Project | Raja Ampat | Raja Ampat Archaeological Project

THE PROJECT

The Raja Ampat Archaeological Project

is an international collaboration between researchers at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and Universitas Gadjah Mada and the National Research and Innovation Agency in Indonesia. Our collaborators are based within Papua and internationally in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States, and Southeast Asia.

The research is currently funded by:

National Geographic Meridian Grant
British Academy Small Grant
Boise Trust, University of Oxford

Previous field seasons have been funded by:

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 Associate Professor of Palaeolithic Archaeology at the School of Archaeology, University of Oxford and co-director of the Raja Ampat Archaeological Project. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, 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.

Marlin Tolla

Marlin is a senior researcher in the Archaeometry division of BRIN. She holds a PhD from the Free University of Berlin, for which she examined human and animal isotopic signatures from archaeological sites. This research allowed Marlin to determine the diets and environmental settings of past human groups around coastal Papua. Born in Sorong, Marlin has excavated extensively in Papua, with field projects in Cenderawasih Bay.

Abdul Razak Macap

Abdul is a social anthropologist based at the Regional Centre for Cultural Conservation in Manokwari. 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.

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 archaeozoology.

Anna Florin

Anna is a Lecturer in Archaeological Science based at the Australian National University. She holds a BA Hons and PhD from the University of Queensland, having studied the plant collecting and processing behaviours of the earliest inhabitants of Australia. As an archaeobotanist, Anna is an expert in identifying plant food remains from archaeological sites. Her work with the Raja Ampat Archaeological Project has involved the recovery of charred plants dating to the Pleistocene and Holocene as well as ethnobotanical observations of modern gardening practices.

Ben Utting

Ben is an archaeologist interested in early human dispersal and adaptation throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Pacific. His research involves stone tool analysis, which can shed light on human behavioural variability in space and time. Utting holds a BA from Stony Brook University and an MPhil and PhD from the University of Cambridge. He is currently a Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellow/Life on a Sustainable Planet Fellow in the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

Agustin Capriati

Agustin is a marine biologist with an interest in conservation around the Raja Ampat Islands. She is currently undertaking her PhD research at Wageningen University, examining marine protected areas around Misool in the southern Raja Ampat archipelago. Her previous conservation has focussed on eastern Java. Agustin joined our National Geographic funded project in 2024, as a lead investigator focussing on how people around Waigeo Island interact with the marine environment.

Mariana 'Poppy' Ondikeleuw

Poppy is an ethnobotanist that studies the ways that people engage with plants, especially cultivated foods. She is a BRIN researcher that has extensive experience around Papua. She joined the Raja Ampat Archaeological Project in 2024, co-leading ethnobotanical surveys around Waigeo Island. Her work has involved describing the nature of economic plant processing, recording local names for key plants, and collecting plant reference specimens for archaeobotanical analysis.

Heron Yando

Heron is a biologist with a keen interest in the fauna of Papua. He recently graduated with a BSc degree from Cenderawasih University in Jayapura, specialising in entomology. Heron joined our National Geographic funded project in 2024, leading zoological surveys on Waigeo. To do this, he placed camera traps in different locations to collect baseline information about which species of animals are present on the island. He is currently analysing this photographic data.

Alifah

Alifah is a microbotanist based at the Archaeometry division of BRIN. She specialises in phytolith and starch analysis. She holds a BA and MA from Gadjah Mada University. She is currently undertaking a PhD at Gadjah Mada University, leading field investigations around Sulawesi. Alifah joined the Raja Ampat Archaeological Project excavations on Waigeo Island in 2024.

Adi Dian Setiawan

Adi is an archaeologist based at BRIN. He holds a BA in archaeology from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and is studying for an MA at the same university. He has previously studied bone tools from sites in Papua. His current research examines microbotanical remains from archaeological sites. Adi joined the Raja Ampat Archaeological Project for an excavation season in 2024.

Zubair Mas'ud

Zubair Mas'ud is an archaeologist, currently based in the Prehistoric and Historic Archaeology division at BRIN. He holds a BA and MA, having studied in Sulawesi before moving to Jayapura to spend many years undertaking fieldwork with the Papuan Archaeology Centre. Zubair has undertaken several years of excavation in the Raja Ampat Islands and joined the Raja Ampat Archaeological Project in 2023.

Erlin Novita Idje Djami

Erlin is a senior archaeologist at BRIN and has worked extensively around 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. Erlin undertook excavation with the Raja Ampat Archaeological Project in 2018–2019.

STUDENT FIELD ASSISTANTS

Thomas Prince

Thomas is a Master's student in archaeology at the University of Oxford, specialising in Pleistocene archaeology around New Guinea. Thomas holds a BA in archaeology from the University of Cambridge and has excavated at several important Pleistocene sites in Britain, Spain, and Israel. He joined the Raja Ampat Archaeological Project in 2023–2024.

Ghia Nanda Mahmuda Macap

Ghia is an undergraduate student in archaeology at Hasanuddin University. She originates from Misool and has joined the Raja Ampat Archaeological Project in 2024 for excavation and survey around Mayalibit Bay. She has interests in the archaeology and anthropology of the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

Digby Gough-Boyack

Digby is a bachelor's student in Archaeology and Anthropology at Hertford College, University of Oxford. He joined the Raja Ampat Archaeological Project in 2024 undertaking archaeological excavations and surveys. He also undertook ethnographic interviews about technology like pottery making, boat building, and house construction.

Alex John

Alex is an undergraduate studying Archaeology and Anthropology at St Hugh's College, University of Oxford. With an interest in language change and migrations, as well as Pleistocene archaeology, Alex undertook excavations and survey with the Raja Ampat Archaeological Project in 2024.

Yulio Ray

Recently graduated, Yulio Ray was an archaeology student at Gadjah Mada University, 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 joined the Raja Ampat Archaeological Project on Waigeo in 2019.