Claire Smith

Smith obtained a bachelor's degree in archaeology from the University of New England in 1990, and a PhD from the same university in 1996. Her doctoral thesis was an ethnoarchaeological study of Australian Aboriginal art.[1] She also wrote a book called, "Decolonizing Indigenous Archaeology."[2] After that she held an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship and a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship.

With her husband, Gary Jackson, Smith has conducted long term field research in the Aboriginal community of Barunga. She has brought Aboriginal students to train in Adelaide, created archaeological field schools for Aboriginal students, and has been a major contributor to the development of Indigenous Archaeology, both in Australia and elsewhere in the world.

Her tenure at the helm of World Archaeological Congress included creation of a scholarly journal for the organization, Archaeologies, as well as outreach programs such as Archaeologists without Borders and the Global Libraries Project.

Her scholarly output has largely focused on the relationship between archaeologists and indigenous communities, both in Australia and around the world. She has also given attention to general interests for teaching archaeology, such as her Archaeology to Delight and Instruct, and practicing it, such as Digging It Up Down Under. Her archaeological field methods textbook for introductory students has gone through two editions in Australia and was published in an American edition. Her interest in bringing heritage and community archaeology issues to public attention, particularly the plight of Aboriginal peoples in Australia, has led to a series of articles in the Australian news source The Conversation on these topics.

Smith has been awarded 2018 Lucy Mair Medal and Marsh Award of the Royal Anthropological Institute (2018), a Commemorative Medal from Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (2018), Lifetime Achievement Award of the World Archaeological Congress (2016), and was elected fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (2010). In November 2019 she was elected fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.[3]

Books

• H. Burke, M. Morrison and C. Smith (2017). The Archaeologist’s Field Handbook. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. 2nd edition. ISBN 9781743318065.
• C. Smith (ed.) (2014). Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. New York: Springer. ISBN 978-1-4419-0466-9.
• H. Burke, C. Smith and L. Zimmerman (2008).The Archaeologist's Field Handbook. North American Edition. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. ISBN 0-7591-0882-X.
• H. Burke, C. Smith, D. Lippert, J. Watkins and L. Zimmerman (eds) (2008). Kennewick: Perspectives on the Ancient One. Walnut Grove, CA: Left Coast Press. ISBN 978-1-59874-347-0.
• H. Burke and C. Smith (2007). Archaeology to Delight and Instruct. Active Learning in the University Classroom. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press. ISBN 978-1-59874-256-5.
• I. Domingo, H. Burke and C. Smith (2007). Manual de Campo Para Arqueologos. Barcelona: Ariel Editorial. ISBN 978-84-344-5231-2.
• C. Smith and H. Burke (2007). Digging it up Down Under: A Practical Guide to Doing Archaeology in Australia. New York: Springer. ISBN 0-387-35260-0.
• C. Smith and H.M. Wobst (2005). Indigenous Archaeologies: Decolonising Theory and Practice. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-30965-4.
• C. Smith (2004). Country, Kin and Culture. Survival of an Australian Aboriginal Community. Adelaide: Wakefield Press. ISBN 1-86254-575-8.
• H. Burke and C. Smith (2004). The Archaeologist's Field Handbook. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-862-5.
• C. Smith and G. K. Ward (2000). Indigenous Cultures in an Interconnected World. Sydney: Allen and Unwin & Vancouver: University of British Columbia. ISBN 1-86448-926-X.

Journal Articles

• C. Smith, H. Burke, C. de Leiuen and G. Jackson (2016). The Islamic State’s symbolic war: Da'esh's socially mediated terrorism as a threat to cultural heritage. Journal of Social Archaeology 16(2): 164-188.
• C. Smith and G. Jackson (2006) Decolonizing indigenous archaeology: Developments from down under. American Indian Quarterly 30(3/4): 311-349.
• C. Smith (2005). Decolonising the museum: the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. Antiquity 79(304): 424-439.
• C. Smith and H.M. Wobst (2004). Decolonizing archaeological theory and practice. Indigenous Archaeologies: 29-39.
• A. Rosenfeld and C. Smith (1997). Recent developments in radiocarbon and stylistic methods of dating rock art. Antiquity 72(272): 405-11.
• H. Burke, C. Lovell Jones and C. Smith (1994). Beyond the looking-glass: Some thoughts on sociopolitics and reflexivity in Australian archaeology. Australian Archaeology 38(1): 13-22.
• C. Smith (1992). Colonising with style: reviewing the nexus between rock art, territoriality and the colonisation and occupation of Sahul. Australian Archaeology 31(1): 34-42.

Recent Online Articles

• C. Smith (2019). What the termite mound ‘snowmen’ of the NT can tell us about human nature. The Conversation, November 19 2019.
• C. Smith, G. Jackson and J. Ralph (2019). Budj Bim’s world heritage listing is an Australian first – what other Indigenous cultural sites could be next? The Conversation, July 18 2019.
• C. Smith and J. Ralph (2019). Notre Dame: how a rebuilt cathedral could be just as wonderful. The Conversation, April 16 2019.
• C. Smith, G. Jackson, G. Gray, and V. Copley (2018). Who Owns a Family's Story: Why it's Time to Lift the Berndt Field Notes Embargo. The Conversation, September 14 2018.
• C. Smith, G. Jackson and J. Ralph (2018). A grave omission: the quest to identify the dead in remote NT. The Conversation, August 2 2018.

• Heather Burke
• World Archaeological Congress
• Indigenous Archaeology

• Claire Smith – Flinders University