Conceptualizing and framing archaeologies of Indigenous Australia and New Guinea

Australia and New Guinea are two of the largest islands in the world, but during the last glacial cycle when sea levels were lower and the continental shelf was exposed, they combined to form Sahul, then the largest island in the world. This chapter introduces how this Handbook approaches the archaeology of Australia, New Guinea, and the islands in-between: the conceptual framework that underpins its structure, and the topics covered. The archaeological histories of Australia and New Guinea prior to European colonial encounters of the past 500 years is singularly Indigenous and can be traced back archaeologically for at least 65,000 years. To showcase the range of archaeological approaches of the extraordinary cultural and environmental diversity and complexity that characterise the Indigenous histories of Australia and New Guinea, we have divided the Handbook into eight major thematic sections comprising 41 chapters. These chapters review and showcase the social dynamics and processes, and cultural responses to long-term and short-term environmental changes, that shaped the Indigenous histories of both regions.