Val Attenbrow

{{Short description|Australian archaeologist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}} {{Use Australian English|date=May 2017}} {{Infobox academic | name = Val Attenbrow | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|FAHA}} | birth_date = {{Birth date|1942|11|21}}. | birth_place = Sydney, Australia | death_date = {{Death date and age|2026|05|05|1942|05|05|df=yes}} | death_place = Woollahra, New South Wales | education = University of Sydney (BA (Hons), PhD) | thesis_title = The Upper Mangrove Creek Catchment: a study of quantitative changes in the archaeological record | thesis_year = 1986 | discipline = Archaeology | sub_discipline = Aboriginal archaeology, lithic analysis | workplaces = Australian Museum | notable_works = {{Plainlist| *Sydney's Aboriginal Past: investigating the archaeological and historical records * *What's changing: population size or land-use patterns? The archaeology of Upper Mangrove Creek, Sydney Basin}} }}

'''Valerie Jane Attenbrow''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|FAHA}} (21 November 1942 - 5 May 2026)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tutton |first=Samantha |date=2026-05-06 |title=Vale Dr Valerie Attenbrow FAHA 1942 – 2026 |url=https://humanities.org.au/our-community/vale-dr-valerie-attenbrow-faha-1942-2026/ |access-date=2026-05-18 |website=Australian Academy of the Humanities |language=en-AU}}</ref> was an Australian archaeologist and a research scientist in Geosciences and Archaeology Section of the Australian Museum.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Specht |first1=Jim |last2=Torrence |first2=Robin |title= Changing Perspectives in Australian Archaeology. Preface|journal= Technical Reports of the Australian Museum, Online|date=2011 |volume=23 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.3853/j.1835-4211.23.2011.1565 |url=https://journals.australianmuseum.net.au/specht-2011-tech-rep-aust-mus-online-23-12/|doi-access=free }}</ref> She is recognised as belonging to an important, discipline shaping, network of female archaeologists in the history of professional archaeology Australia, and was a specialist in lithic analysis and the archaeology of Indigenous Australia.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Citation |last=Smith |first=Claire |title=Women in Australian Archaeology: Challenges and Achievements |date=2023 |work=Women in Archaeology: Intersectionalities in Practice Worldwide |pages=593–617 |editor-last=López Varela |editor-first=Sandra L. |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27650-7_29 |access-date=2026-05-29 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-27650-7_29 |isbn=978-3-031-27650-7 |last2=Formosa |first2=Niamh |last3=Ferguson |first3=Gwen |last4=Tola |first4=Kristen}}</ref>

== Early life and education == Attenbrow commenced her archaeological studies in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Sydney where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in 1976.<ref>{{Citation |last=Straiton |first=Peta B. |title=Attenbrow, Valerie J. |date=2020 |work=Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology |pages=1092–1093 |url=https://link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_2435 |access-date=2026-05-29 |publisher=Springer, Cham |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_2435 |isbn=978-3-030-30018-0}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Dr Val Attenbrow |url=https://australian.museum/get-involved/staff-profiles/val-attenbrow/ |access-date=2026-05-18 |website=The Australian Museum |language=en}}</ref> She completed her PhD in 1987 with a thesis "The Upper Mangrove Creek Catchment: a study of quantitative changes in the archaeological record".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Attenbrow |first=Valerie |date=1988-06-01 |title=PhD Thisis Abstract: The Upper Mangrove Creek Catchment - A Study of Quantitative Changes in the Archaeological Record (Volumes I and II) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03122417.1988.12093151 |journal=Australian Archaeology |language=en |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=110–111 |doi=10.1080/03122417.1988.12093151 |issn=0312-2417}}</ref>

== Career and research == She has worked as a private consulting archaeologist and in the National Parks and Wildlife Service (New South Wales) as a cultural heritage officer.<ref name=":1" /> She played an important early role in the Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists.

