Associate Professor Martin Polkinghorne
Associate Professor in Archaeology
College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Martin Polkinghorne is an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow and Associate Professor in Archaeology at Flinders University.
Since completing his PhD at The University of Sydney focussing on the people and technology that made the temples of Angkor, Martin has led international archaeological collaborations and fieldwork across mainland and island Southeast Asia.
Supported by Cambodian communities, scholars, and heritage authorities, Martin currently directs the project Resilience and Relocation: Unravelling the end of Angkor. This project aims to address the unresolved issue of Angkor's decline, among the largest pre-industrial cities on Earth, by examining human settlement, landscape management, and resilience to climatic and demographic changes. Building upon twenty-five years of Australian-led research in Cambodia, Martin leads a team investigating Angkor's decline as a distinct socio-cultural transformation, rather than a singular 'collapse.' The research focuses on the Tuol Basan and Srei Santhor regions, key sites where Angkor's elites sought to ensure food security and maintain political authority amidst an agricultural crisis.
In a parallel research program, Martin is Lead Chief Investigator of an international consortium on the ARC Linkage Project Reuniting orphaned cargoes: Underwater Cultural Heritage of the Maritime Silk Route. This project aims to discover the cultural value of the largest Southeast Asian ceramic collections in Indonesia and Australia with archaeological science and to preserve the underwater cultural heritage of our region for future generations.
- Doctor of Philosophy (The University of Sydney)
- Bachelor of Arts, First Class Honours, Archaeology (Flinders University)
- Bachelor of Arts (The University of Adelaide)
- Bachelor of Business, Labour Relations (The University of South Australia)
Australian Research Council Future Fellowship: Resilience and Relocation: Unravelling the end of Angkor (FT240100856).
Team Award for Innovation in Teaching 2024, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University.
Australian Research Council Linkage Project: Reuniting orphaned cargoes: Underwater Cultural Heritage of the Maritime Silk Route (LP210200165).
Australian Research Council LIEF: A National Facility for the 3D Imaging of the Near Surface (LE210100037).
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) Award: After Angkor: 14C chronologies from Longvek, the 16th and 17th century CE capital of Cambodia (AP11038).
Australian Research Council Discovery Project: Urbanism after Angkor (14th - 18th century CE): re-defining Collapse (DP170102574).
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellow - Long Term (L16507, Host: Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties)
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) Award: Characterising an elemental fingerprint for 15th – 17th CE century kiln complexes in northern and central Thailand by neutron activation analysis (AP11925).
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) Award: Sisatchanalai, Sukhothai and Maenam Noi: Characterisation and exchange of 15th – 17th CE century stoneware sherds from northern and central Thailand by Neutron Activation Analysis (10306).
Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award: New light on Cambodia’s Dark Age (DE150100756).
The Terrence and Lynette Fern Cité Internationale des Arts Residency Fellowship 2015.
Australian Research Council Discovery Grant: The Ateliers of Angkor (DP110101968).
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) / Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE) Research Award: A 14C chronology of sculpture production sites at Angkor, Cambodia (ALNGRA13009).
National Geographic Society/ Waitt Grants Program 2011.
Australian Government Endeavour Research Fellowship 2009.
I work collaboratively with the following organisations:
Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, Royal Government of Cambodia
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Cambodia
APSARA National Authority, Cambodia
Kementerian Kelautan dan Perikanan (Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries), Republic of Indonesia
Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Japan
Editorial Board Member:
UDAYA – Journal of Khmer Studies (2023 – present)
SPAFA Journal (Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts) (2024 – 2026)
Recent Media Coverage
Nightlife with Andrea Ho. "Piecing together history: treasures from Indonesian waters". ABC Local, Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Pearson, N, Polkinghorne, M., Ridwan, N.N.H. & Tahir, Z. "Underwater cultural heritage: why we’re studying ‘orphaned objects’ to work out which shipwrecks they came from". The Conversation.
Late Night Live with Phillip Adams. "Returning ancient ceramics from the maritime silk route". Radio National, Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Mukhaer, A. A. "Para Arkeolog Akan Kembalikan Kisah yang Tertinggal dari Jalur Rempah". National Geographic - Indonesia.
"Stories behind ceramics from shipwrecks in Indonesian waters". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Polkinghorne, M. "Angkor replicated: how Cambodian workshops produce fake masterpieces, and get away with it". The Conversation.
Lotha, L. "The little-known history of Cambodia’s ‘dark age’". Southeast Asia Globe.
Sassoon, A. "Long thought to have been Cambodia’s capital during a ‘dark age’, digs are unearthing Longvek’s place as a centre of global trade". Phnom Penh Post.
Peddie, C. "Digging into Cambodia's bright past". The Advertiser.
Sassoon, A. "Team digs into Cambodia's 'dark ages". Phnom Penh Post.
“Cambodia’s Other Great Capital”. Archaeology Magazine.
Twitter: @dr_marpol
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