Dr. Judith Field

Biography

Judith Field is an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales and has an extensive academic background, having completed her undergraduate studies in Archaeology and Botany at the University of Sydney and postgraduate studies at UNSW. She received her PhD from UNSW in 1996. Her early research focused on the extinction of Australian megafauna and its associated palaeoenvironmental studies. Field has investigated the role of plant dispersal by people in Sahul, particularly in relation to the use of starchy economic plants and their residues on stone tools. This has led to the study of starch microfossils and has contributed to a new discipline within archaeology that seeks to identify specific plants exploited by ancient populations. In 2009, she collaborated with Professor Glenn Summerhayes from the University of Otago to examine the functions of stone artefacts and the influence of starchy plants on human movement across landscapes. Judith served as President of the Australian Archaeological Association from 2004 to 2005 and has held multiple Australian Research Council grants, focusing on Pleistocene archaeology, megafaunal extinctions in Australia, and the settlement of New Guinea. Her work also includes field research in various significant Australian and Papua New Guinean sites, collaborating with various prominent researchers to enhance the understanding of ancient human-environmental interactions.

Research Interests