Sven Ouzman

(he/him)

1

Article

8

Comments

I am an archaeologist and heritage specialist who studies rock art, graffiti, heritage, Indigenous knowledge, intellectual property, cross-cultural contact, and understandings of time. I studied for my BA and Honours at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa (1988-1992). I was Head of the Rock Art Department at National Museum in Bloemfontein (1994-2002) before reading for an MA and PhD at UC Berkeley (2002-2006). I taught Ancient African History at San Quentin Prison (2004-2005). I returned to South Africa as Senior Lecturer at the University of Pretoria’s Department of Anthropology & Archaeology (2006-2011) before becoming Curator of Archaeology at Iziko South African Museum (2011-2013).

In 2013 I joined UWA’s Centre for Rock Art Research + Management as a Kimberley Rock Art Research Fellow (2013-2015) where I have been Archaeology Discipline Chair (2016-2018), Major Co-ordinator (2015-2021), Honours Co-ordinator (2015-2019 & Mentor) and Seminar Co-ordinator (2017-2020). I was School of Social Sciences Director of Learning, Teaching + Student Matters (2020-2022) and am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

I have directed research in Australia, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa, documenting >4000 rock art sites, conducting >20 excavations and producing >200 site reports. I have written >70 academic >80 other publications; established 6 rock art site museums; and curated 10 exhibitions.

Experience

  • 2013–present
    Lecturer, Senior Lecturer + Associate Professor , University of Western Australia
  • 2011–2013
    Curator of Archaeology, Iziko South African Museum
  • 2005–2011
    Senior Lecturer, University of Pretoria, South Africa
  • 1994–2004
    Head, Rock Art Department, National Museum, South Africa

Education

  • 2020 
    University of Western Australia, Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Teaching
  • 2008 
    University of California Berkeley, PhD in Anthropology
  • 2004 
    University of California Berkeley, MA
  • 1993 
    University of the Witwatersrand, BA (Hons)
  • 1992 
    University of the Witwatersrand, BA

