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Tim Denham

Monash Research Fellow (2006-2012)

I have clarified the emergence and transformation of agriculture in the highlands of New Guinea, thereby establishing the island as one of the few places in the world where agriculture emerged independently.

Contact Details

School of Geography and Environmental Science,
Building 11, Clayton Campus,
Monash University,
VIC 3800,
Australia

Telephone: 61 (0)3 9902 0109
Fax: 61 (0)3 9905 2948
Email: Tim.Denham@arts.monash.edu.au

Research Interests

Following on from my PhD (2004), my archaeological research has focussed on the long-term history of plant exploitation and early agriculture in the highland interior of Papua New Guinea. My research has made three contributions of demonstrated international significance.

Firstly, I have clarified the emergence and transformation of agriculture in the highlands of New Guinea, thereby establishing the island as one of the few places in the world where agriculture emerged independently.

Secondly, I have developed a new practice-based theory for understanding how agriculture emerges from pre-existing plant exploitation and have contributed to global debates on early agriculture.

Thirdly, I am using plant data (archaeobotanical and genetic) - in conjunction with archaeology, genetics and linguistics - to rethink the long-term regional histories of Australia, New Guinea and Island Southeast Asia.

Additionally, during 2006-2007, I successfully led the nomination by the Papua New Guinea government of the Kuk Early Agricultural Site for UNESCO World Heritage Listing.

TIM DENHAM PUBLICATIONS

Books/Volumes (in preparation)

Denham, T.P. In prep. Early agriculture in the Highlands of New Guinea Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press (for submission in mid 2009).
De Langhe, E., L. Vrydaghs and T.P. Denham (eds) In prep. The history of banana domestication. Ethnobotany Research and Applications, Special Issue (for publication in 2009)
Golson, J., T.P. Denham, P. Swadling and J. Muke (eds) In prep. 10,000 years of agriculture at Kuk Adelaide: Crawford Academic Publishing (for submission in late 2009).
Matthews, J.A., P.J. Bartlein, K.R. Briffa, A.G. Dawson, A. De Vernal, T.P. Denham, S.C. Fritz and F. Oldfield (eds) In prep. The handbook of environmental change Sage Publications (for publication in 2010).

Books/Volumes (published)

Denham, T.P. and S. Mooney (eds.) 2008. Human-environment interactions in Australia and New Guinea during the Holocene. The Holocene, Special Issue 18(3).
Denham, T.P., J. Iriarte and L. Vrydaghs (eds.) 2007. Rethinking agriculture: archaeological and ethnoarchaeological perspectives Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
Denham, T.P. and J.P. White (eds.) 2007. The emergence of agriculture: a global view One World Archaeology Reader, London: Routledge.
Denham, T.P. and C. Ballard (eds.) 2003. Perspectives on prehistoric agriculture in New Guinea. Archaeology in Oceania, Special Issue 38(3).
Denham, T.P. and S. Blau (eds.) 2000. Proceedings of the second National Archaeology Students’ Conference Canberra: School of Archaeology and Anthropology, ANU.
May, K., T.P. Denham and D. Campbell (eds.) 1999. Proceedings of the inaugural National Archaeology Students’ Conference Canberra: School of Archaeology and Anthropology, ANU.

World Heritage Nomination

Denham, T.P., Muke, J., Salas, L., Genorupa, V. and others 2007. The Kuk Early Agricultural Site: A Cultural Landscape. World Heritage Nomination to UNESCO (successful in 2008), Port Moresby: Department of Environment and Conservation, Government of Papua New Guinea.

In press (all for publication in 2009)

