Stephen completed his PhD in 2021 (historical archaeology) at Flinders University (Adelaide, South Australia). Stephen has worked as an archaeologist in both the public, tertiary and private sectors, including Indigenous heritage surveys for the South Australian government in the far north of the State and cultural heritage consultanting with a number of First Nations groups through cultural heritage management firms in South Australia and Western Australia. Based in Adelaide, South Australia, Stephen's research interests include mortuary archaeology, the cultural construction of symbolic landscapes, particularly cemeteries, and interpretative methodologies for understanding the ideological communications such landscapes and their material culture invoke. His recent research has focussed on the idea of childness and its representation in the memorialisation of children. Stephen is a member of the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology and the Association of Gravestone Studies (AGS). He is currently working as an archaeologist for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation (AAR) in the South Australian Government.
This paper explores the cultural conceptualisation of children’s
social identity and status th... more This paper explores the cultural conceptualisation of children’s
social identity and status through memorialisation, based on the
study of children’s grave markers and plots in five South Australian
cemeteries (from colonisation to the present), with an age range
from infant (including stillborn) to 20 years. The idea of childness,
the differing conception of being or being labelled a child, was used
as a measure to identify the degree of variation in child identity
realised by child-only and family grave markers, showing both
change and continuity in the representation of children through
family choices of form, style, wording, motif, spatial arrangement
and grave furniture. Archaeological evidence of childness was
observed through representations of smallness, innocence, domesticity,
play, temporality and the distinct emotional nature of the
parent-child relationship. Notably in the latter period of study,
within the context of lower child mortality, revised understandings
of child identity and status were observed representing the social
re-evaluation of prenatally deceased and stillborn children.
Notions of childhood in colonial Australia were informed by a variety of social contexts that var... more Notions of childhood in colonial Australia were informed by a variety of social contexts that varied across time and space and were given material expression in the memorialization of children’s burials. Using data drawn from two studies of nineteenth-century cemeteries in rural South Australia, in this paper, we suggest an alternative way to understand children archaeologically that avoids the trap of essentialism: the notion of ‘childness’. Childness is defined as the multiple conceptions of being, and being labeled, a child. The concept of being a child may be instantiated in different ways according to particular social, cultural, chronological, and religious contexts; childness is the measure of this variation. In Western historical settings, the most likely causes for such variation are the social processes of class and status via the closely associated ideologies of gentility and respectability and their attendant expectations around labor, as well as the shifts they represen...
Notions of childhood in colonial Australia were informed by a variety of social contexts that var... more Notions of childhood in colonial Australia were informed by a variety of social contexts that varied across time and space and were given material expression in the memorialization of children's burials. Using data drawn from two studies of nineteenth-century cemeteries in rural South Australia, in this paper, we suggest an alternative way to understand children archaeologically that avoids the trap of essentialism: the notion of 'childness'. Childness is defined as the multiple conceptions of being, and being labeled, a child. The concept of being a child may be instantiated in different ways according to particular social, cultural, chronological, and religious contexts; childness is the measure of this variation. In Western historical settings, the most likely causes for such variation are the social processes of class and status via the closely associated ideologies of gentility and respectability and their attendant expectations around labor, as well as the shifts they represent in the social ideology of the family. Exploring childness, rather than children, provides an alternative way to approach the histories of contemporary Western understandings of childhood, including when particular types of childhood began and ended, and according to what criteria in different contexts, as well as how boundaries between child and adult were continually being established and renegotiated .
Colloquially known as the ‘big dig’ and ‘Little Lon’ respectively, the archaeological excavations... more Colloquially known as the ‘big dig’ and ‘Little Lon’ respectively, the archaeological excavations undertaken at the Cumberland and Gloucester Streets site in The Rocks area of Sydney and the Common...
