Val Attenbrow Explained

Valerie Attenbrow is principal research scientist in the Anthropology Research Section of the Australian Museum,[1] a position she has held since 1989.[2]

Education and career

Attenbrow commenced her archaeological studies in the Department of Anthropology at Sydney University where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in 1976, and completed her PhD in 1987. She has worked as a private consulting archaeologist and in the National Parks and Wildlife Service (New South Wales) as a cultural heritage officer.

Her research has focused on the Holocene period subsistence patterns, resource use and stone tool technology of Australian Aborigines, particularly in south-eastern Australia. She has undertaken fieldwork in Upper Mangrove Creek near Wyong on the NSW central coast) and the Port Jackson catchment (the area around Sydney Harbour).[3]

Attenbrow is the author of a comprehensive study of the Aboriginal prehistory of the Sydney area, which was first published in 2002 (second edition in 2010), entitled Sydney’s Aboriginal Past. Investigating the Archaeological and Historical Records. For this book, Attenbrow won the inaugural (2004) John Mulvaney Book Award from the Australian Archaeological Association (AAA).[4]

In 2002, Attenbrow was made a Life Member of the AAA for her contributions to the association, which she first became a member of in the mid-1970s.[5] Attenbrow was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2009.[6]

In 2011, Attenbrow's colleagues at the Australian Museum produced an edited volume of academic papers dedicated to her "because she has had a major impact in all the areas of Australian archaeology that are highlighted in the papers included"; the volume was entitled "Changing Perspectives in Australian Archaeology".

In 2019, Attenbrow was awarded the Rhys Jones Medal, the highest award offered by the Australian Archaeological Association, in recognition of her outstanding and sustained contribution to the field of archaeology in Australia.[7]

Selected publications

Books

Articles and chapters

Notes and References

  1. Specht . Jim . Torrence . Robin . Changing Perspectives in Australian Archaeology. Preface. Technical Reports of the Australian Museum, Online. 2011 . 23 . 1–2 . 10.3853/j.1835-4211.23.2011.1565 . free .
  2. http://australianmuseum.net.au/staff/val-attenbrow#sthash.SEb4OTBZ.dpuf Australian Museum Staff Profiles
  3. http://www.humanities.org.au/Fellowship/FindFellows/tabid/123/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1527/Attenbrow-Valerie.aspx Australian Academy of the Humanities Honorary Fellows
  4. Web site: John Mulvaney Book Award . Australian Archaeological Association . 2019-01-09.
  5. Web site: Val Attenbrow Australian Archaeological Association AAA. australianarchaeologicalassociation.com.au. 2019-01-09.
  6. Web site: Fellow Profile: Valerie Attenbrow . 2024-07-05 . Australian Academy of the Humanities . en-AU.
  7. Web site:
    1. AAA42 Congratulations to the winner of the Rhys Jones Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Archaeologypic.twitter.com/5lIHxhYqPH
    . AustArchAssoc. 2019-12-13. @AustArchaeology. en. 2019-12-14.