Denham, T.P. J. Atchison, J. Austin, S. Bestel, D. Bowdery, A. Crowther, N. Dolby, A. Fairbairn, J. Field, A. Kennedy, C. Lentfer, C. Matheson, S. Nugent, J. Parr, M. Prebble, G. Robertson, J. Specht, R. Torrence, H. Barton, R. Fullagar, S. Haberle, M. Horrocks, T. Lewis and P. Matthews In press. Archaeobotany in Australia and New Guinea: practice, potential and prospects. Australian Archaeology (accepted December 2008).
Denham, T.P., M. Donohue and S. Booth In press. Revisiting an old hypothesis: horticultural experimentation in northern Australia. Antiquity (accepted December 2008).
Denham, T.P. and M. Donohue In press. Pre-Austronesian dispersal of banana cultivars west from New Guinea: linguistic relics from eastern Indonesia. Archaeology in Oceania (accepted October 2008).
Denham, T.P., R. Fullagar and L. Head In press. Plant exploitation on Sahul: from colonisation to the emergence of regional specialisation during the Holocene. Quaternary International (accepted March 2008).
Denham, T.P., S.G. Haberle and A. Pierret In press. A multi-disciplinary method for the investigation of early agriculture: learning lessons from Kuk. A. Fairbairn, S. O’Connor and B. Marwick, eds, New Directions in Archaeological Science. Terra Australis 28, Canberra, ANU E Press (accepted July 2007).
Donohue, M. and T.P. Denham In press. Island Southeast Asia during the mid-Holocene: reframing Austronesian history. Current Anthropology (accepted December 2008).
Donohue, M. and T.P. Denham In press. Banana (Musa spp.) domestication in the Asia-Pacific region: linguistic and archaeological perspectives. Ethnobotany Research and Applications (accepted January 2009).
Head, L., H. Allen, T.P. Denham and R. Fullagar. In press. Australasian overview. In B. Cunliffe, C. Gosden and R. Joyce, eds, Oxford handbook of archaeology. Oxford: Oxford University Press (accepted 2007).
Sniderman, J.M.K., J. Finn and T.P. Denham In press. A late Holocene palaeoecological record from Ambra Crater in the highlands of Papua New Guinea and implications for agricultural history. The Holocene 19(3) (accepted September 2008).

2008

Denham, T.P. 2008. Environmental archaeology: interpreting practices-in-the-landscape through geoarchaeology. In B. David and J. Thomas, eds, Handbook of landscape archaeology. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press.
Denham, T.P. 2008. Traditional forms of plant exploitation in Australia and New Guinea: the search for common ground. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 17: 245-8.
Denham, T.P. and S.G. Haberle 2008. Agricultural emergence and transformation in the Upper Wahgi valley during the Holocene: theory, method and practice. The Holocene 18(3): 499-514.
Denham, T.P. and S. Mooney 2008. Human-environment interactions in Australia and New Guinea during the Holocene. The Holocene 18(3): 373-9.
Donohue, M. and T.P. Denham 2008. The language of Lapita: Vanuatu and an early Papuan presence in the Pacific. Oceanic Linguistics 47(2): 365-376.
Fullagar, R., J. Field, T.P. Denham and C. Lentfer 2008. Stone tools and early agriculture at Kuk Swamp, Papua New Guinea. In L. Longo and N. Skakun, eds, with M. Saracino and M. Dalla Riva, ‘Prehistoric technology’ 40 years later: functional studies and the Russian legacy, pp. 395-398. BAR S1783. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Denham, T.P. 2008. Review of ‘The Agricultural Revolution in Prehistory’ by Graeme Barker. Archaeology in Oceania 43(1): 42-4.
Denham, T.P. 2008. Kuk Swamp. Our Way (PNG Airlines Magazine) 11: 38-41.
Denham, T.P. 2008. A world cradle of agriculture. The UNESCO Courier 6. Translated into five languages.
Denham, T.P., Bedingfield, A. and Gilad, U. 2008. Cultural Heritage site survey along the Juha-Hides upstream section of the Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas (PNG LNG) project. Clayton, VIC: SGES, Monash University. Prepared for Coffey Natural Systems.
Denham, T.P. and Bedingfield, A. 2008. Archaeological reconnaissance and community consultation at Simbai, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, October-November 2007. Clayton, VIC: SGES, Monash University.
Denham, T.P. and Bedingfield, A. 2008. Archaeological reconnaissance survey at Karimui, Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea, March 2007. Clayton, VIC: SGES, Monash University.
Kalam Cultural Museum, Bedingfield, A, Denham, T.P. with Swadling, P. 2008. Inventory of artefacts, Kalam Cultural Museum, Simbai [Madang Province, Papua New Guinea]. Clayton, VIC: SGES, Monash University.