She was initially appointed as a research scientist in the then Anthropology Research Section of the Australian Museum in 1989.<ref name=":0" /> She served as co-editor, alongside Betty Meehan, of the peer-reviewed journal Australian Archaeology from 1989-1992.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Congratulations to Dr Val Attenbrow for the highest award in Australian Archaeology! |url=https://australian.museum/blog/amri-news/dr-val-attenbrow-highest-award-australian-archaeology/ |access-date=2026-05-28 |website=The Australian Museum |language=en}}</ref>

Her research has focused on the Holocene period subsistence patterns, resource use and stone artefact technologies of Aboriginal people, particularly in south-eastern Australia. She undertook fieldwork as a part of a major regional study in Upper Mangrove Creek near Wyong on the New South Wales central coast.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Attenbrow |first=Val |url=https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/terra-australis/whats-changing-population-size-or-land-use-patterns-terra |title=What's Changing: Population Size or Land-Use Patterns? (Terra Australis 21): The archaeology of Upper Mangrove Creek, Sydney Basin |date=February 2007 |publisher=ANU Press |isbn=978-1-74076-116-1 |edition=1st |doi=10.22459/wc.02.2007 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Attenbrow |first=Val |date=December 2007 |title=Emu Tracks 2, Kangaroo and Echidna, and Two Moths: Further Radiocarbon Ages for Aboriginal Sites in the Upper Mangrove Creek Catchment, New South Wales |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03122417.2007.11681859 |journal=Australian Archaeology |language=en |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=51–54 |doi=10.1080/03122417.2007.11681859 |issn=0312-2417}}</ref> Attenbrow later revised her initial interpretation of the data from initial results and published as a major monograph.<ref name=":3" /> This formed part of a larger project revising older models of intensification a critiquing simplistic models of demographic change in the Holocene.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hiscock |first=Peter |last2=Attenbrow |first2=Val |date=October 2016 |title=Dates and demography? T he need for caution in using radiometric dates as a robust proxy for prehistoric population change |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/arco.5096 |journal=Archaeology in Oceania |language=en |volume=51 |issue=3 |pages=218–219 |doi=10.1002/arco.5096 |issn=0728-4896}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Attenbrow |first=Val |last2=Hiscock |first2=Peter |date=2015 |title=Dates and demography: are radiometric dates a robust proxy for long-term prehistoric demographic change? |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/arco.5052 |journal=Archaeology in Oceania |language=en |volume=50 |issue=S1 |pages=30–36 |doi=10.1002/arco.5052 |issn=1834-4453}}</ref>

In 1989 Attenbrow initiated the large-scale Port Jackson Archaeological Project, focusing on the archaeology of coastal Sydney.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Attenbrow |first=Val |date=September 1991 |title=Port Jackson archaeological project: A study of the prehistory of the Port Jackson catchment, New South Wales. Stage I - site recording and site assessment |url=https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.153258744613571 |journal=Australian Aboriginal Studies |issue=2 |pages=40–55 |doi=10.3316/informit.153258744613571}}</ref><ref name=":4" /><ref>[http://www.humanities.org.au/Fellowship/FindFellows/tabid/123/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1527/Attenbrow-Valerie.aspx Australian Academy of the Humanities Honorary Fellows]</ref> Excavations were conducted at Balmoral, Cammeray, Castle Cove, and Vaucluse.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Attenbrow |first=Val |date=January 1992 |title=Shell Bed Or Shell Midden |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03122417.1992.11681447 |journal=Australian Archaeology |language=en |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=3–21 |doi=10.1080/03122417.1992.11681447 |issn=0312-2417}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Attenbrow |first1=Val |last2=Doelman |first2=Trudy |last3=Corkill |first3=Tessa |date=October 2008 |title=Organizing the manufacture of Bondi points at Balmoral Beach, Middle Harbour, Sydney, NSW, Australia |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.1834-4453.2009.tb00037.x |journal=Archaeology in Oceania |language=en |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=104–119 |doi=10.1002/j.1834-4453.2009.tb00037.x |issn=0728-4896}}</ref> The work undertaken as part of this project formed a major component her comprehensive study of the archaeology of the Aboriginal people of the Sydney area, which was first published in 2002 (second edition in 2010), entitled ''Sydney’s Aboriginal Past. Investigating the Archaeological and Historical Records''.<ref name=":4">{{Citation | author1=Attenbrow, Valerie | title=Sydney's Aboriginal past : investigating the archaeological and historical records | date=2010 | publisher=University of New South Wales Press | edition=2nd | isbn=978-1-74223-116-7 }} </ref>

