Prof Sean Ulm ~ Associate Dean, Research Education; Distinguished Professor

College of Arts, Society & Education

JCU > Research Portfolio > Prof Sean Ulm

About

Sean is a professional anthropological archaeologist. Sean’s partnership research with Indigenous communities focuses on persistent problems in the archaeology of Australia and the western Pacific where understanding the relationships between environmental change and cultural change using advanced studies of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental sequences are central to constructions of the human past. His priority has been to develop new tools and approaches to investigate and articulate co-variability and co-development of human and natural systems.

A major strand of this research has been in the field of archaeological science, where Sean leads integrated research programmes designed to improve methods used to establish chronologies and taphonomic sequences to increase confidence in data resolution underpinning models of past human behaviour. This ongoing work refines chronologies of human occupation in tropical coastal areas and allows calibration of archaeological datasets with terrestrial environmental records, creating the potential for much closer integration of these two key sources of information. Sean has applied these understandings to key archaeological issues, including establishing correlations between archaeological and climate records in northern Australia and evaluating the evidence for Polynesian voyaging to the Americas.

His publications include more than 130 articles on the archaeology of Australia and 5 books. Sean has conducted research in Australia, Honduras, Chile, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific.

Teaching

RM8101: Research Planning in Tropical Environments and Societies (Level 8; CNS & TSV)
RM8102: Research Project in Tropical Environments and Societies (Level 8; CNS & TSV)

Interests

Professional

Equity and diversity
Professional development
Benchmarking
Building knowledge communities

Research

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander archaeology
Archaeology of New Guinea and Pacific Islands
Archaeology of the Great Barrier Reef
Archaeological science
Coastal and island archaeology
Radiocarbon dating of marine materials
Impacts of people on new environments
Cultural heritage management and climate change

Teaching

Improving archaeology teaching and learning
Problem-based learning
Research-led teaching

Experience

2020 to present - Associate Dean Research Education, James Cook University (Cairns, Townsville)
2019 to present - Distinguished Professor, James Cook University (Cairns)
2021 - Associate Dean Research, James Cook University (Cairns)
2016 to 2018 - Professor, James Cook University (Cairns)
2013 to 2017 - ARC Future Fellow, James Cook University (Cairns)
2013 to 2015 - Associate Professor/ARC Future Fellow, James Cook University (Cairns)
2011 to 2012 - Lecturer, James Cook University (Cairns)
2010 to 2011 - Senior Lecturer, The University of Queensland (Brisbane)
2005 to 2010 - Lecturer, The University of Queensland (Brisbane)
1999 to 2005 - Senior Researcher, The University of Queensland (Brisbane)
2000 to 2004 - Lecturer, The University of New England (Brisbane)
1993 to 1998 - Researcher, The University of Queensland (Brisbane)

Research Disciplines

Socio-Economic Objectives

Honours

Awards

2022 - High Performance Computing Innovation Excellence Award
2019 - JCU Distinguished Professor
2017 - Rhys Jones Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Archaeology
2014 - The Bruce Veitch Award for Excellence in Indigenous Engagement
2008 - Life Membership for Outstanding Contribution to the Australian Archaeological Association Inc.
2007 - Martin Davies Award for Best Public Archaeology Initiative
2004 - Dean’s Commendation for Outstanding Research Higher Degree Thesis, The University of Queensland
2000 - Royal Society of Queensland – Colliver Prize
1995 - University Medal, The University of Queensland

Fellowships

2015 - Fellow, Australian Academy of the Humanities
2011 - Fellow, Cairns Institute
2011 - Fellow, Society of Antiquaries of London
2007 - Honorary Research Fellow, Queensland Museum
2017 to 2019 - Honorary Fellow, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia
2013 to 2017 - Future Fellow, Australian Research Council
2011 to 2014 - Honorary Senior Fellow, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, The University of Queensland

Memberships

2018 - International Council for Archaeozoology
2017 - Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) Australia Inc.
2014 - The Prehistoric Society
2011 - Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science
2011 - Centre for Language and Culture Research
2006 - Society for American Archaeology
2003 - Archaeological and Anthropological Society of Victoria
2002 - Australasian Quaternary Association
2002 - Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology
2002 - Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association
2001 - Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists Inc.
2000 - Royal Society of Queensland
1998 - Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
1989 - Australian Archaeological Association

