Stephanie Florin

S. ANNA FLORIN, a student at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, received funding in April 2016 to aid research into “50-60,000 Years of Plant and Landscape Use at Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II), Australia: An Ethnobotanical Approach,” supervised by Andrew S. Fairbairn. Funding allowed for the grantee to complete ethnobotanical research and plant reference collection with the Mirarr peoples in the Alligator Rivers region of northern Australia. This research was conducted over seven field seasons, the grantee and senior traditional owners, collecting and processing different plant foods from a range of environments (open forest and woodland, monsoon vine forest, and freshwater) over several seasons. The modern plant reference collection was used to identify the plant macrofossil remains (including underground storage organs, palm stem, fruits, nuts and seeds) recovered from Madjedbebe, the earliest known archaeological site in Australia. And the ethnobotanical research has allowed for its ongoing interpretation with the Mirarr, through the development of ethnoarchaeological processing models, defining the material signature and handling return rates of different plant-processing techniques used in this region. This research has allowed for the understanding of changes in land use, diet breadth and food processing techniques at Madjedbebe from 65,000 years ago until present.