Rate My Professor Nathan Wright

Nathan Wright is a Lecturer in Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology, Classics and History at the University of New England, Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education. He concurrently holds positions as Senior Research Archaeologist and Charitable Projects Manager at the Everick Benevolent Institution, and Senior Heritage Advisor at Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation. Earlier in his career, Wright served as an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Social Science at the University of Queensland from 2017 to 2018, and as a Lecturer there in 2014, teaching the archaeology of ancient Turkey. He completed his PhD in archaeology and anthropology at the University of Queensland between 2006 and 2015.

Wright's research focuses on palaeo-environmental history in Australia, the Near East, and the Mediterranean, with emphasis on woodland management, human-environment interactions, climate change impacts, palaeo-environment reconstruction methodologies, landscape trade and exchange, and socio-political and socio-economic development. His contributions include key publications such as 'Archaeological evidence of an ethnographically documented Australian Aboriginal ritual dated to the last ice age' (Nature Human Behaviour, 2024, co-authored with Bruno David and others), which provides evidence of an Indigenous fire ritual persisting for approximately 12,000 years; 'Weather, Land and Crops in the Indus Village Model: A Simulation Framework for Crop Dynamics under Environmental Variability and Climate Change in the Indus Civilisation' (Land, 2022, co-authored); 'Gilparrka Almira, a rock art site in Mithaka Country, southwest Queensland: cultural connections, dreaming tracks and trade routes' (Rock Art Research, 2021, co-authored); 'Examining dendrological features of oak as possible signals of systematic woodland management in the central Anatolian Bronze and Iron ages' (2017); and 'Woodland modification in Bronze and Iron Age central Anatolia: An anthracological signature for the Hittite state?' (2015). These works demonstrate his expertise in anthracology, Indigenous archaeology, and ancient environmental adaptations, amassing over 800 citations. At UNE, he coordinates units including Aboriginal Archaeology and Archaeology in the Laboratory, and participates in projects like Heritage Futures, exploring Mithaka Country sites and Gunaikurnai archaeology.