Dr. Ben Shaw

Biography

Ben Shaw is a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the Australian National University. His research focuses on the human adaptations to varied ecosystems across time and space in the Australasian Pacific Island regions, particularly in New Guinea. Shaw has conducted extensive fieldwork over the past 17 years in Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and French Polynesia. His main interests include the interplay of past climates, environments, and human behaviors, using multidisciplinary approaches to understand the cultural and technological adaptations that contributed to the emergence of complex human diversity in the Asia-Pacific region. He received his PhD from ANU and held postdoctoral fellowships with the Australian Research Council. Shaw's current projects involve investigating human colonization patterns in Milne Bay Province and examining sociocultural changes linked to agricultural developments in the highlands. Additionally, he is part of an international team studying Holocene dispersal along the northern coast of New Guinea.

Research Interests

Experience