Val Attenbrow facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Val Attenbrow
FAHA
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Attenbrow in 1992–1993, directing archaeological excavations at Balmoral Beach, Sydney
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| Born | 21 November 1942 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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| Died | 5 May 2026 (aged 83) Woollahra, New South Wales, Australia
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| Education | University of Sydney |
| Occupation | Archaeologist |
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Notable work
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Sydney's Aboriginal Past: Investigating the Archaeological and Historical Records What's Changing: Population Size or Land-use Patterns? The Archaeology of Upper Mangrove Creek, Sydney Basin |
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| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Australian Museum |
| Thesis | The Upper Mangrove Creek Catchment: a study of quantitative changes in the archaeological record (1986) |
Valerie Jane Attenbrow (born November 21, 1942 – died May 5, 2026) was an important Australian archaeologist. She worked as a research scientist at the Australian Museum. Her work focused on understanding how Aboriginal people lived in south-eastern Australia during the Holocene period. She studied what they ate, how they used natural resources, and the stone tools they made. Val Attenbrow was known as part of a key group of women archaeologists who helped shape the study of archaeology in Australia.
Contents
Discovering the Past
Early Life and Learning
Val Attenbrow began her journey into archaeology at the University of Sydney. She studied in the Department of Anthropology. In 1976, she earned her Bachelor of Arts Honours degree. She continued her studies and completed her PhD in 1987. Her PhD research looked at changes in archaeological findings in the Upper Mangrove Creek area.
A Career in Archaeology
Attenbrow first worked as a consulting archaeologist. This meant she helped protect old sites before new buildings or projects started. Later, she joined the National Parks and Wildlife Service (New South Wales). There, she worked as a cultural heritage officer, looking after important historical places. She also played a big role in the Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists, even serving as its president in 1984.
Starting in 1978, she led fieldwork in Upper Mangrove Creek. This area is near Wyong on the New South Wales central coast. This urgent archaeological work happened before the area was flooded by the building of the Mangrove Creek Dam.
In 1989, Val Attenbrow became a research scientist at the Australian Museum. She joined the Anthropology Research Section. As part of her work, she researched the Lightning Brothers Project in Wardaman Country in the Northern Territory. Here, she studied when and how pointed stone tools spread across the region.
She also helped edit a science journal called Australian Archaeology from 1989 to 1992. Later, she edited the Short Reports section from 1996 to 1999.
Exploring Sydney's Aboriginal History
In 1989, Attenbrow started a big project called the Port Jackson Archaeological Project. This project focused on finding out about the ancient history of coastal Sydney. Her team carried out excavations (digs) at places like Balmoral Beach, Cammeray, Castle Cove, and Vaucluse.
The work from this project became a major part of her important book. Published in 2002, it was called Sydney’s Aboriginal Past: Investigating the Archaeological and Historical Records. This book was a detailed study of the archaeology of the Aboriginal people who lived in the Sydney area. An updated version of the book came out in 2010.
Attenbrow was also an expert at a workshop about stone tools at the Australian Museum. This workshop aimed to update an older book about Australian Aboriginal stone tools. She later published an important update to her PhD research. This new work looked at her original findings from Upper Mangrove Creek in a fresh way.
Her last big research project involved mapping how people traded special stone tools. She studied where the stone for these tools came from in the Sydney Basin. She used a scientific method called X-ray fluorescence to do this.
Remembering Val Attenbrow
Val Attenbrow passed away on May 5, 2026, at the age of 84.
Awards and Special Recognition
In 1994, Val Attenbrow co-authored a paper that won the first-ever Antiquity prize. This award was for the best research paper.
For her great contributions, Attenbrow became a special Lifetime Member of the Australian Archaeological Association (AAA) in 2002. She had been a member since the mid-1970s. In 2004, she won the first John Mulvaney Book Award from the AAA for her book Sydney's Aboriginal Past. In 2019, she received the Rhys Jones Medal. This is the highest award given by the AAA, recognizing her outstanding work in Australian archaeology.
In 2009, Attenbrow was chosen as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
In 2011, her colleagues at the Australian Museum created a special collection of writings in her honor. This collection, called "Changing Perspectives in Australian Archaeology," was published in the journal Technical Reports of the Australian Museum Online. The editors noted that Val Attenbrow was known for taking on long-term projects. She paid careful attention to details and solved many research problems. She always saw her projects through to the end.
In 2020, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian Museum Research Institute.
See also
- Archaeology of Australia
- Josephine Flood
- Peter Hiscock
- Isabel McBryde
- Stone artefacts