2007

Denham, T.P. 2007. Early fig domestication, or gathering of wild parthenocarpic figs? Antiquity 81: 457-61.
Denham, T.P. 2007. Exploiting diversity: plant exploitation and occupation in the interior of New Guinea during the Pleistocene. Archaeology in Oceania 42(2): 41-8.
Denham, T.P. 2007. Thinking about plant exploitation in New Guinea: towards a contingent interpretation of agriculture. In T.P. Denham, J. Iriarte and L. Vrydaghs, eds., Rethinking agriculture: archaeological and ethnoarchaeological perspectives, pp. 78-108.Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press.
Denham, T.P. 2007. Early agriculture: recent conceptual and methodological developments. In T.P. Denham and P. White, eds, The emergence of agriculture: a global view, pp. 1-25. London: Routledge.
Denham, T.P. 2007. Refining concepts and terminology. In T.P. Denham and P. White, eds, The emergence of agriculture: a global view, pp. 42-4. London: Routledge.
Denham, T.P. 2007. New research in New Guinea. In T.P. Denham and P. White, eds, The emergence of agriculture: a global view, pp. 184-6. London: Routledge.
Fitzsimmons, K.E., Gell, P.A., Bickford, S., Barrows, T.T., Mooney, S.D. and Denham, T.P. 2007. The OZPACS database: A resource for understanding recent impacts on Australian ecosystems. Quaternary Australasia 24(3): 2-6.
Muke, J., T.P. Denham and V. Genorupa 2007. Nominating and managing a World Heritage Site in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. World Archaeology 39(3): 324-38.
Vrydaghs, L. and T.P. Denham 2007. Introduction: challenging existing concepts of early agriculture. In T.P. Denham, J. Iriarte and L. Vrydaghs, eds., Rethinking agriculture: archaeological and ethnoarchaeological perspectives, pp. 1-15. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press.

2006

Denham, T.P. 2006. The origins of agriculture in New Guinea: evidence, interpretation and reflection. In I. Lilley, ed., Blackwell guide to archaeology in Oceania: Australia and the Pacific islands, pp. 160-88. Oxford: Blackwell.
Denham, T.P. and H. Barton 2006. The emergence of agriculture in New Guinea: continuity from pre-existing foraging practices. In D.J. Kennett and B. Winterhalder, eds., Behavioral ecology and the transition to agriculture, pp. 237-64. California: University of California Press.
Bickford, S., C. Lentfer, C. Barr and T.P. Denham. 2006. Environmental reconstruction at the California wetland on the Willunga Plains. In P.A. Smith, F.D. Pate and R. Martin, eds, Valleys of stone: the archaeology and history of Adelaide’s Hill Face Belair, SA: Kopi Books.
Fullagar, R., J. Field, T.P. Denham and C. Lentfer 2006. Early and mid-Holocene processing of taro (Colocasia esculenta) and yam (Dioscorea sp.) at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Journal of Archaeological Science 33: 595-614.
David, B. and T.P. Denham. 2006. Unpacking Australian prehistory. In B. David, B. Barker and I. McNiven, eds., The social archaeology of indigenous societies, pp. 52-71. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.
Denham, T.P. 2006. Review of ‘First Farmers’ by Peter Bellwood. Australian Archaeology 62: 49-50

2005

Denham, T.P. 2005. Envisaging early agriculture in the Highlands of New Guinea: landscapes, plants and practices. World Archaeology 37(2): 290-306.
Denham, T.P. 2005. Les racines de l’agriculture en Nouvelle-Guinée. La Recherche 389: 48-51.
Denham, T.P. 2005. Food for thought. NatureAustralia 28(4): 50-55.
Denham, T.P. 2005. Agricultural origins and the emergence of rectilinear ditch networks in the highlands of New Guinea. In A. Pawley, R. Attenborough, J. Golson and R. Hide, eds., Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples, pp 329-61. Pacific Linguistics 572. Canberra: RSPAS, ANU.
David, B., Denham, T.P., Dop, J. and McNiven, I. 2005. Cultural heritage sites survey along the Kaiam-Goaribari section of the Papua New Guinea Gas Project Pipeline Route: Stage 1. Cultural Heritage Report Series 14. Clayton: Programme for Australian Indigenous Archaeology, School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University.

