UOW Web Page - University of Wollongong

Kira WESTAWAY
Position: Research Fellow
Room: 41.G26
Phone No.: +61 2 4221 4265
E-mail: kira@uow.edu.au
Research Interests
• Reconstructing environments, climates and landscapes in Indonesia
to assist in the archaeological interpretation of key sites
• Developing techniques in luminescence to establish robust
chronologies for archaeological sites in Southeast Asia
• Establishing the timing of Homo floresiensis occupation and modern
human arrival in Indonesia
• Assessing the impact of Quaternary environmental change on the
evolution and dispersal of hominids in Southeast Asia
Representative Publications
Westaway, K.E., Zhao, J.-x., Roberts, R.G., Chivas, A.R., Morwood, M.J.
and Sutikna, T. (2007). Initial speleothem results from western Flores and
eastern Java, Indonesia: were climate changes from 47 to 5 ka
responsible for the extinction of Homo floresiensis? Journal of
Quaternary Science 22, 438-428.
Westaway, K.E., Morwood, M.J., Roberts, R.G., Rokus, A.D., Zhao, J.-x.,
Storm, P., Aziz, F., van den Bergh, G.D., Hadi, P., Jatmiko and de Vos, J.
(2007) Age and biostratigraphic significance of the Punung rainforest
fauna, East Java, Indonesia. Journal of Human Evolution
doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2007.06.002.
Westaway, K.E., Morwood M.J., Roberts, R.G., Zhao, J-x., Sutikna, T.,
Saptomo, E.W. and Rink, W.J. (2007) Establishing the time of initial
human occupation of Liang Bua, western Flores, Indonesia. Quaternary
Geochronology 2, 337–343.
Westaway, K.E. and Roberts, R.G. (2006) A dual-aliquot regenerativedose
protocol (DAP) for thermoluminescence (TL) dating of quartz
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sediments using the light-sensitive and isothermally-stimulated red
emissions. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, 2513–2528.
Rhodes, E.J., Singarayer, J., Raynal, J.P. and Westaway, K.E. (2006)
New age estimates for the Palaeolithic assemblages and Pleistocene
succession of Casablanca, Morocco’ Quaternary Science Reviews 25,
2569–2585.
Prideaux, G., Roberts R.G., Megirian, D., Westaway, K.E., and Olley, J.
(2007) Effects of Pleistocene climate change on southeastern Australian
mammal fauna and implications for causes of megafaunal extinctions.
Geology 35, 33–36.
Morwood, M.J., Brown, P., Sutikna, T., Jatmiko, Saptomo, W. E.,
Westaway, K. E., Roberts, R. G., Awe Due, R., Wassisto, S., Maeda, T.,
and Djubiantono, T. (2005) Further evidence for small-bodied hominins
from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia. Nature 437, 1012–1017.
Turney, C., Roberts, R. and Westaway, K.E. (2005). Dating Middle-earth.
Nature Australia, 28 (6), 70-71.
Roberts, R.G., Morwood M.J., and Westaway, K.E. (2005) Illuminating
Indonesia's prehistory: new archaeological and palaeoanthropological
frontiers for luminescence dating. Asian Perspectives 44, 293–319.
Westaway, K. E. (2005) Walking with hobbits. Rhizome (a postgraduate
peer-reviewed journal) 1, 9–15.
Morwood, M.J., Soejono, R.J., Roberts, R.G., Sutikna, T., Turney, C.S.M.,
Westaway, K.E., Rink, W.J., Zhao, J.-x., van den Bergh, G.D., Awe Due,
R., Hobbs, D.R., Moore, M.W., Bird, M.I. and Fifield, L.K. (2004)
Archaeology and age of a new hominin species from Flores in eastern
Indonesia. Nature 431, 1087–1091.
Li, S. H., Tso, M. Y., Westaway, K. E., and Chen, R. (1999) Choice of the
most appropriate thermal treatment in the optical dating of quartz.
Radiation Protection Dosimetry 84, 495–498.
Abbreviated CV
2007-10 - Research Fellow at University of Wollongong: undertaking an
Australian Post-Doctoral fellowship as a chief investigator on a project
investigating ‘Landscape evolution and palaeoclimates in Indonesia:
environmental, faunal and archaeological implications’ funded by an ARC
Discovery Grant.
2006-7 - Research Fellow at University of Wollongong: Writing and
organising a Masters and third year undergraduate Geoarchaeological
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University of Wollongong NSW 2522 Australia
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course entitled ‘Death dung and decay: modern scientific methods in
Archaeology’.
2003-6: PhD, The University of Wollongong, Australia `Reconstructing the
Quaternary landscape evolution, and climate history of Western Flores,
Indonesia: an environmental and chronological context for the
archaeological site of Liang Bua’. Supervised by Professor Richard G.
Roberts.
1995-97: MPhil, The University of Hong Kong, China `Investigations into
the problems associated with the optical dating of quartz.’ Supervised by
Dr. Shenghua Li.
1995: MSc in Quaternary Science (N.E.R.C. approved), Royal Holloway
University of London, UK.
1991-94: BSc (Hons) Geography, University of Liverpool, UK.
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University of Wollongong NSW 2522 Australia
www.uow.edu.au