Lynley Wallis facts for kids

Lynley A. Wallis is an Australian archaeologist and a professor at Griffith University. She is an expert in understanding past environments by studying tiny plant fossils called phytoliths.

What is an Archaeologist?

An archaeologist is like a detective who studies the past. They dig up and examine old objects and places to learn about how people lived long ago. Dr. Wallis focuses on how humans and their environments have changed over time.

Education and Early Career

Dr. Wallis earned her PhD from the Australian National University (ANU). Her research looked at phytoliths in tropical areas of northwest Australia. She showed how these tiny plant fossils could help us understand what the environment was like thousands of years ago. Her work created the first detailed record of plants in that part of Australia from the late Quaternary period.

After her studies, Dr. Wallis worked in different roles. She helped manage important cultural sites and taught at universities. She also did research on both Indigenous and historical archaeology.

University and Research Roles

Dr. Wallis taught at James Cook University (2001–2002) and then at Flinders University for five years (2005–2009). From 2009 to 2011, she was a senior researcher at the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre at the University of Queensland. Later, from 2016 to 2020, she worked at the Nulungu Research Institute at the University of Notre Dame. In 2020, she moved to Griffith University in Brisbane to continue her research.

Between her university jobs, Dr. Wallis also worked for the government. She was a senior conservation officer for the Heritage Unit, Environment ACT (2002–2004). She also worked as a senior research officer at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (2004–2005). In 2011, she started her own company, Wallis Heritage Consulting. This company helps governments and private groups manage cultural heritage and work with Indigenous communities.

Discovering the Past Through Research

Dr. Wallis's research explores how people and their environments have interacted over a very long time, especially during the late Quaternary period. She is very interested in the archaeology of coasts and islands. She uses phytolith analysis, which means studying tiny silica structures found in plants. These structures can tell us what kinds of plants grew in an area in the past.

She also does fieldwork in remote areas and works closely with communities on Indigenous archaeology projects. Her work has taken her across most of Australia, including Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory, and Queensland. She also has international experience, having worked on projects in Chile, Vietnam, and Thailand.

Dr. Wallis has received more than 40 research grants, including several from the Australian Research Council (ARC). These grants help fund important archaeological discoveries.

Awards and Leadership

Dr. Wallis has been a leader in the field of archaeology in Australia. She served as President of two major organizations for archaeologists: the Australian Archaeological Association and the Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists.

In 2012, she was given a special life membership for her important contributions to the Australian Archaeological Association.

Key Publications

Dr. Wallis has written many important research papers and book chapters. Here are a few examples of her work:

• Florin, S.A., A.S. Fairbairn, M. Nango, J. Djandjomerr, B. Marwick, R. Fullagar, M. Smith, L.A. Wallis and C. Clarkson 2020 The first Australian ‘bush foods’ at Madjedbebe, 65,000–53,000 years ago. Nature Communications 11(924).
• Clarkson, C., Z. Jacobs, B. Marwick, R. Fullagar, L.A. Wallis, M. Smith, R.G. Roberts, E. Hayes, K. Lowe, X. Carah, A. Florin, J. McNeil, D. Cox, L.J. Arnold, Q. Hua, J. Huntley, H.E.A. Brand, T. Manne, A. Fairbairn, J. Shulmeister, L.Lyle, M. Salina, M. Page, K. Connell, G. Park, K. Norman, T. Murphy and C. Pardoe 2017 New evidence for the human colonisation of northern Australia about 65,000 years ago. Nature 547(7663):303–310.
• Connelly, P. and L.A. Wallis 2013 Kar-kar: Mitakoodi Traditional Medicinal Plant Uses of the Cloncurry Region. Mount Isa: Southern Gulf Catchments Ltd.
• Sim, R. and L.A. Wallis 2008 Northern Australian offshore island use during the Holocene: the archaeology of Vanderlin Island, Sir Edward Pellew Group, Gulf of Carpentaria. Australian Archaeology 67:95–106.