Other

2021 - Research Integrity Advisor, James Cook University
2020 - Editor, Australian Archaeology
2019 - Member, Council Australian Academy of the Humanities
2017 - Theme Leader, Cultural and Linguistic Transformations, The Cairns Institute
2017 - Deputy Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage
2014 - Editorial Board, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society
2013 - Editorial Board, Journal of the Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists
2013 - Editorial Board, The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology
2010 - Editorial Board, Queensland Historical Atlas
1999 - Editor, Queensland Archaeological Research
2018 to 2023 - Chair, Scientific Committee, International Council of Archaeozoology Conference (7-12 August 2023)
2021 - Associate Dean Research, James Cook University
2020 to 2021 - Associate Dean Research Education, James Cook University
2018 - Member, 2018 Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) Research Evaluation Committee (REC) for Humanities and Creative Arts Committee (HCA)
2015 to 2016 - Deputy Chair, Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA), Australian Research Council (ARC) College of Experts
2013 to 2016 - Fellow, Australian Research Council (ARC) College of Experts
2012 to 2016 - Deputy Director, Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science, James Cook University
2006 to 2015 - Member, World Archaeological Congress Code of Ethics Committee
2011 to 2014 - Editorial Advisory Board, Australian Archaeology
2011 to 2013 - National Chair, Australian National Committee for Archaeology Teaching and Learning
2003 to 2013 - Representative, Southeastern Asia and the Pacific, World Archaeological Congress
2011 to 2012 - Convenor, Archaeology and Geoscience Specialist Committee, Australian Institute of Nuclear Sciences and Engineering
2006 to 2011 - Editor, Australian Archaeology
2008 to 2010 - Member, Archaeology and Geoscience Specialist Committee, Australian Institute of Nuclear Sciences and Engineering
2003 to 2008 - Managing Editor, The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education
2002 to 2003 - President, Australian Archaeological Association

Publications

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

Bird M, Haig J, Ulm S and Wurster C (2022) A carbon and nitrogen isotope perspective on ancient human diet in the British Isles. Journal of Archaeological Science, 137.
McCarthy J, Wiseman C, Woo K, Steinberg D, O'Leary M, Wesley D, Brady L, Ulm S and Benjamin J (2022) Beneath the Top End: a regional assessment of submerged archaeological potential in the Northern Territory, Australia. Australian Archaeology, 88 (1). pp. 65-83
Rehn E, Rowe C, Ulm S, Woodward C, Zawadzki A, Jacobsen G and Bird M (2022) Integrating charcoal morphology and stable carbon isotope analysis to identify non-grass elongate charcoal in tropical savannas. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 31 (1). pp. 37-48
Bird M, Crabtree S, Haig J, Ulm S and Wurster C (2021) A global carbon and nitrogen isotope perspective on modern and ancient human diet. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118 (19).
Bradshaw C, Norman K, Ulm S, Williams A, Clarkson C, Chadœuf J, Lin S, Jacobs Z, Roberts R, Bird M, Weyrich L, Haberle S, O'Connor S, Llamas B, Cohen T, Friedrich T, Veth P, Leavesley M and Saltré F (2021) Stochastic models support rapid peopling of Late Pleistocene Sahul. Nature Communications, 12.
Cook Hale J, Benjamin J, Woo K, Astrup P, McCarthy J, Hale N, Stankiewicz F, Wiseman C, Skriver C, Garrison E, Ulm S and Bailey G (2021) Submerged landscapes, marine transgression and underwater shell middens: comparative analysis of site formation and taphonomy in Europe and North America. Quaternary Science Reviews, 258.
Crabtree S, White D, Bradshaw C, Saltré F, Williams A, Beaman R, Bird M and Ulm S (2021) Landscape rules predict optimal superhighways for the first peopling of Sahul. Nature Human Behaviour, 5. pp. 1303-1313
Leach J, Wiseman C, O'leary M, McDonald J, McCarthy J, Morrison P, Jeffries P, Hacker J, Ulm S, Bailey G and Benjamin J (2021) The integrated cultural landscape of North Gidley Island: coastal, intertidal and nearshore archaeology in Murujuga (Dampier Archipelago), Western Australia. Australian Archaeology, 87 (3). pp. 251-267
Mate G and Ulm S (2021) Working in archaeology in a changing world: Australian archaeology at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Australian Archaeology, 87 (3). pp. 229-250
Rehn E, Rowe C, Ulm S, Gadd P, Zawadzki A, Jacobsen G, Woodward C and Bird M (2021) Multiproxy Holocene fire records from the tropical savannas of northern Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9. pp. -16

Book Chapters

Asmussen B, Faulkner P, Szabó K and Ulm S (2022) The molluscan remains of Tanamu 1: Subsistence and resource habitats. In: The Archaeology of Tanamu 1: A Pre-Lapita to Post-Lapita Site from Caution Bay, South Coast of Mainland Papua New Guinea. Caution Bay Studies in Archaeology, 2. Archaeopress, Oxford, United Kingdom, pp. 107-116
Benjamin J and Ulm S (2021) The big flood: responding to sea-level rise and the inundated continental shelf. In: The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous Australia and New Guinea. Oxford Handbooks Online. Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom

More: ResearchOnline@JCU stores 167+ research outputs authored by Prof Sean Ulm from 1995 onwards.