"Are We There Yet?" The challenge of Public Engagement with Australia's Indigenous Past and its Implications for Reconciliation, 2015
The proposition “We are all archaeologists now”, appears to equate public interest in the past wi... more The proposition “We are all archaeologists now”, appears to equate public interest in the past with the practice, theory and method of archaeology. To argue that this is not the case is not to adopt an elitist position but rather to consider the complexities of such a statement. The importance of public involvement in archaeology is acknowledged as both supporting, broadening and democratising the profession and the discussion of past lives and cultures. However, the limitations of generalised archaeological presentations, particularly as often presented in the general media is highlighted, noting that the ethical dimensions of archaeological practice is often ignored in favour of a methodological focus and attached with western bias. The application of an Australian context questions both the applicability and indeed relevance of the proposition to Traditional Owners for whom archaeological approaches may be viewed through the prism of past western cultural treatment and exploitation. Consequently the use of ‘we’ as an inclusive term is debatable within this contested cultural dimension. The limits of a general Australian public engagement and interest in Indigenous archaeology further undermines the proposition, although the potential for archaeology to play a positive ongoing role in promoting and supporting a reconciliation of these issues of understanding in collaboration with Traditional Owners is advocated. We may not all be archaeologists then, but we all have a stake in and role to play for a greater mutual understanding of the past and its effects on the present, with a view to the preservation of our collective cultural heritage.
Colonial experiences of death, burial and memorialisation in West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide: applying a phenomenological approach to cultural landscapes in historical archaeology, 2015
The study of cemeteries, with their accumulated material culture, is a popular topic in historica... more The study of cemeteries, with their accumulated material culture, is a popular topic in historical archaeology, eliciting a number of methodological approaches. This paper describes the application of a phenomenological approach, best known previously in archaeology for its use in prehistoric landscape studies, to a historical public cemetery. The plan and layout of the colonial section (1837–1900) of Adelaide’s West Terrace Cemetery is analysed within the context of nineteenth-century visitation patterns, prevailing attitudes to death and burial in Britain and their influence on South Australian colonial society, to consider what factors influenced the layout, selection, placement, accumulation and display of material culture within the cemetery. The study concludes that beyond the immediate practicality of the deceased’s disposal, the colonial cemetery landscape developed during a time of more regulated cemetery visitation, was intended as a place of movement and experience demonstrating private and public expressions of religious and social beliefs to the observer. Its conscious construction was designed to project a sensory experience of prevailing attitudes to death, burial and society in the nineteenth century. The visitor immersed within this landscape, was engaged in a reflexive sensory dialogue through the mediums of space and material culture. This experiential communication could invoke the power of memory to conjure the deceased’s persona, invite contemplation of personal loss, prevailing community attitudes and religious beliefs, and reaffirm and perpetuate social worldviews.
This paper explores the cultural conceptualisation of children’s
social identity and status th... more This paper explores the cultural conceptualisation of children’s
social identity and status through memorialisation, based on the
study of children’s grave markers and plots in five South Australian
cemeteries (from colonisation to the present), with an age range
from infant (including stillborn) to 20 years. The idea of childness,
the differing conception of being or being labelled a child, was used
as a measure to identify the degree of variation in child identity
realised by child-only and family grave markers, showing both
change and continuity in the representation of children through
family choices of form, style, wording, motif, spatial arrangement
and grave furniture. Archaeological evidence of childness was
observed through representations of smallness, innocence, domesticity,
play, temporality and the distinct emotional nature of the
parent-child relationship. Notably in the latter period of study,
within the context of lower child mortality, revised understandings
of child identity and status were observed representing the social
re-evaluation of prenatally deceased and stillborn children.
Notions of childhood in colonial Australia were informed by a variety of social contexts that var... more Notions of childhood in colonial Australia were informed by a variety of social contexts that varied across time and space and were given material expression in the memorialization of children’s burials. Using data drawn from two studies of nineteenth-century cemeteries in rural South Australia, in this paper, we suggest an alternative way to understand children archaeologically that avoids the trap of essentialism: the notion of ‘childness’. Childness is defined as the multiple conceptions of being, and being labeled, a child. The concept of being a child may be instantiated in different ways according to particular social, cultural, chronological, and religious contexts; childness is the measure of this variation. In Western historical settings, the most likely causes for such variation are the social processes of class and status via the closely associated ideologies of gentility and respectability and their attendant expectations around labor, as well as the shifts they represen...
