Dr Pia Atahan
Staff Profile
Role at ANSTO
Pia's research focuses on using evidence from isotopes and microfossils in ancient organic matter to reconstruct aspects of past terrestrial ecosystems.
Her research spans tracking long-term vegetation and landscape changes at lake sites in the east and west of Australia, to studying diets and agricultural practices at Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological sites in northern and eastern China. She came to ANSTO in 2009 after finishing a PhD at the University of Western Australia.
Fields of interest
Early agriculture, human impacts, environmental change, palaeodiet.
Publications
Zhao, K., Li, X., Dodson, J., Atahan, P., Zhou, X., Bertuch, F. 2012. Climate variations for the last 4000 cal. yr BP in southwestern Tarim Basin, Xinjiang, reconstructed from pollen data. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology and Palaeoecology 321-322, 16-23.
Zhou, X., Li, X., Dodson, J., Atahan, P., Sun, N., Yang, Q. 2012. Land degradation during the Bronze Age in the Hexi Corridor (Gansu, China). Quaternary International 254, 42-48.
Atahan, P., Dodson, J., Li, X., Zhou, X., Hu, S., Chen, L., Bertuch, F., Grice, K., 2011. Early Neolithic diets at Baijia, Wei River valley, China: Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human and faunal remains. Journal of Archaeological Science 38, 2811-2817.
Atahan, P., Dodson, J., Li, X., Zhou, X., Hu, S, Bertuch, F., Sun, N. 2011. Subsistence and the isotopic signature of Herding in the Bronze Age Hexi Corridor, NW Gansu, China, Journal of Archaeological Science 38, 1747-1753.
Qin J., Taylor D., Atahan P., Zhang X., Wu G., Dodson J., Zheng H., Itzstein-Davey F., 2011. Neolithic agriculture, freshwater resources and rapid environmental changes on the lower Yangtze, China. Quaternary Research, 75, 55-65.
Grice, K., Lu, H., Atahan, P., Asif, M, Hallmann, C., Greenwood, P., Maslen, E., Tulipani, S., Williford, K., Dodson J., 2009. New sights into the origin of perylene in geological samples. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 73, 6531-6543.
Atahan, P., Itzstein-Davey, F., Taylor, D., Dodson, J., QIn, J., Zheng, H. Brooks, A., 2008. Holocene-aged sedimentary records of environmental changes and early agriculture in the lower Yangtze, China. Quaternary Science Reviews 27, 556-570.
Atahan, P., Grice, K., and Dodson, J., 2007. Agriculture and environmental change at Qingpu, Yangtze delta region: a biomaker, stable isotope and palynological approach. The Holocene 17, 505-515. Itzstein-Davey, F., Atahan, P., Dodson, J., Taylor, D., Zheng, H., 2007.
Environmental and cultural changes during the terminal Neolithic: Qingpu, Yangtze delta eastern China. The Holocene 17, 875-887. Itzstein-Davey, R., Taylor D., Dodson, J., Atahan, P., Zheng, H., 2007.
Wild and domesticated forms of rice (Oryza sp.) in early agriculture at Qinpu, lower Yangtze, China: evidence from phytoliths. Journal of Archaeolgical Science 34, 2101-2108. Itzstein-Davey, F., Atahan, P., Dodson, J., Taylor, D., Zheng, H., 2007.
A sediment based record of late glacial and Holocene environmental changes from Guangfulin, Yangtze delta, eastern China.The Holocene 17, 1221-1231. Atahan, P., Dodson, J., Itzstein-Davey, F., 2004.
A fine-resolution Pliocene pollen and charcoal record from Yallalie, south-western Australia. Journal of Biogeography 31, 199-205.