Rate My Professor Paul Taçon

Professor Paul S.C. Taçon is Chair in Rock Art Research and Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology at Griffith University. He joined the university in 2005 as Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology and was appointed to the chair in Rock Art Research in 2011. He directs the Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit within the School of Humanities. Taçon previously held positions at the Australian Museum in Sydney from 1991 to 2005, including as principal research scientist in anthropology and head of the People and Place Research Centre. He earned a BA (Honours) from the University of Waterloo in 1980, an MA in Anthropology from Trent University in 1984, and a PhD from the Australian National University in 1990.

Taçon is a former ARC Australian Laureate Fellow (2016–2021) and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the Society of Antiquaries of London, and the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on global rock art, with particular emphasis on Australian and Southeast Asian rock art, human evolution, and cultural heritage. He has led major projects including the documentation of Maliwawa figures in Arnhem Land and pioneered techniques such as radiocarbon dating of beeswax rock art and uranium-series dating for rock art in China. Taçon has published extensively, including books such as The Archaeology of Rock-Art (1998, co-edited with Christopher Chippindale) and Relating to Rock Art in the Contemporary World (2016, co-edited with L.M. Brady), along with numerous peer-reviewed articles on topics including symbolic aspects of stone use, depictions of warfare in rock art, and the Rainbow Serpent motif. He established the "Protect Australia’s Spirit" campaign to promote rock art conservation and awareness. Taçon collaborates with Indigenous communities and international institutions on archaeological and heritage research.

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