Notions of childhood in colonial Australia were informed by a variety of social contexts that var... more Notions of childhood in colonial Australia were informed by a variety of social contexts that varied across time and space and were given material expression in the memorialization of children's burials. Using data drawn from two studies of nineteenth-century cemeteries in rural South Australia, in this paper, we suggest an alternative way to understand children archaeologically that avoids the trap of essentialism: the notion of 'childness'. Childness is defined as the multiple conceptions of being, and being labeled, a child. The concept of being a child may be instantiated in different ways according to particular social, cultural, chronological, and religious contexts; childness is the measure of this variation. In Western historical settings, the most likely causes for such variation are the social processes of class and status via the closely associated ideologies of gentility and respectability and their attendant expectations around labor, as well as the shifts they represent in the social ideology of the family. Exploring childness, rather than children, provides an alternative way to approach the histories of contemporary Western understandings of childhood, including when particular types of childhood began and ended, and according to what criteria in different contexts, as well as how boundaries between child and adult were continually being established and renegotiated .
Colloquially known as the ‘big dig’ and ‘Little Lon’ respectively, the archaeological excavations... more Colloquially known as the ‘big dig’ and ‘Little Lon’ respectively, the archaeological excavations undertaken at the Cumberland and Gloucester Streets site in The Rocks area of Sydney and the Common...
"Are We There Yet?" The challenge of Public Engagement with Australia's Indigenous Past and its Implications for Reconciliation, 2015
The proposition “We are all archaeologists now”, appears to equate public interest in the past wi... more The proposition “We are all archaeologists now”, appears to equate public interest in the past with the practice, theory and method of archaeology. To argue that this is not the case is not to adopt an elitist position but rather to consider the complexities of such a statement. The importance of public involvement in archaeology is acknowledged as both supporting, broadening and democratising the profession and the discussion of past lives and cultures. However, the limitations of generalised archaeological presentations, particularly as often presented in the general media is highlighted, noting that the ethical dimensions of archaeological practice is often ignored in favour of a methodological focus and attached with western bias. The application of an Australian context questions both the applicability and indeed relevance of the proposition to Traditional Owners for whom archaeological approaches may be viewed through the prism of past western cultural treatment and exploitation. Consequently the use of ‘we’ as an inclusive term is debatable within this contested cultural dimension. The limits of a general Australian public engagement and interest in Indigenous archaeology further undermines the proposition, although the potential for archaeology to play a positive ongoing role in promoting and supporting a reconciliation of these issues of understanding in collaboration with Traditional Owners is advocated. We may not all be archaeologists then, but we all have a stake in and role to play for a greater mutual understanding of the past and its effects on the present, with a view to the preservation of our collective cultural heritage.
Colonial experiences of death, burial and memorialisation in West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide: applying a phenomenological approach to cultural landscapes in historical archaeology, 2015
The study of cemeteries, with their accumulated material culture, is a popular topic in historica... more The study of cemeteries, with their accumulated material culture, is a popular topic in historical archaeology, eliciting a number of methodological approaches. This paper describes the application of a phenomenological approach, best known previously in archaeology for its use in prehistoric landscape studies, to a historical public cemetery. The plan and layout of the colonial section (1837–1900) of Adelaide’s West Terrace Cemetery is analysed within the context of nineteenth-century visitation patterns, prevailing attitudes to death and burial in Britain and their influence on South Australian colonial society, to consider what factors influenced the layout, selection, placement, accumulation and display of material culture within the cemetery. The study concludes that beyond the immediate practicality of the deceased’s disposal, the colonial cemetery landscape developed during a time of more regulated cemetery visitation, was intended as a place of movement and experience demonstrating private and public expressions of religious and social beliefs to the observer. Its conscious construction was designed to project a sensory experience of prevailing attitudes to death, burial and society in the nineteenth century. The visitor immersed within this landscape, was engaged in a reflexive sensory dialogue through the mediums of space and material culture. This experiential communication could invoke the power of memory to conjure the deceased’s persona, invite contemplation of personal loss, prevailing community attitudes and religious beliefs, and reaffirm and perpetuate social worldviews.
