Dr Roxanne Tsang

rtsang
Postdoctoral Researcher: British Academy International Fellow
roxanne.tsang@arch.ox.ac.uk

I am an anthropological archaeologist specialist in rock art. My broader interests are archaeology of Papua New Guinea (PNG), material culture and cognitive archaeology. I am particularly interested in how we can employ rock art images and other symbolic expressions to help us understand past-present human behaviours with inspirations drawn from PNG case studies. My current research (see below) utilises a multidisciplinary approach combining Indigenous perspectives (ethnography), cognitive archaeology, archaeological science, museum collections and computer or digital techniques. The project seeks to understand the nature of mark-making and how designs are transposed across media in deep human history, through time and across space.

 

Current Activities
Project: “The Magic of Rock Art: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Art across Media in Papua New Guinea”. See website: The British Academy awards 12 International Fellowships to outstanding SHAPE researchers across the globe | The British Academy

 

Geographical Area
Papua New Guinea. Also in Australia, I’ve conducted consulting archaeology field experience in various parts of New South Wales, historical archaeology in far-north Queensland and rock art field experience in Western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.

Research Profile

Tsang, R. and Summerhayes, G. 2025. The East and West Divide. In West New Guinea: The Biological, Social and Material Histories, pp. 397–411. D. Gaffney and M. Tolla (eds.). Australian National University Press, DOI: http://doi.org/10.22459/TA58.2024

 

Tsang, R. 2024. Being a Female Papua New Guinea Archaeologist: Finding My Feet Through Understanding the Past. In Being Indigenous Archaeologists: Reckoning New Paths Between Past and Present Lives, pp. 534–545. G. Nicholas and J. Watkins (eds.). Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003183853

 

Tsang, R., Katuk, S., May, S.K., Taçon, P.S.C., Ricaut, F-X., Leavesley, M. 2023. Hand Stencils and Communal History: A case study from Auwim, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea. Archaeology in Oceania. DOI: 10.1002/arco.5287

 

Tsang, R., Katuk, S., May, S.K., Taçon, P.S.C., Ricaut, F-X., Leavesley, M.G. 2022. Rock art and (re)production of narratives: A cassowary bone dagger stencil perspective from Auwim, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774322000026.

 

Tsang, R., Brady, L.M., S. Katuk., Taçon, P.S.C., Ricaut, F-X., and Leavesley, M.G. 2021. Agency, affect and archaeologists: Transforming place with rock art in Auwim, Upper Karawari-Arafundi region, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea. Rock Art Research Journal, 38 (2): 183-194.

https://search.informit.org/doi/epdf/10.3316/INFORMIT.097295708346638

 

Brucato, N. Andre, M., Tsang, R., Saag, L., et al. 2021. Papua New Guinean genomes reveal the complex settlement of north Sahul. Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution, Oxford University Press, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab238

 

May, S.K., Taçon, P.S.C., Jalandoni, A., Goldhahn, J., Wesley, D., Tsang, R., and Mangiru, K. 2021. The re-emergence of nganaparru (water buffalo) into the culture, landscape, and rock art of western Arnhem Land. Antiquity, 95(383): 1298-1314. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2021.107

 

Taçon, P.S.C., May, S.K., Wesley, D., Jalandoni, A., Tsang, R., Mangiru, K. 2021. History Disappearing: The Rapid Loss of Australian Contact Period Rock Art. Journal of Field Archaeology, 46(2) DOI: http://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2020.1869470

 

Tsang R., W. Pleiber., J. Kariwiga., S. Plutniak., H. Forestier., P.S.C. Taçon., F.X. Ricaut and M.G. Leavesley. 2020. Rock art and long-distance prehistoric exchange behaviour: a case study from Auwim, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2020.1834472

Publications