Her final major research project focused on mapping the social networks linked to the trade of ground-edged artefacts and their source material using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Grave |first1=Peter |last2=Attenbrow |first2=Val |last3=Sutherland |first3=Lin |last4=Pogson |first4=Ross |last5=Forster |first5=Nicola |date=June 2012 |title=Non-destructive pXRF of mafic stone tools |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0305440311004250 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |language=en |volume=39 |issue=6 |pages=1674–1686 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2011.11.011 |bibcode=2012JArSc..39.1674G }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Attenbrow |first1=Val |last2=Corkill |first2=Tessa |last3=Pogson |first3=Ross |last4=Sutherland |first4=Lin |last5=Grave |first5=Peter |date=2017-05-04 |title=Non-destructive Provenancing of Ground-Edged Mafic Artifacts: A Holocene Case Study from the Sydney Basin, Australia |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00934690.2017.1324354 |journal=Journal of Field Archaeology |language=en |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=173–186 |doi=10.1080/00934690.2017.1324354 |issn=0093-4690}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Attenbrow |first1=V. |last2=Bryant |first2=R. |last3=Corkill |first3=T. |last4=Pogson |first4=R. |last5=Grave |first5=P. |date=April 2019 |title=Geological sources and chronological change in ground-edged artefacts of the Hawkesbury region, the Sydney Basin: A Macdonald River case study |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2352409X18305157 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |language=en |volume=24 |pages=631–639 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.01.025 |bibcode=2019JArSR..24..631A }}</ref>

== Awards and recognition == Attenbrow was a co-author of the paper, "Of Lightning Brothers and White Cockatoos: dating the antiquity of signifying systems in the Northern Territory, Australia", that won the inaugural Antiquity prize for best paper in 1994.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=David |first=Bruno |last2=McNiven |first2=Ian |last3=Attenbrow |first3=Val |last4=Flood |first4=Josephine |last5=Collins |first5=Jackie |date=June 1994 |title=Of Lightning Brothers and White Cockatoos: dating the antiquity of signifying systems in the Northern Territory, Australia |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/of-lightning-brothers-and-white-cockatoos-dating-the-antiquity-of-signifying-systems-in-the-northern-territory-australia/76AF39DF6DF1B2334E72840AD349EE68 |journal=Antiquity |language=en |volume=68 |issue=259 |pages=241–251 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X0004655X |issn=0003-598X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Prize winners {{!}} Antiquity Journal |url=https://antiquity.ac.uk/open/prizes |access-date=2026-05-29 |website=antiquity.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref>

In 2002, Attenbrow was made a Life Member of the Australian Archaeological Association (AAA) for her contributions to the association, which she first became a member of in the mid-1970s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://australianarchaeologicalassociation.com.au/awards/life-membership/val-attenbrow/|title=Val Attenbrow |website=australianarchaeologicalassociation.com.au|access-date=2019-01-09}}</ref> In 2004 Attenbrow won the inaugural John Mulvaney Book Award from the AAA for ''Sydney's Aboriginal Past''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://australianarchaeologicalassociation.com.au/awards/john-mulvaney-book-award/|title=John Mulvaney Book Award|website=Australian Archaeological Association|access-date=2019-01-09|archive-date=29 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160229063747/https://www.australianarchaeologicalassociation.com.au/awards/john-mulvaney-book-award/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2019, Attenbrow was awarded the Rhys Jones Medal, the highest award offered by the AAA, in recognition of her outstanding and sustained contribution to the field of archaeology in Australia.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://twitter.com/AustArchaeology/status/1205442926412783619|title=#AAA42 Congratulations to the winner of the Rhys Jones Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Archaeologypic.twitter.com/5lIHxhYqPH|last=AustArchAssoc|date=2019-12-13|website=@AustArchaeology|language=en|access-date=2019-12-14}}</ref>

Attenbrow was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Fellow Profile: Valerie Attenbrow |url=https://humanities.org.au/fellows/fellow-profile/?fellow_id=75 |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2024-07-05 |website=Australian Academy of the Humanities |language=en-AU}}</ref>