Publications

  • 2025
    Motta, A. P., Ouzman, S., Veth, P., & Aboriginal Corporation, B. (2025). Linear Naturalistic Figures: A new Mid-to-Late Holocene Aboriginal rock art style from the northeast Kimberley, Australia. Australian Archaeology, 91(1), 30-46. https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2025.2457860,
  • 2024
    Ouzman, S. (2024). Archaeology and Rock Art in the West Kimberley. Story Map - Living Water: River, Land and Sea Country and Indigenous People of the West Kimberley. https://livingwaterheritage.org/?page=Archaeology-and-Rock-Art,
  • 2024
    Ouzman, S., Carracher, L., & Pérez-Hämmerle, K.-V. (2024). Heritage Management: Snapshot of West Kimberley Heritage Management. Story Map - Living Water: River, Land and Sea Country and Indigenous People of the West Kimberley. https://livingwaterheritage.org/?page=Management,
  • 2023
    Ouzman, S. (2023). Authorship, attribution and acknowledgment in archaeology. Australian Archaeology, 89(1), 66-70. https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2023.2190497,
  • 2023
    Ouzman, S. (2023). Activating Archaeology: Commentary on the Theme Issue "Archaeology as Empowerment: For Whom and How?". Forum Kritische Archaologie, 12(1), 154-162. Article 20. https://doi.org/10.17169/refubium-41870,
  • 2022
    Ouzman, S., Barteaux, J., Cooper, C., & UWA Archaeology Fieldschool Class of 2017 (2022). Invisible Women at War in the West: An Archaeology of the Australian Women's Army Service Camp, Wallaibup (Bibra Lake), Western Australia, c. 1943-1945. In G. Clark, & M. Litster (Eds.), Archaeological Perspectives on Conflict and Warfare in Australia and in the Pacific (Vol. 54, pp. 227-250). (Terra Australis). ANU Press. https://doi.org/10.22459/TA54.2021.12,
  • 2022
    Ouzman, S., & Smith, C. (2022). Women in Australian Rock Art Research: The Legacies of Andrée Rosenfeld and Patricia Vinnicombe. In P. S. C. Tacon, S. K. May, U. K. Frederick, & J. McDonald (Eds.), Histories of Australian Rock Art Research (Vol. 55, pp. 73-94). (Terra Australis). ANU Press. https://doi.org/10.22459/TA55.2022,
  • 2021
    Ouzman, S. (2021). Archaeologies of Austral: Australian Identities from the Pleistocene to the Anthropocene. Journal of Australian Studies, 45(2), 152 - 164. https://doi.org/10.1080/14443058.2021.1910857,
  • 2021
    Finch, D., Gleadow, A., Hergt, J., Heaney, P., Green, H., Myers, C., Veth, P., Harper, S., Ouzman, S., & Levchenko, V. (2021). Ages for Australia’s oldest rock paintings. Nature Human Behaviour, 5(3), 310-318. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01041-0,
  • 2020
    Kimberley Rock Art Harper, S., Veth, P. & Ouzman, S., 2020, Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Smith, C. (ed.). 2nd ed. Netherlands: Springer, 16 p. (Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology).,
  • 2020
    12,000 year old Aboriginal rock art from the Kimberley region, Western Australia Finch, D., Gleadow, A., Hergt, J., Levchenko, V., Heaney, P., Veth, P., Harper, S., Ouzman, S., Myers, C. & Green, H., 6 Feb 2020, In : Science Advances. 6, eaay3922, 9 p., eaay3922.,
  • 2019
    ‘Kimberley Stout figures’: a new rock art style for Kimberley rock art, North-Western Australia Gunn, R., David, B., Douglas, L., Delannoy, J-J., Harper, S., Heaney, P., Ouzman, S. & Veth, P., 4 May 2019, In : Australian Archaeology. 85, 2, p. 151-169 19 p.,
  • 2019
    Minjiwarra: archaeological evidence of human occupation of Australia’s northern Kimberley by 50,000 BP Veth, P., Ditchfield, K., Bateman, M., Ouzman, S., Benoit, M., Motta, A. P., Lewis, D., Harper, S. & Aboriginal Corporation, B., 19 Aug 2019, In : Australian Archaeology. 85, 2, p. 115-125 11 p.,
  • 2019
    Dating painting events through by-products of ochre processing: Borologa 1 Rockshelter, Kimberley, Australia David, B., Delannoy, J-J., Petchey, F., Huntley, J., Gunn, R., Veth, P., Genuite, K., Skelly, R. J., Mialanes, J., Harper, S., Ouzman, S., Aboriginal Corporation, B., Heaney, P. & Wong, V., 19 May 2019, In : Australian Archaeology. 85, 1, p. 57-94 38 p.,
  • 2018
    Plants before farming: The deep history of plant-use and representation in the rock art of Australia's Kimberley region Veth, P., Myers, C., Heaney, P. & Ouzman, S., 30 Sep 2018, In : Quaternary International. 489, p. 26-45 20 p.,
  • 2017
    Mineral deposition systems at rock art sites, Kimberley, Northern Australia — Field observations Green, H., Gleadow, A., Finch, D., Hergt, J. & Ouzman, S., 1 Aug 2017, In : Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 14, p. 340-352 13 p.,
  • 2017
    Plants before animals? Aboriginal rock art as evidence of ecoscaping in Australia’s Kimberley Ouzman, S., Veth, P., Myers, C., Heaney, P. & Kenneally, K., 1 Nov 2017, The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art. David, B. & McNiven, I. (eds.). Oxford University Press, 16 p.,

Grants and Contracts

  • 2018
    Dating the Aboriginal Rock Art of the Kimberley
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2017
    Kimberley Visions: Rock Art Style Provinces of Northern Australia
    Role:
    Lead Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2012
    Marion Island Archaeology and Heritage Project
    Role:
    Principal Scientist
    Funding Source:
    National Research Foundation, South Africa

Professional Memberships

  • Australian Archaeological Association
  • Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists
  • World Archaeological Congress

Research Areas

  • Archaeology (2101)
  • Curatorial And Related Studies (2102)
  • Historical Studies (2103)
  • Anthropology (1601)
  • Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander History (210301)
  • Heritage And Cultural Conservation (210202)
  • Continuing And Community Education (130101)

Honours

Fulbright Scholar, with Amy Biel Prize 2004-2006

Contact Sven for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision