Glenn Summerhayes
Archaeologist and researcher at the University of Otago
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Glenn Reginald Summerhayes OAM (born 1954) is an Australian-born New Zealand archaeologist, and is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Otago, specialising in the Lapita people and pottery and the settlement of the Western Pacific and Papua New Guinea.
- Aspects of Melanesian ceramics (MA thesis, 1987)
- Interaction in Pacific prehistory: An approach based on the production, distribution and use of pottery (Doctoral thesis, 1996)
Glenn Summerhayes | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1954 |
| Awards | Medal of the Order of Australia, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, Fellow of the Linnean Society of London |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Sydney, Bachelor of Arts |
| Theses |
|
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | University of Otago |
Doctoral students | Oli Wilson |
Early life and education
Summerhayes was born in Redfern, Sydney. His interest in archaeology was sparked as a child but he did not begin studying it until after he had completed a degree in history at the University of Sydney.[1]
Academic career
Summerhayes was employed full time with the Department of Veterans' Affairs while doing fieldwork and completing a Master of Arts at the University of Sydney in 1987, with a thesis on Melanesian ceramics.[1][2][3] During the early 1990s he undertook several seasons of fieldwork in Papua New Guinea, became curator at the Museum of Victoria of the Vanuatu collection and registrar of the Victorian Archaeological Survey.[1] In 1996 he completed his doctorate at La Trobe University, with a thesis on pottery in Pacific prehistory.[4] His work analysing pottery collections showed that different clay tempers were used to make Lapita pottery raising questions about the movement of both pottery and people.[1]
In 2001 he became a research fellow and later head of department at the Department of Archaeology and Natural History at Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra.[1] In 2005 he moved to take up a professorship and Head of Department of Anthropology, Gender, and Sociology at the University of Otago.[1]
Summerhayes's work has contributed to understanding the spread of the Lapita peoples and cultures and the length of human occupation in Papua New Guinea.[1] Through analysis of the chemical composition and styles of Lapita pottery and obsidian Summerhayes has been able to investigate trade and exchange and the settlement of Papua New Guinea and the Western Pacific.[1] He identified Early, Middle and Late Phases of Lapita production.[1] Fieldwork at several sites in the Ivane Valley in Papua New Guinea followed by analysis of archaeological materials enabled him to establish that occupation occurred 49,000 to 44,000 years ago.[1] Importantly this has contributed to understanding the movement of peoples through the Sahul continent and consequent adaptation.[1]
In 2024 on his retirement from the University of Otago Summerhayes's colleagues and former students compiled a Festschrift in his honour.[5][6][7] It was edited by three of his former students: Anne Ford, Ben Shaw and Dylan Gaffney.[5][6]
Summerhayes is also a Fellow of several learned societies: the Linnean Society, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Society of Antiquaries. He is an honorary professor at the University of Queensland and at ANU, and honorary curator of archaeology and Pacific collections at the Otago Museum.[1][8]
Honours and awards
In 2014 Summerhayes was appointed an Officer of the Order of Logohu.[1] He won the Percy Smith Medal for Research Publications in Anthropology at the University of Otago in 2015, and the best paper prize at the Australian Archaeological Association in 2013.[9]
In the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours List Summerhayes was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia, for service to tertiary education, and to history.[8][9]
Selected works
A full bibliography of Summerhayes's publications can be found in the Introduction of the Festschrift.[1]
- Glenn R Summerhayes; Matthew Leavesley; Andrew Fairbairn; Herman Mandui; Judith Field; Anne Ford; Richard Fullagar (1 October 2010). "Human adaptation and plant use in highland New Guinea 49,000 to 44,000 years ago". Science. 330 (6000): 78–81. doi:10.1126/science.1193130. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 20929808. Wikidata Q47259238.
- David Frankel; Jennifer M. Webb; R. Adams; et al. (1 November 1996). "Marki Alonia : An Early and Middle Bronze Age Town in Cyprus - Excavations 1990-1994". Australian Archaeology. 43 (1): 58–58. doi:10.1080/03122417.1996.12094425. ISSN 0312-2417. Wikidata Q112210163.
- G. R. Summerhayes; J. R. Bird; R. Fullagar; C. Gosden; J. Specht; R. Torrence (1998), Application of PIXE-PIGME to Archaeological Analysis of Changing Patterns of Obsidian Use in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea, pp. 129–158, doi:10.1007/978-1-4757-9276-8_6, Wikidata Q138783633
- Glenn R. Summerhayes; Jim Allen (October 1993). "The Transport of Mopir Obsidian to Late Pleistocene New Ireland". Archaeology in Oceania. 28 (3). ISSN 1834-4453. JSTOR 40386972. Wikidata Q138783635.
- Mike T. Carson; Hsiao-chun Hung; Glenn Summerhayes; Peter Bellwood (January 2013). "The Pottery Trail From Southeast Asia to Remote Oceania". Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology. 8 (1): 17–36. doi:10.1080/15564894.2012.726941. ISSN 1556-4894. Wikidata Q112301176.
- Glenn Summerhayes (2009). "Obsidian Network Patterns in Melanesia - Sources, Characterisation and Distribution". Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association. 29: 109–123. doi:10.7152/bippa.v29i0.9484. hdl:1885/51572. ISSN 0156-1316. Wikidata Q138783648.
- Ben J. Shaw; Glenn R. Summerhayes; Hallie R. Buckley; Joel A. Baker (April 2009). "The use of strontium isotopes as an indicator of migration in human and pig Lapita populations in the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea". Journal of Archaeological Science. 36 (4): 1079–1091. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.12.010. ISSN 0305-4403. Wikidata Q99917596.
- Summerhayes, Glenn (2000). Lapita interaction. Terra Australis. Canberra: Australian Nat. Univ. ISBN 978-0-7315-4623-7.