In 2011, Attenbrow's colleagues at the Australian Museum produced an edited volume of academic papers dedicated to her "because she has had a major impact in all the areas of Australian archaeology that are highlighted in the papers included"; the volume was entitled "Changing Perspectives in Australian Archaeology".<ref name=":0" /> In its preface, it was noted by editors Jim Specht and Robin Torrence that:<blockquote>One of the features of Attenbrow’s work over the last three and a half decades has been her willingness to undertake long-term projects that do not yield immediate results, but with meticulous attention to detail and resolution of methodological and theoretical issues, she has brought them all to fruition.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>In 2020 she was awarded an Australian Museum Research Institute Lifetime Achievement Award.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Celebrating three scientific trailblazers with Lifetime Achievement Awards |url=https://australian.museum/about/organisation/media-centre/lifetime-achievement-award-2022/ |access-date=2026-05-18 |website=The Australian Museum |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

==Selected publications== === Books=== *Attenbrow, V. (2010). Sydney's Aboriginal past: investigating the archaeological and historical records. Sydney, University of New South Wales Press. *Attenbrow, V. (2006). [https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p10741/pdf/book.pdf What's changing: population size or land-use patterns? The archaeology of Upper Mangrove Creek, Sydney Basin]. Canberra, ANU E Press. *Hiscock, P. and V. Attenbrow (2005) Australia's Eastern Regional Sequence revisited: Technology and change at Capertee 3. ''British Archaeological Reports. International Monograph Series 1397''. Oxford: Archaeopress.

===Articles and chapters=== *Robertson, G., '''V. Attenbrow''' and P. Hiscock (2019). "Residue and use-wear analysis of non-backed retouched artefacts from Deep Creek Shelter, Sydney Basin: implications for the role of backed artefacts." Archaeology in Oceania 52(2): 1-17. *'''Attenbrow, V.''' and P. Hiscock (2015). "Dates and demography: are radiometric dates a robust proxy for long‐term prehistoric demographic change?" Archaeology in Oceania 50(S1): 30-36. *Grave, P., '''V. Attenbrow''', L. Sutherland, R. Pogson and N. Forster (2012). "Non-destructive pXRF of mafic stone tools." Journal of Archaeological Science 39(6): 1674-1686. *Robertson, G., '''V. Attenbrow''' and P. Hiscock (2009). "Multiple uses for Australian backed artefacts." Antiquity 83(320): 296-308. *'''Attenbrow, V.''', G. Robertson and P. Hiscock (2009). "The changing abundance of backed artefacts in south-eastern Australia: a response to Holocene climate change?" Journal of Archaeological Science 36: 2765-2770. *'''Attenbrow, V.''', T. Doelman and T. Corkill (2008). "Organizing the manufacture of Bondi points at Balmoral Beach, Middle Harbour, Sydney, NSW, Australia." Archaeology in Oceania 43: 104-119. *Mooney, S., M. Webb and '''V. Attenbrow''' (2007). "A comparison of charcoal and archaeological information to address the influences on Holocene fire activity in the Sydney Basin." Australian Geographer 38(2): 177-194. *Hiscock, P. and '''V. Attenbrow''' (2005). Reduction Continuums and Tool Use. Lithics 'Down Under': Australian Perspectives on Lithic Reduction, Use and Classification. C. Clarkson and L. Lamb. Oxford, Archaeopress: 43-55. *Hiscock, P. and '''V. Attenbrow''' (2004). "A revised sequence of backed artefact production at Capertee 3, New South Wales." Archaeology in Oceania 39: 94-99. *Hiscock, P. and '''V. Attenbrow''' (2003). "Early Australian implement variation: a reduction model." Journal of Archaeological Science 30: 239-249. *Hiscock, P. and '''V. Attenbrow''' (2002). Morphological and reduction continuums in eastern Australia: measurement and implications at Capertee 3. Barriers, borders, boundaries: proceedings of the 2001 Australian Archaeological Association Annual Conference. S. Ulm, C. Westcott, J. Reid et al. Brisbane, Anthropology Museum, University of Queensland. 7: 167-174.

* Peter Hiscock * Isabel McBryde * Stone artefacts

==References==

{{DEFAULTSORT:Attenbrow, Val}} Category:1942 births Category:2026 deaths Category:Archaeologists Category:Australian academics Category:Australian archaeologists Category:Australian prehistorians Category:Australian women archaeologists Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities Category:Prehistorians Category:Women archaeologists