2004

Denham, T.P. 2004. The roots of agriculture and arboriculture in New Guinea: looking beyond Austronesian expansion, Neolithic packages and Indigenous origins. World Archaeology 36(4): 610-20.
Denham, T.P. 2004. Early agriculture in the Highlands of New Guinea: an assessment of Phase 1 at Kuk Swamp. In V. Attenbrow and R. Fullagar, eds., A Pacific odyssey: archaeology and anthropology in the western Pacific. Papers in honour of Jim Specht. Records of the Australian Museum, Supplement 29: 47-57.
Denham, T.P., J. Golson, and P.J. Hughes 2004. Reading early agriculture at Kuk (Phases 1-3), Wahgi Valley, Papua New Guinea: the wetland archaeological features. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 70: 259-98.
Denham, T.P., S.G. Haberle and C. Lentfer 2004. New evidence and interpretations for early agriculture in Highland New Guinea. Antiquity 78: 839-57.
Denham, T.P. 2004. Review of ‘Marx’s Ghosts: conversations with archaeologists’ by Thomas C. Patterson. Oceania 75(1): 71-2.
Denham, T.P. 2004. Agriculture’s origins in the Highlands of New Guinea. Australasian Science 25(5): 23-6.

2003

Denham, T.P. 2003. Archaeological evidence for mid-Holocene agriculture in the interior of Papua New Guinea: a critical review. In T.P. Denham and C. Ballard, eds., Perspectives on prehistoric agriculture in New Guinea. Archaeology in Oceania, Special Issue 38(3): 159-76.
Denham, T.P. and C. Ballard 2003. Jack Golson and the investigation of prehistoric agriculture in Highland New Guinea: recent work and future prospects. In T.P. Denham and C. Ballard, eds., Perspectives on prehistoric agriculture in New Guinea. Archaeology in Oceania, Special Issue 38(3): 129-34.
Denham, T.P., S.G. Haberle, C. Lentfer, R. Fullagar, J. Field, M. Therin, N. Porch and B. Winsborough 2003. Origins of agriculture at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of New Guinea. Science 301: 189-193.
Terrell, J.E., J.P. Hart, S. Barut, N. Cellinese, A. Curet, T.P. Denham, H. Haines, C.M. Kusimba, K. Latinis, R. Oka, J. Palka, M.E.D. Pohl, K.O. Pope, J.E. Staller and P.R. Williams 2003. Domesticated landscapes: the subsistence ecology of plant and animal domestication. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 10(4): 323-68.

2000

Denham, T.P. 2000. Conceiving temporality: reflections on Thomas’s phenomenological archaeology. In T.P. Denham and S. Blau, eds., Proceedings of the second National Archaeology Students’ Conference, pp. 7-12. Canberra: School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, ANU.
Blau, S., T.P. Denham, P. Magee, A. Biggins, J. Robinson and S. Jasim 2000. Seeing through the dunes: geophysical investigations at Muweilah, United Arab Emirates. Journal of Field Archaeology 27(2): 117-29.
Denham, T.P. 2000. Review of ‘Social transformations in archaeology: global and local perspectives’ by Kristian Kristiansen and Michael Rowlands. Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology 65(2): 285-7.

1999

Denham, T.P. 1999. “What is this pit?” Reflections on style, representation and site interpretation. In K. May, T.P. Denham and D. Campbell, eds., Proceedings of the inaugural National Archaeology Students’ Conference, pp. 19-26. Canberra: School of Archaeology and Anthropology, ANU.
Denham, T.P., F. Eblé, B. Winsborough and J.V. Ward 1999. Archaeological and palaeoenvironmental investigations at `Ohi`apilo Pond, Kalama`ula Ahupua`a, island of Moloka`i, Hawai`i. Hawaiian Archaeology 7: 35-60.
Denham, T.P. 1999. Review of ‘Kuk heritage: issues and debates in Papua New Guinea’ by Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart (eds.). Archaeology in Oceania 34(2): 89-90.
Denham, T.P. 1999. Review of ‘Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago (revised edition)’ by Peter Bellwood. Canberra Anthropology 22(1): 132-4.
Denham, T.P. 1999. Fieldwork report: excavations of Phases 1 and 2 at Kuk, Wahgi Valley, Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. Wetland Archaeology Research Project (WARP) Newsletter 25: 12-7.
Denham, T.P. with a contribution from J. Golson 1999. Post-fieldwork report: 1999 archaeological training excavation at Kuk, Wahgi Valley, Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. Report to PNG National Museum and Art Gallery.

1998

Denham, T.P. with a contribution from J. Golson 1998. Post-fieldwork report: 1998 excavations at Kuk, Wahgi Valley, Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. Report to PNG National Museum and Art Gallery.

1996

Denham, T.P., C. Evans, T. Malim and T. Reynolds 1997. Fieldwork in Cambridgeshire, September 1994 - May 1996. Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, Volume LXXXIV, pp.167-186.