Kelsey Lowe

PERSON Kelsey Lowe
Kelsey
Occupation:	Senior Research Associate, Honorary Research Fellow and Senior Heritage Advisor
Title:	Doctor of Philosophy
Professional Membership:	{{{member}}}
Known For:	Archaeological Geophysics, Geoarchaeology, GIS
Discipline:	Archaeology, Archaeological Prospection, Geoarchaeology
Sub Discipline:	Remote Sensing, Geographic Information Systems, Geosciences, Culture Heritage Management, Environmental Magnetism
Workplaces:	University of Southern Queensland, University of Queensland
Education:	University of Queensland, University of Mississippi, Minnesota State University Moorhead
Doctoral Advisor:	Jamie Shulmeister
Email:	{{{email}}}
Web Links:	LinkedIn, Academic.edu, ResearchGate, ORCID
ORCID:	{{{orcid}}}
Kelsey Lowe 's Network Links

Kelsey Lowe is an interdisciplinary researcher in landscape and environmental archaeology. She is currently an Australian Research Council (ARC) Senior Research Associate at the University of Southern Queensland working with the Archaeology of the Native Mounted Police Project [Archaeology on the Frontier]. She is also an [Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Queensland and a Senior Heritage Advisor at [Extent].

Early Life and Education

Kelsey has over 17 years experience in archaeology, and specialises in archaeological geophysics, geoarchaeology and geographic information systems (GIS). She developed an interest in these methods early in her career and completed a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Minnesota State University Moorhead and a minor in Soil Science from North Dakota State University in 2003. She continued to utilise her interdisciplinary skills at the University of Mississppi where she completed a Master of Arts in Anthropology in 2005. After completing her Masters, Kelsey began a career in cultural resource management (CRM) in the southeastern USA where she developed skills relating to the management, preservation and protection of heritage sites with an emphasis on public outreach and community engagement. After working in CRM for six years, she went back to university and completed a doctorate in Archaeology from the University of Queensland in 2014. Collectively Kelsey's PhD thesis examined the role of geophysical technologies to address fundamental issues in Australian archaeology with an emphasis on analysing sediment accumulation processes in rockshelters as a means of investigating early colonisation. Using magnetic susceptibility and ground-penetrating radar (GPR), she resolved questions about the onset of human occupation and its relationship to changing climatic regimes, how to identify burials in a geologically complex deposit and determine that shell matrix sites were repeatedly occupied.

Research Focus

Kelsey's interdisciplinary background, particularly with near-surface geophysics, geoarchaeology and environmental magnetism, provides her with a unique perspective at which to examine archaeological landscapes and how these were modified by both natural and cultural processes. Her primary research centres on the interplay of satellite remote sensing, archaeological geophysics, GIS and geoarchaeology to answer questions about human behaviour and their movement across the landscape. In Australia, she focuses on understanding the nature and persistence of initial human occupation in northern Australian sites with an emphasis on site formation processes. This falls within the paradigms associated with human evolution/dispersals models, which are critical in understanding Australia's cultural history. Her expertise in geoarchaeology and mineral magnetics, has also allowed her to work on another important Australian site that falls within models of human dispersal (Warratyi) and Holocene settlement (Bentinck and Lizard Island).

Internationally, Kelsey's focus is on developing new methodologies (archaeological geophysics, GIS and 3D laser scanning) as a better way to protect and preserve sites susceptible to destruction through urban development and to inform sustainable approaches to living and heritage management in Yangon, Myanmar. She is also working using such methodologies to understand urbanisation and settlement layouts of Middle Bronze Age sites in Cyprus, Turkey and Malta.

Current Projects

Australian Focus

1. The Archaeology of the Native Mounted Police (NMP), Queensland, University of Southern Queensland, Flinders University, University of Notre Dame [Archaeology on the Frontier]
2. Madjebebe Rockshelter, North Australia, University of Queensland
3. Gledswood Shelter 1, North Australia
4. Bentinck Island, Gulf of Carpentaria, James Cook University
5. Murrey River Basin Mounds, New South Wales
6. Warratyi Rockshelter, South Australia, Adelaide University
7. Baker's Flat Historic Irish Settlement, South Australia, Flinders University
8. Willow Court Lunatic Asylum, Tasmania, Flinders University

International Focus

1. Yangon Urban Archaeology Project, Yangon, Myanmar (Co-Director)
2. Alampra Archaeological Mission Project (AAMP) for Alampra, Cyprus (Deputy Director)
3. Boncuklu and Kültepe-Kanesh Projects, Turkey, University of Queensland, [[1]]
4. Malta Archaeological Project, Malta
5. Parchman Place Mounds, USA, University of Mississippi [[2]]
6. Carson Mounds, USA [[3]]

Bibliography

Publications

1. Twaddle, R. W., C. R. Sloss, K. M. Lowe, P. Moss, L. L. Mackenzie, and S. Ulm. (2017). Short-term late Holocene dry season occupation and sandy mud flat focused foraging at Murdumurdu, Bentinck Island, Gulf of Carpentaria. Queensland Archaeological Research 20:9–30, doi: 10.25120/qar.20.2017.3584. [4]
2. Wallis, L. A., I. Davidson, H. Burke, S. Mitchell, B. Barker, L. Hatte, N. Cole and K. M. Lowe. (2017). Aboriginal stone huts from the Georgina River, southwest Queensland, Queensland Archaeological Research 20: 1–8, doi 10.25120/qar.20.2017.3584. [5]
3. Clarkson, C., Z. Jacobs, B. Marwick, R. Fullagar, L. A. Wallis, M. Smith, R. G. Roberts, E. Hayes, K. M. Lowe, X. Carah, S. A. Florin, J. McNeil, L. J. Arnold, Q. Hua, J. Huntley, H. Brand, T. Manne, A. Fairbairn, J. Shulmeister, L. Lyle, M. Salina, M. Page, K. Connell, G. Park, K. Norman, T. Murphy and C. Pardoe. (2017). Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago, Nature 547: 306–310, doi:10.1038/nature22968. [6]
4. Lowe, K. M., A. S. Fogel and A. Sneddon. (2017). Archaeological geophysical survey of a Prehistoric Bronze Age site in Cyprus (Alambra Mouttes) – Applications and limitations, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences: 1–19. doi: 10.1007/s12520-017-0508-3.