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Sven Ouzman

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Senior Lecturer in Archaeology and Centre for Rock Art Research + Management, The University of Western Australia

I am an archaeologist who specialises in rock art, graffiti, heritage politics, Indigenous knowledge, intellectual property issues, landscape, creolisation & cross-cultural contact, monuments, origins, and understandings of time. I have directed research in Australia, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa, documenting over 2500 rock art sites . I studied for my BA and BA Honours at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa (1988-1992). I then worked as the Head of the Rock Art Department at National Museum in Bloemfontein (1994-2002) before reading for an MA and PhD at UC Berkeley in California (2002-2006; PhD conferred 2008). While studying there I also taught Ancient African History at San Quentin Prison outside San Francisco. I returned to South Africa as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Pretoria’s Department of Anthropology & Archaeology (2006-2011) before becoming Curator of Archaeology at Iziko South African Museum (2011-2013). In 2013 I joined the Centre for Rock Art Research + Management at the University of Western Australia as a Kimberley Rock Art Research Fellow and have been Discipline Chair of Archaeology (2016-2018), and co-ordinate the Archaeology Major (2015-present) the Honours (2015-2019) programmes. I am also the Director for Student Matters, Learning and Teaching for the School of Social Sciences (2020-present).

Experience

  • 2013–present
    Lecturer and Senior Lecturer, University of Western Australia
  • 2011–2013
    Curator of Archaeology, Iziko South African Museum
  • 2005–2011
    Senior Lecturer, University of Pretoria, South Africa
  • 1994–2004
    Head, Rock Art Department, National Museum, South Africa

Education

  • 2020 
    University of Western Australia, Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Teaching
  • 2008 
    University of California Berkeley, PhD in Anthropology
  • 2004 
    University of California Berkeley, MA
  • 1993 
    University of the Witwatersrand, BA (Hons)
  • 1992 
    University of the Witwatersrand, BA

Publications

  • 2020
    12,000 year old Aboriginal rock art from the Kimberley region, Western Australia Finch, D., Gleadow, A., Hergt, J., Levchenko, V., Heaney, P., Veth, P., Harper, S., Ouzman, S., Myers, C. & Green, H., 6 Feb 2020, In : Science Advances. 6, eaay3922, 9 p., eaay3922.,
  • 2020
    Kimberley Rock Art Harper, S., Veth, P. & Ouzman, S., 2020, Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Smith, C. (ed.). 2nd ed. Netherlands: Springer, 16 p. (Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology).,
  • 2019
    Dating painting events through by-products of ochre processing: Borologa 1 Rockshelter, Kimberley, Australia David, B., Delannoy, J-J., Petchey, F., Huntley, J., Gunn, R., Veth, P., Genuite, K., Skelly, R. J., Mialanes, J., Harper, S., Ouzman, S., Aboriginal Corporation, B., Heaney, P. & Wong, V., 19 May 2019, In : Australian Archaeology. 85, 1, p. 57-94 38 p.,
  • 2019
    Minjiwarra: archaeological evidence of human occupation of Australia’s northern Kimberley by 50,000 BP Veth, P., Ditchfield, K., Bateman, M., Ouzman, S., Benoit, M., Motta, A. P., Lewis, D., Harper, S. & Aboriginal Corporation, B., 19 Aug 2019, In : Australian Archaeology. 85, 2, p. 115-125 11 p.,
  • 2019
    ‘Kimberley Stout figures’: a new rock art style for Kimberley rock art, North-Western Australia Gunn, R., David, B., Douglas, L., Delannoy, J-J., Harper, S., Heaney, P., Ouzman, S. & Veth, P., 4 May 2019, In : Australian Archaeology. 85, 2, p. 151-169 19 p.,
  • 2018
    Plants before farming: The deep history of plant-use and representation in the rock art of Australia's Kimberley region Veth, P., Myers, C., Heaney, P. & Ouzman, S., 30 Sep 2018, In : Quaternary International. 489, p. 26-45 20 p.,
  • 2017
    Mineral deposition systems at rock art sites, Kimberley, Northern Australia — Field observations Green, H., Gleadow, A., Finch, D., Hergt, J. & Ouzman, S., 1 Aug 2017, In : Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 14, p. 340-352 13 p.,
  • 2017
    Plants before animals? Aboriginal rock art as evidence of ecoscaping in Australia’s Kimberley Ouzman, S., Veth, P., Myers, C., Heaney, P. & Kenneally, K., 1 Nov 2017, The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art. David, B. & McNiven, I. (eds.). Oxford University Press, 16 p.,

Grants and Contracts

  • 2018
    Dating the Aboriginal Rock Art of the Kimberley
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2017
    Kimberley Visions: Rock Art Style Provinces of Northern Australia
    Role:
    Lead Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2012
    Marion Island Archaeology and Heritage Project
    Role:
    Principal Scientist
    Funding Source:
    National Research Foundation, South Africa

Professional Memberships

  • Australian Archaeological Association
  • Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists
  • World Archaeological Congress

Research Areas

  • Archaeology (2101)
  • Curatorial And Related Studies (2102)
  • Historical Studies (2103)
  • Anthropology (1601)
  • Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander History (210301)

Honours

Fulbright Scholar, with Amy Biel Prize 2004-2006