About the Authors

Heather Burke

Heather Burke has over thirteen years experience as a consultant archaeologist, working in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory. Her particular skills are in the fields of site recording and significance assessment (for both historical and Aboriginal archaeological sites), the assessment and recording of standing structures and mining heritage, and the interpretation and presentation of heritage sites. Heather has participated in and directed numerous archaeological site surveys and excavations for both historic and prehistoric sites across Australia.

Heather holds a PhD in historical archaeology from UNE, published in 1999 by Plenum Press as Meaning and Ideology in Historical Archaeology. She taught archaeology for three years at UNE, including undergraduate courses in field methods, laboratory methods, historical archaeology and cultural heritage management. Currently Heather teaches in the Department of Archaeology at Flinders University, where she is post-graduate and honours coordinator.

Claire Smith
Claire Smith is President of the World Archaeological Congress and Head of the Department of Archaeology at Flinders University in South Australia. One of the topics she teaches is Archaeological Field Methods. Claire's main field experience in is Indigenous archaeology and she has conducted fieldwork in the Barunga region of southern Arnhem Land since 1990. Her particular skills in field archaeology include conducting appropriate liaison with Indigenous communities and the recording of Indigenous sites, including rock art sites. She has on-going excavation projects in the Barunga region, Northern Territory and in Burra, South Australia.

Claire recently returned from 12 months in the United States on a prestigious Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship. Her publications include the co-edited volume Indigenous Cultures in an Interconnected World, published in 2000 by Allen and Unwin and the authored book Country, Kin and Culture. Survival of an Aboriginal Community, published in 2004 by Wakefield Press. She is also an ex-Editor of Australian Archaeology, the journal of the Australian Archaeological Association.