Dr Jim Specht

English-born with first degree Cambridge University, Dr Jim Specht came to Australia in 1965 to study for a PhD Australian National University. Dr Specht joined the Australian Museum in 1971 as Assistant Curator, Melanesian Anthropology and retired in 2000 as Head of Division of Anthropology and co-Chief Scientist. Dr Specht is an archaeologist and has worked in Papua New Guinea since 1965, primarily in West New Britain province (his last and final trip was December 2019), and to a lesser extent also in six other provinces. Much of this research was the first archaeological work ever to be carried in these areas.

Dr Specht's primary interest has been the last 10,000 years of human history in the region, particularly relating to the Lapita pottery period and the obsidian and chert industries of New Britain (ca 6000-3500 years ago). Dr Specht served on the Australian National Commission for UNESCO (1978-1983) and an Australian government cultural assistance program to Pacific Islands’ nations (1974-1983). Dr Specht was a member of the UNESCO Expert Committee that formulated the terms of reference for the Inter-Governmental Committee for the Return and Restitution of Cultural Property (1978), and negotiated repatriation of cultural property from the Australian Museum to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Zealand and India.

To contact Dr Jim Specht, please email AMRI here.

MA Cambridge (1962)

PhD Australian National University (1970)

Honorary Associate, Archaeology, School of Philosophical & Historical Inquiry, University of Sydney.

Professional Memberships include:

• Australian Archaeological Association
• Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association
• Museum Ethnographers Group, UK

Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities

Recipient of the 2001 Federation of Australia medal

• 1984. J. SPECHT and J. FIELDS. Frank Hurley in Papua: Photographs from the 1920-23 Expeditions. Bathurst: Robert Brown and Associates in association with the Trustees of the Australian Museum. Pp. 200.
• 1988. J. SPECHT. Pieces of Paradise. Australian Natural History Special Supplement. Pp. 50.
• 1989. L. PROTT and J. SPECHT (eds). Protection or Plunder? Safeguarding the Future of Our Cultural Heritage. Papers of the UNESCO Regional Seminar on the Movable Cultural Property Convention, Brisbane, Australia 1986. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. Pp.vi+129.
• 2014. Research Issues in the Circum-New Guinea Islands. In E. Cochrane and T. Hunt (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Oceania. Oxford: OUP Press. On-line at DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199925070.013.01.
• 2016. Ancestors for the present? Exploring later prehistory on New Britain, Papua New Guinea. In F. Valentin and G. Molle (eds.), La pratique de l’espace en Océanie / Spatial dynamics in Oceania. Séances de la Société préhistorique française 7: 191-204. Paris: Société préhistorique française
• 2018. GABRIEL, J. (ed.), with J. SPECHT, M. LEAVESLEY, M. KELLY, M. WOOD, S. FOALE, C. FILER, S. MCINTYRE-TAMWOY, R.M. BOURKE, D. GILL and J-P. SOUNIER. The Nakanai Ranges of East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Cairns: The Cairns Institute, James Cook University. DOI: 10.25903/5bac1326e555a. On-line only.
• 2018. J. SPECHT, A. FORD and J. KARIWIGA. 2018. Obsidian from the Jacquinot Bay area, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Journal of Pacific Archaeology 9(2): 35-43.
• 2019. PENGILLEY, A., C. BRAND, J. FLEXNER, J. SPECHT and R. TORRENCE. 2019. Detecting exchange networks through geochemical analysis of axe/adze blades from West New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Archaeology in Oceania 54(3): 200-213.

See more publications by Dr Jim Specht.