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Papers by Stephen W Muller
social identity and status through memorialisation, based on the
study of children’s grave markers and plots in five South Australian
cemeteries (from colonisation to the present), with an age range
from infant (including stillborn) to 20 years. The idea of childness,
the differing conception of being or being labelled a child, was used
as a measure to identify the degree of variation in child identity
realised by child-only and family grave markers, showing both
change and continuity in the representation of children through
family choices of form, style, wording, motif, spatial arrangement
and grave furniture. Archaeological evidence of childness was
observed through representations of smallness, innocence, domesticity,
play, temporality and the distinct emotional nature of the
parent-child relationship. Notably in the latter period of study,
within the context of lower child mortality, revised understandings
of child identity and status were observed representing the social
re-evaluation of prenatally deceased and stillborn children.
studies, to a historical public cemetery. The plan and layout of the colonial section (1837–1900) of Adelaide’s West Terrace Cemetery is analysed within the context of nineteenth-century visitation patterns, prevailing attitudes to death and burial in Britain and their influence on South Australian colonial society, to consider what factors influenced the layout, selection, placement, accumulation and display of material culture within
the cemetery. The study concludes that beyond the immediate practicality of the deceased’s disposal, the colonial cemetery landscape developed during a time of more regulated cemetery visitation, was intended as a place of movement and experience demonstrating private and public expressions of religious and social beliefs to the observer. Its conscious construction was designed to project a sensory experience of prevailing attitudes to death, burial and society in the nineteenth century. The visitor immersed within this landscape,
was engaged in a reflexive sensory dialogue through the mediums of space and material culture. This experiential communication could invoke the power of memory to conjure the deceased’s persona, invite contemplation of personal loss, prevailing community attitudes and religious beliefs, and reaffirm and perpetuate social worldviews.
social identity and status through memorialisation, based on the
study of children’s grave markers and plots in five South Australian
cemeteries (from colonisation to the present), with an age range
from infant (including stillborn) to 20 years. The idea of childness,
the differing conception of being or being labelled a child, was used
as a measure to identify the degree of variation in child identity
realised by child-only and family grave markers, showing both
change and continuity in the representation of children through
family choices of form, style, wording, motif, spatial arrangement
and grave furniture. Archaeological evidence of childness was
observed through representations of smallness, innocence, domesticity,
play, temporality and the distinct emotional nature of the
parent-child relationship. Notably in the latter period of study,
within the context of lower child mortality, revised understandings
of child identity and status were observed representing the social
re-evaluation of prenatally deceased and stillborn children.
studies, to a historical public cemetery. The plan and layout of the colonial section (1837–1900) of Adelaide’s West Terrace Cemetery is analysed within the context of nineteenth-century visitation patterns, prevailing attitudes to death and burial in Britain and their influence on South Australian colonial society, to consider what factors influenced the layout, selection, placement, accumulation and display of material culture within
the cemetery. The study concludes that beyond the immediate practicality of the deceased’s disposal, the colonial cemetery landscape developed during a time of more regulated cemetery visitation, was intended as a place of movement and experience demonstrating private and public expressions of religious and social beliefs to the observer. Its conscious construction was designed to project a sensory experience of prevailing attitudes to death, burial and society in the nineteenth century. The visitor immersed within this landscape,
was engaged in a reflexive sensory dialogue through the mediums of space and material culture. This experiential communication could invoke the power of memory to conjure the deceased’s persona, invite contemplation of personal loss, prevailing community attitudes and religious beliefs, and reaffirm and perpetuate social worldviews.