in partnership with Indigenous communities to investigate their remarkable landscapes in Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG). He completed his PhD at Monash University in 2019, for which he worked with two villages in Orokolo Bay (PNG) to establish radiocarbon chronologies for their ancestral sites, alongside a programme to document local oral traditions. This research has helped improve our understanding of the history of exchange and social change on PNG's south coast.
Chris was previously a Senior Curator in the First Peoples Department at Museums Victoria, where he sought to enhance community access and research into the archaeology collection. Chris enjoys communicating archaeology and anthropology for a popular audience: from 2017-2019 he was social media officer for the Australian Archaeological Association. Online magazine articles stemming from Chris' research can be found here:
- Indigenous cultures have archaeology too (Sapiens.org, Wenner Gren Foundation)
- Cultural heritage key to regional development in PNG and Australia (The Interpreter, Lowy Institute)
- Archaeology is unravelling new stories about Indigenous seagoing trade on Australia’s doorstep (The Conversation AU)
- Magic, culture and stalactites: how Aboriginal perspectives are transforming archaeological histories (The Conversation AU)
Research interests
Chris' research interests include: how Indigenous communities understand colonial-era collecting practices; how people build places through time and remember this process; and the application of Bayesian chronological models in archaeology. He has obtained research funding from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE), the Australian Archaeological Association and the Smithsonian Institution.
External positions
Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellow, Smithsonian Institution
14 Jan 2021 → 13 Jan 2022Research Associate, Museums Board of Victoria (trading as Museum of Victoria) (Victoria)
18 Feb 2020 → …Research area keywords
- Memory studies
- Archaeology
- Anthropology
- Radiocarbon dating
Network
Projects
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Applying high-resolution chronological modelling to historicise the recent archaeological past (past 500 years): Jiwarrjiwarra 1, Marra Country, Northern Territory
Ash, J., Urwin, C., Hua, Q. & Brady, L.
19/02/21 → 31/07/21
Project: Research
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Entwined Narratives of Indigenous Voyaging and American Collecting: Pacific Canoes in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution
14/01/20 → 14/01/21
Project: Research
Research output
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50 years and worlds apart: Rethinking the Holocene occupation of Cloggs Cave (East Gippsland, SE Australia) five decades after its initial archaeological excavation and in light of GunaiKurnai world views
David, B., Fresløv, J., Mullett, R., Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation, Delannoy, J-J., McDowell, M., Urwin, C., Mialanes, J., Petchey, F., Wood, R., Russell, L., Arnold, L. J., Stephenson, B., Fullagar, R., Crouch, J., Ash, J., Berthet, J., Wong, V. N. L. & Green, H., 5 Jan 2021, (Accepted/In press) In : Australian Archaeology. 20 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
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Combining oral traditions and bayesian chronological modeling to understand village development in the Gulf of Papua (Papua New Guinea)
Urwin, C., Hua, Q. & Arifeae, H., 28 Jan 2021, In : Radiocarbon. 63, 2, p. 647-667 21 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Late survival of megafauna refuted for Cloggs Cave, SE Australia: Implications for the Australian Late Pleistocene megafauna extinction debate
David, B., Arnold, L. J., Delannoy, J. J., Fresløv, J., Urwin, C., Petchey, F., McDowell, M. C., Mullett, R., Mialanes, J., Wood, R., Crouch, J., Berthet, J., Wong, V. N. L., Green, H., Hellstrom, J. & Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation, 1 Feb 2021, In : Quaternary Science Reviews. 253, 15 p., 106781.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
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Swamp and Delta Societies of the Papuan Gulf, Papua New Guinea
Urwin, C., Rhoads, J. W. & Bell, J. A., Feb 2021, (Accepted/In press) The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous Australia and New Guinea. McNiven, I. J. & David, B. (eds.). Oxford UK: Oxford University Press, 31 p. (Oxford Handbooks).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (Book) › Research › peer-review
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2000 Year-old Bogong moth (Agrotis infusa) Aboriginal food remains, Australia
Stephenson, B., David, B., Fresløv, J., Arnold, L. J., Delannoy, J. J., Petchey, F., Urwin, C., Wong, V. N. L., Fullagar, R., Green, H., Mialanes, J., McDowell, M., Wood, R., Hellstrom, J. & Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation, Dec 2020, In : Scientific Reports. 10, 1, 10 p., 22151.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Citation (Scopus)
Prizes
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Participant in the 2019 Australia-PNG Emerging Leaders Dialogue
Urwin, Chris (Recipient), 5 Nov 2019
Prize: Other distinction
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Postgraduate Publication Award
Urwin, Chris (Recipient), Jan 2019
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Postgraduate Publication Prize
Urwin, Chris (Recipient), 19 Oct 2020
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
- 1 Contribution to conference
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Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology
Chris Urwin (Organiser)
12 Apr 2018Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference
Press / Media
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What Happens Next? Hosted by Dr Susan Carland: Culture and Country
25/01/21
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Blogs, Podcasts and Social Media › Podcasts
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ABC Radio (Pacific Beat) Interview: Researcher finds people from Orokolo Bay conduct their own form of archaeology in the course of daily life
13/08/20
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Profile/Interview
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Museums Victoria collections article: Pottery sherds from Wuatam (Watom) Island, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea
1/06/20
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
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ABC Radio National Interview: Indigenous seagoing trade
3/06/19
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Profile/Interview