Current Funding

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Australian Research Council - Centres of Excellence

ARC Centre of Excellence of Australian Origins and Transformations

Indicative Funding: $5,028,138 over 7 years (administered by University of Wollongong), in partnership with Flinders University ($10,000); Monash University ($14,299) and University of Wollongong ($5,000)
Summary: This Centre will create a world-class interdisciplinary research programme to understand Australia's unique biodiversity and heritage. The Centre will track the changes to Australia's environment to examine the processes responsible for the changes and the lessons that can be used to continue to adapt to Australia's changing environment. The Centre will support connections between the sciences and humanities and train future generations of researchers to deal with future global challenges and inform policy in an interdisciplinary context.
Investigators: Richard Roberts, Susan O'Connor, Zenobia Jacobs, Timothy Cohen, Simon Haberle, Michael Bird, Sean Ulm, Chris Turney, Martin Nakata, Darren Curnoe, Corey Bradshaw, Bruno David, Lynette Russell, Barry Brook and Chris Johnson in collaboration with Brit Asmussen, Geraldine Mate, Michael Slack, Jean-Jacques Delannoy, Matthew Leavesley, Stephan Stephan, Michael Storey, Kieren Mitchell, Vera Weisbecker and Janelle Stevenson (University of Wollongong, Australian National University, College of Science & Engineering, College of Arts, Society & Education, The University of New South Wales, Indigenous Education & Research Centre, University of Adelaide, Monash University, University of Tasmania, Queensland Museum, Scarp Archaeology Pty Ltd, Universite Savoie Mont Blanc, University of Papua New Guinea, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Australian Museum and Flinders University)
Keywords: Sahul; palaeoenvironments; Climate; archaeology; megafauna

Lizard Island Research Station - Doctoral Fellowship

Constructed Seascapes of the Lizard Island Group, Far North Queensland

Indicative Funding: $6,400 over 1 year
Summary: This research investigates the distribution and construction of Indigenous stone arrangements in the Lizard Island Group, far North Queensland. Previous intensive pedestrian surveys of the islands have identified almost 1000 stone arrangements, with an additional 200 recorded during the recently completed 2021 season. Interpreting the distribution and construction of these stone arrangements will be undertaken on a cultural landscape scale to interpret the organisation of socio-religious activities on within the Lizard Island Group.
Investigators: Joshua Connelly and Sean Ulm (College of Arts and Society & Education)
Keywords: Archeology; Stone Arrangements; Great Barrier Reef; Cultural Landscape

Lizard Island Research Station - Sir John & Laurine Proud Research Fellowship

Understanding long-term Indigenous uses of the Great Barrier Reef: Re-excavating the Freshwater Bay Midden, Lizard Island

Indicative Funding: $15,000 over 1 year
Summary: This project aims to document Aboriginal Late Holocene use of Great Barrier Reef offshore islands through the re-excavation of Freshwater Bay Midden on Lizard Island. After extensive physical surveys and recording of cultural places across the Lizard Island Group over the past decade it has been determined that Freshwater Bay Midden is the only remaining site with significant sub-surface deposits intact that has not yet been excavated using modern archaeological techniques. Expected outcomes include a comprehensive framework from which to consider offshore island use in northeast Australia, as well as documenting the dynamic history of Lizard Island occupation.
Investigators: Ariana Lambrides, Sean Ulm, Ian McNiven and Fiona Petchey (College of Arts, Society & Education, Monash University and University of Waikato)
Keywords: Archeology; Great Barrier Reef; Indigenous fishing and foraging practice

Australian Research Council - Linkage - Infrastructure (L-IEF)

Microanalytical Facility Supporting Resources Development and Manufacturing

Indicative Funding: $806,355 over 1 year (administered by University of Queensland)
Summary: The project aims to establish a state-of-the-art electron probe microanalysis facility enabling accurate chemical analysis to be undertaken at the micro-scale. It is expected to provide new knowledge and support applied research on a range of natural, synthetic and processed materials that will deeply impact advancements in the fields of metals processing and recycling, Earth and environmental science, and the development of materials for a healthier society. It will support ARC funded and industry engaged research enhancing the minerals exploration, mining and metallurgical industries and inform sustainable practice. It will also provide the key research infrastructure to enhance Australia?s research leadership in these fields.
Investigators: Jak Evgueni, Peter Hays, Rick Valenta, Teresa Ubide, Kazuhiro Nogita, Paul Dirks, Michael Bird, Kevin Blake and Sean Ulm (The University of Queensland, College of Science & Engineering, Research Infrastructure, College of Arts and Society & Education)
Keywords: Mining exploration; Geology; Geochemistry; Archaeology; Critical Minerals; Mining Engineering

