Project | Raja Ampat | Raja Ampat Archaeological Project

THE PROJECT

The Raja Ampat Archaeological Project

is an international collaboration between researchers at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, Universitas Gadjah Mada in Indonesia, and Balai Arkeologi Papua (Centre for Archaeology in Papua). The project has been completed under the RISTEK research permit 359/SIP/FRP/E5/Dit.KI/X/2018.

The work has been funded from a number of sources:

National Geographic Early Career Grant
The Leakey Foundation Research Grant
The Royal Anthropological Institute Horniman and Sutasoma Awards
The Evans Fund, University of Cambridge
Magdalene College, Cambridge
The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Cambridge
Natural Environment Research Council radiocarbon dating funding
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation radiocarbon dating funding
Gates Cambridge

THE TEAM

Dylan Gaffney

Dylan is a PhD student at the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge and co-director of the Raja Ampat Archaeological Project. He holds an MA from the University of Otago in New Zealand and was previously Research Coordinator at Southern Pacific Archaeological Research. Dylan's previous research has focussed on the archaeology of migration, trade and exchange, and social transformations in Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.

Daud Tanudirjo

Daud is Professor of Archaeology at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He co-directs the Raja Ampat Archaeological Project and has worked extensively around eastern Indonesia, in particular in Sulawesi, Maluku, and Talaud. Daud holds a PhD and MA in Archaeology from the Australian National University and has a leading role in major cultural heritage sites across Java. Daud’s work focusses on archaeological theory and cultural heritage values in Indonesia, along with the early colonisation of eastern Indonesian islands.

Erlin Novita Idje Djami

Erlin is a senior archaeologist at the Centre for Papuan Archaeology in Jayapura. She is a key collaborator on the project and has worked extensively around Papua and West Papua. She holds an MA in anthropology from Cenderawasih University and a BA in archaeology from Gadjah Mada University. Her research focuses on the sites of early Austronesian speaking pottery makers around the north coast of Papua, and megalithic archaeology.

Tristan Russell

Tristan is a researcher at Southern Pacific Archaeological Research in New Zealand. A keen photographer, Tristan is responsible for many of the photographs and drone footage presented on this website. He also brings his wide range of fieldwork experience to the project having excavated in the Chatham Islands, Cambodia, Guatemala, and throughout New Zealand. Tristan holds a BA Hons and MA from the University of Otago with a focus on the archaeozoology of early European missionary sties in northern New Zealand.

Abdul Razak Matcao

Abdul is a social anthropologist based at the Centre for Cultural Heritage Conservation in Jayapura. He holds an S Soc. from Cenderawasih University. Being born and raised on Misool Island, the southernmost of the Raja Ampat group, Abdul is an expert on the society and culture of the Raja Ampat peoples. He has worked widely around the island group, along with other areas of West Papua and Papua.

STUDENT FIELD ASSISTANTS

Yulio Ray

Yulio Ray is a final year archaeology student at Gadjah Mada University. Yulio is currently studying bone taphonomy from cave sites in central Indonesia to determine different periods of natural and cultural deposition. He has completed a number of excavations and surveys at temple sites around Java and at prehistoric sites around Timor, Nusa Tenggara, and now on Waigeo.