Wendy Beck is an assistant professor at the University of New England in archaeology and cultural heritage.
Biography
Beck grew up in Melbourne. She graduated from the University of Melbourne with a BSc in microbiology and biochemistry in 1979. Beck turned her attentions to archaeology after attending the Victorian Archaeological Survey Summer School in 1978–1979, and received a PhD from La Trobe University in 1986 on the subject of Technology, Toxicity and Subsistence: A Study of Australian Aboriginal Plant Food Processing. During her postgraduate research, Beck conducted fieldwork in Arnhem Land, and was a postdoctoral Fellow at the Australian National University working on a bush food dietary project in 1985. Beck was appointed a lecturer at the University of New England in 1986, within the Department of Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology. A major area of research of Beck has been on plants and gender archaeology, drawing on archaeological fieldwork, ethnographic study, and archaeological science. Beck co-edited the first book to deal with archaeobotanical studies in Sahul, Plants in Australian Archaeology, with Anne Clarke and Lesley Head. Her significant contributions to archaeology are the study of plants and gender in archaeology, place studies, work on archaeology and Higher Education, and service to the archaeological profession. Beck served as president of the Australian Archaeological Association from 1989 to 1990. Beck has received multiple Australian Research Council grants, a Carrick Grant, and a Partnership Industry Research Grant. Beck has edited books including Gendered Archaeology with Jane Balme, and Plants in Australian Archaeology. Plants in Australian Archaeology has been described as having accomplished "a great deal" in bringing the study of plants in Australian archaeology to the fore.
Selected publications
2008 Beck, W. Dunne, K, Fisher, J, O'Sullivan, J, Sheridan, A. Turning Up The Heat: Collaboration As A Response To A Chilly Research Environment TEXT 12
2008 Beck, W. and Clarke, C. Archaeology Teaching and Learning in Australia 2003–2008 Perspectives from the Academy. Research in Archaeological Education Journal 1
2006 Beck, W. 'Chapter 8: Aboriginal archaeology'. In Atkinson, A. Ryan, J., Davidson I, and Piper, A High Lean Country. Land, people and memory in New England. Allen and Unwin pp. 88–97.
2006 Beck, W. Chapter 10: The analysis of plant macroremains. In Balme, J.and Paterson, A., Archaeology in Practice: A student's guide to archaeological analysis. Blackwell, Oxford pp. 296–315.
2006 Beck, W. & Torrence, R. Starch Pathways in Torrence, R. and Barton, H Ancient Starch, Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, California, USA. pp. 53–75
2006 Beck, W. Narratives of world heritage in travel guidebooks. International Journal of Heritage Studies 12 : 521-535.
2006 Beck, W., Dunne, K., Fisher, J., O'Sullivan, J. & Sheridan, A. A Capella and Diva: A Collaborative Process for Individual Academic Writing. M/C Journal, 9,.
Balme, J. & W. Beck. 2002. Starch and charcoal: useful measures of activity areas in archaeological rockshelters. Journal of Archaeological Science 29: 157-66.
Beck, W. & M. Somerville. 2002. Embodied places in Indigenous ecotourism: the Yarrawarra project. Australian Aboriginal Studies 2002: 4-13.
Balme, J. & W. Beck. 1995. Gendered archaeology. Canberra: Department of Archaeology and Natural History, Australian National University.