Australian Research Council - Discovery - Projects

The Deep History of Sea Country: climate, sea level and culture

Indicative Funding: $60,000 over 3 years (administered by Flinders University)
Summary: This is a pioneering, multi-disciplinary study of submerged landscape archaeology in Australia designed to investigate the records of the now-submerged Pilbara coast (spanning 50,000 to 7000 years ago). Information from drowned contexts will help address critical debates in Australian prehistory relating to past sea-level rise, population resilience, mobility, and diet. The project integrates cultural and environmental studies and contributes a unique southern hemisphere insight into world prehistory through material analysis and an adaptation of method from the world?s only confirmed submarine middens. A suite of cutting edge marine and aerial survey techniques will be developed to investigate physical and cultural submerged landscapes.
Investigators: Jonathan Benjamin, Sean Ulm, Peter Veth, Jorg Hacker and Michael O'Leary in collaboration with Geoffrey Bailey and Mads Holst (Flinders University, College of Arts, Society & Education, The University of Western Australia, University of York and Aarhus Universitet)
Keywords: submerged archaeology; Maritime Archaeology; shell middens; Indigenous Australian archaeology; Coastal Archaeology

Australian Research Council - Linkage - Infrastructure (L-IEF)

A national facility for the analysis of pyrogenic carbon

Indicative Funding: $358,031 over 1 year
Summary: This project will develop a National Facility for Pyrogenic Carbon Analysis. Pyrogenic carbon (biochar, soot, charcoal, black carbon) is a poorly constrained, slow-cycling terrestrial carbon pool with significant carbon sequestration potential. It is also an important source of palaeoenvironmental and geochronological information. We will expand newly developed hydrogen pyrolysis analytical capability to provide high throughput, robust, measurement of the abundance and isotope (13C, 14C) composition of pyrogenic carbon in soils and sediments. The facility will advance multiple research agendas at nine participating institutions across palaeoecology, geomorphology, geochronology, archaeology and carbon cycle/ sequestration science
Investigators: Michael Bird, Sean Ulm, Timothy Cohen, Richard Roberts, Zenobia Jacobs, Lindsay Hutley, Balwant Singh, Hamish McGowan, Patrick Moss, Jessica Reeves, Simon Haberle, Susan O'Connor, Scott Mooney, Chris Turney and Michael-Shawn Fletcher (College of Science & Engineering, College of Arts, Society & Education, University of Wollongong, Charles Darwin University, The University of Sydney, The University of Queensland, Federation University, Australian National University, The University of New South Wales and The University of Melbourne)
Keywords: biomass burning; Stable Isotope Analysis; Geoarchaeology; Radiocarbon; Biochar; Carbon Sequestration

Supervision

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

Ancient ceramics at Vilabouly: pottery production and society in Laos (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
Understanding Kwokkunum Shell Mounds as Landscape Engineering: A Spatial and Temporal Archaeological approach (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
The cultural landscape of Mungana, Chillagoe, 1900-1958 (PhD , Advisor Mentor)
Reappraising the Land -Patrick White's Landscape Legacy and its Afterlives (PhD , Advisor Mentor)
Palaeolandscapes and the Archaeological implications of Changing Landscapes and Seascapes in the Torres Strait (PhD , Primary Advisor)
Investigating Constructed Seascapes in the Lizard Island Group, Far North Queensland. (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Old Smithfield Township, Cairns,1876-1879: revealing the material life of a nineteenth-century town in Tropical North Queensland. (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Kaiadilt Country: A Remote Sensing Approach to Documenting Long-Term Aboriginal land management technologies (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)

Completed

The cyclone written into our place: the cyclone as trope of apocalypse and place in Queensland literature (2018, PhD , Advisor Mentor)
Fire and environmental change in northern Australian savannas during the Holocene (2020, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
A Grammar of Brokpa: a Trans-Himalayan language of Bhutan (2021, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Multi-proxy evidence of long-term environmental change in Northern Australia?s tropical savannas. (2021, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
A grammar of Doromu-Koki: A Papuan language of Papua New Guinea (2022, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Chronological modelling of the Torres Strait: A re-evaluation of occupation trends, and expansion of village and ritual sites (2022, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Geophysical explorations of archaeological shell matrix sites: evaluating geophysical techniques in determining the boundaries, structure and volume of buried shell deposits (2017, PhD , Primary Advisor)

Data

These are the most recent metadata records associated with this researcher. To see a detailed description of all dataset records, visit Research Data Australia.

Kenady, S. (2016) Thundiy and Cairns experimental site, survey data: ground-penetrating radar and electrical resistivity. James Cook University
Twaddle, R. (2016) Temperature data from Mirdidingki Creek, Bentinck Island, June 2013 - July 2014. James Cook University
Ulm, S. (2012) Index of Dates from Archaeological Sites in Queensland data. James Cook University

Collaboration

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.