History Guild

From ‘Australia’s Titanic’ to deadly mutineers: 4 infamous shipwrecks found on the Great Barrier Reef

by History Guild | Aug 3, 2022 | Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 6 minutes
The Great Barrier Reef is incredible, with turquoise water, stunning reefs and white sandy cays. Yet its name infers something quite different – a barrier: treacherous, dynamic and dangerous to navigate.
For millennia, people navigated and traded across the northern coast of Australia and the Coral Sea.
When early European seafarers came face-to-face with the world’s largest coral reef system, it was not the beauty they saw, but a nearly unnavigable structure that could easily sink their ships.

Humans domesticated horses – new tech could help archaeologists figure out where and when

by History Guild | Feb 22, 2022 | Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 8 minutes
In the increasingly urbanized world, few people still ride horses for reasons beyond sport or leisure. However, on horseback, people, goods and ideas moved across vast distances, shaping the power structures and social systems of the premechanized era. From the trade routes of the Silk Road or the great Mongol Empire to the equestrian nations of the American Great Plains, horses were the engines of the ancient world.

When History disappears: the modern loss of historical artifacts

by History Guild | Jan 31, 2022 | Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 6 minutes
Thanks to their meticulous preservation, museums and their millions of historical artefacts usually stand the test of time. Sometimes, however, it’s not time that historians and archaeologists should worry about, but human action, or occasionally even natural disasters.

Sudan’s ‘forgotten’ pyramids risk being buried by shifting sand dunes

by History Guild | Jul 24, 2021 | Social and Cultural History | 0

The word “pyramid” is synonymous with Egypt, but it is actually neighbouring Sudan that is home to the world’s largest collection of these spectacular ancient structures.

How our new archaeological research investigates Dark Emu’s idea of Aboriginal ‘agriculture’ and villages

by History Guild | Jul 23, 2021 | Social and Cultural History | 0

Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu is in the news again, with the publication of a new book critiquing Pascoe’s arguments. Dark Emu builds on an earlier, less known work by archaeologist Rupert Gerritsen, who argued a number of regions across Australia should be considered centres of Aboriginal agriculture.