In today’s episode we continue our series on the early peopling of the Americas, examining who they were, where they came from, and how they adapted to an ever changing climate.  Joining us for the episode from Melbourne Australia is Dr David Turnbull, a sociologist of scientific knowledge. From 1979 to 2003 he was part of the team producing courses in the Social Studies of Science at Deakin University, in Melbourne. Up until 2018 he was a senior research fellow at the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab at the University of Melbourne. Currently he is an Alfred Deakin Institute Fellow.
The overarching theme of his research has been the nature of technological and scientific knowledge, and the interaction of the social, cultural, political and historical components in its production, transmission and application in differing traditions and eras.
Currently Dr. Turnbull is pursuing two research projects extending this focus on multiplicity, spatiality, narrative, assemblage and movement. At the earliest end of human knowledge production he is working on Narratives of Prehistory and Rock Art – an exploration of the ways stories of human origins and dispersal, modes of knowledge representation and assemblage, indigenous knowledge and archaeological practice are complexly interwoven. The project is based both on textual analysis and fieldwork examining archaeological practice and the interpretation of a range of prehistoric sites and excavations in the USA, South America, Sulawesi, Australia and Europe. Dr. Turnbull has published a number of books, and a long list of scientific papers covering a variety of interconnected topics.