Professor Glenn Summerhayes has been presented with a book that honours his archaeological career.
Otago Chair of Anthropology, Professor Glenn Summerhayes, has been presented with a Festschrift (a book that honours a respected person) in recognition of four decades of research into the human history of the islands of the Western Pacific, especially Papua New Guinea and its offshore islands.
The book Forty Years in the South Seas: Archaeological Perspectives on the Human History of Papua New Guinea and the Western Pacific Region is an edited volume of invited chapters from Glenn’s former students and colleagues from around the world. Each chapter is connected - by person or topic - to Glenn.
Glenn says the book came as a complete surprise.
“It is a privilege. I am very honoured and happy.”
The Festchrift presented to Professor Glenn Summerhayes.
The three editors, who also each contributed a chapter, are Glenn’s former students: Anne Ford who is now an Associate Professor of Archaeology at Otago, Ben Shaw a Research Fellow at the Australian National University, and Dylan Gaffeny who has just received tenure with Palaeolithic Archaeology at Oxford University.
Glenn says he is immensely proud of these three and many other students he has taught.
Before he joined Otago 20 years ago from a research position in Australia, he asked a colleague about teaching undergraduate students.
“He said, ‘the students will ask you questions and make you think about what you write’, and he was right.
“Dunedin has been good for me and I have been more productive in my research than I would have thought. The last two decades have left a great footprint.”
Glenn has gone on to mentor many students. He has recently been carrying out field work with two students from Papua New Guinea in that country and sees the continuation of an important research legacy.
“These are the first footprints of humanities in Oceania, this great voyage and exploration all begins in Guinea.”
Glenn was presented with the volume of work last month in Canberra at an event hosted by the Australian National University, of which he is the former Head of the Archaeology and Natural History Department.
One of the three editors, Associate Professor Anne Ford, says it was a privilege to put the volume together.
"There was such enthusiasm and excitement from all our contributors in being able to acknowledge Glenn in this way.
“He is held in such high regard and respect in the Pacific archaeology community due to his excellent research, his commitment to working with indigenous communities and promoting Pacific archaeologists, and his wonderful ability to communicate the importance of the stories of the past, back into the communities where they come from.”
The cover image of the book is a Lapita fish hook, which is currently under research by Glenn, and will be retruned to Papua New Guinea later this year.
Lapita refers to an ancient Pacific culture. This hook is about 3,300 years old and is the oldest intact Lapita fish hook to be discovered.
“It’s come straight off the production line,” says Glenn, who imagines a craftsperson watching the brand new, well-crafted fish hook disapearing into ocean waters.
Of significance is the hook’s intact barb, the only one to be discovered from this era and seen in subsequent Western Pacific-Polynesian fish hook design.
Further information:
Forty Years in the South Seas: Archaeological Perspectives on the Human History of Papua New Guinea and the Western Pacific Region is published by Australia National University Press in the Terra Australis series: view and purchase on ANU Press