It is with great sadness that Flinders University has learnt of the recent passing of Emeritus Professor Mike Smith. Professor Claire Smith has paid tribute to a pioneer of their field and a sorely missed colleague and friend.
Emeritus Professor Michael Alexander Smith made pioneering contributions to archaeology that changed our understandings of the Indigenous colonisation and settlement of the Australian continent. His research contributed new data on the timing of initial settlement of both central and northern Australia, the pattern of dispersal of people across the continent, Indigenous lifeways in Australian deserts, the timing of extinction of Australian megafauna, the nature of Pleistocene societies, and the geochemical provenance of archaeological ochres in Australia.
Mike Smith held an adjunct appointment at Flinders University. His previous appointments include the post of field archaeologist with the Northern Territory Museum in Darwin and Alice Springs, research fellow in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University, lecturer in archaeology in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Australian National University and senior curator and director of research and development at the National Museum of Australia, where he set up the Museum’s Centre for Historical Research
While he always maintained an interest in the archaeology of northern Australia, Mike Smith is especially known for his research into the Indigenous colonisation and settlement of Australian deserts. His excavations at Puritjarra rockshelter in Central Australia tripled the known timing of Indigenous occupation in the region, from 12,000 to 36,000 years ago. His research on the chronology, technology and economics of seed-grinding as a key desert adaptation shaped current thought about the harvesting and processing of native cereals, including the antiquity and development of this technology and the economies that it supported. His work in Central Australia culminated in the book The Archaeology of Australia’s Deserts, published by Cambridge University Press in 2013.
Mike Smith was among the first archaeologists to consistently apply archaeological science to an Australian context, drawing on what were then new and innovative dating technologies, such as thermoluminescence and advances in radiocarbon dating, and using each technique to test the other. His research set the standard for archaeological analyses Australia-wide and contributed important groundwork for the multi-disciplinary approach to archaeological questions that is regularly adopted today. His contributions have been recognised with many awards, including the Rhys Jones Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Archaeology from the Australian Archaeological Association in 2006, the Verco Medal from the Royal Society of South Australia in 2010 and an Order of Australia (AM) in 2013.
At the time of his death, Emeritus Professor Smith was a Chief Investigator on two current ARC grants led by Flinders University. Despite poor health, he remained an active field archaeologist. His last field trip was in mid September 2022 when he visited Warratyi rockshelter in the Flinders ranges with Giles Hamm, Cliff Coulthard, Gavin Prideaux and other scholars as part of research for a current Australian Research Council project. Mike Smith was also a Chief Investigator on a grant led by Daryl Wesley on the archaeology of the Tiwi Islands.
Mike Smith leaves a father, wife, two children, and several grandchildren.
He will be sorely missed.
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Our thoughts are with Emeritus Professor Smith’s family and friends at this time.
Flinders University acknowledges that this sad news may be upsetting and triggering for members of our community. Please remember that staff can access the Employee Assistant Program (EAP) at any time, and the Health & Wellbeing page has a list of resources and support services available for students.