Wendy Reynen

Current position

Doctor of Philosophy candidate at the University of Western Australia

Where did you study?

University of Western Australia

How did you become interested in archaeology?

My school offered 'ancient history' units in years 11 and 12 and this quickly became my favorite subject. I became fascinated about how we could learn about people in the past from the objects they left behind. I took an archaeology unit at the University of Western Australia in my first semester and my interest in Australian Aboriginal archaeology grew. The archaeology department at the University of Western Australia had (and still continues to have!) a fantastic community vibe which i quickly became a part of.

What archaeological projects are you working on at the moment?

I'm currently working on my PhD project. I'm analysing stone tools and stone debris discarded by Aboriginal people in caves and rockshelters in arid northwest Australia to understand how people responded to and adapted to significant climate change (particularly the Last Ice Age) during the late Pleistocene (approximately 45,000 to 12,000 years ago).

Tell us about one of your most interesting archaeological discoveries.

When i was working as a heritage consultant in the Pilbara region of Western Australia a few years ago, we came across a very large rockshelter high up on top of a hill. Together with the Aboriginal community, we excavated the rockshelter and found lots of evidence of past human use in the form of stone tools and debris, old camp fires and animal bones. We dated this sequence which told us that Aboriginal people had been visiting this place over a period of some 45,000 years! Most significantly, Aboriginal people continued to visit this rockshelter during the Last Ice Age - when climate become cold, dry and arid - and desert areas like the Pilbara were very difficult for people to live in.

Tell us about a funny/disastrous/amazing experience that you have had while doing archaeology.

I've had some fantastic fun 4-wheel-driving around the Pilbara to get to areas of interest (and only very occasionally getting bogged!).

What’s your favourite part of being an archaeologist?

Visiting some amazing parts of Australia - by boat, 4-wheel drive, aeroplane and helicopter - that I would never have otherwise visited or even knew about!

Follow up reading:

Morse, K, Cameron, R & Reynen, W 2014, 'A tale of three caves: New dates for Pleistocene occupation in the inland Pilbara', Australian Archaeology, vol. 79, pp. 167-178.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03122417.2014.11682033