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Australian Archaeological Association Conference 2006 |
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AbstractsThe spread and settlement of modern humans in AustralasiaModelling the initial human colonisation of Australia Jim Allen and Jim O’Connell Somewhere during the late Pleistocene modern humans transcended the Wallacian water barrier that had kept Homo erectus on the Sunda shelf for a million years and populated Australia and New Guinea. Since direct archaeological evidence of this event is unlikely ever to surface, various models have been proposed to explain how Australia was colonised, although, interestingly, no detailed model of arrival has been offered since Birdsell’s attempt nearly 30 years ago (Butlin’s 1993 update of Birdsell’s model notwithstanding). This paper proposes that previous arguments as to whether crossing the water barrier was deliberate or accidental miss fundamental points. Biological constraints suggest that a gradual occupation of the Wallacian islands occurred that eventually led to landfall in Sahul. We suggest that the Ideal Free Distribution model provides a useful framework for understanding movements across the water barrier and subsequently through Australia and New Guinea.
MtDNA and the peopling of Australia Sheila van Holst Pellekaan, mtDNA analyses in Aboriginal Australians from western New South Wales and central Australia identifies five major mtDNA haplogroups (van Holst Pellekaan et al 2006). One belongs to the global lineage ‘M’, the others to ‘N’ and all exhibit considerable heterogeneity. Comparison with people from Papua New Guinea (PNG), Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Malaysia reveals that Australian haplotypes are distinct, linking only at the basal clades. A few, including both M and N sequences group closely to some coastal and highland PNG sequences indicating ancient connection. However, the Australian M sequences do not include any from the subgroup MQ that is common in PNG and Island Melanesia and which is purported to have expanded in the region (Friedlaender et al 2005). Australian specific diversity indicates genetic isolation over a long period with apparently very little gene flow between Australia and near neighbours. Distribution of the deep maternal lineages and estimates of time depth support continued presence in Australia for more than 40,000 years, while some are less distant from Eurasian lineages, suggesting the possibility of two major colonizing events. However, the story is complex and data from other areas of Australia would be required to test models of settlement properly.
Interaction and isolation: mtDNA evidence for regional gene flow and isolation in Australia Chris Clarkson1 and François-Xavier Ricaut2 1School of Social Science, University of Queensland Reconstructing the history of Aboriginal settlement and interaction is confounded by patchy skeletal and linguistic records, complex typological distribution patterns and fluctuating occupational sequences. In order to shed new light on the history and demography of Aboriginal Australia we collated and analysed 241 mtDNA HV1 sequences from modern Aboriginal Australian populations published by a number of researchers over the last 10 years. Using this data we explore the history of interaction and isolation between six geographic/linguistic populations from different parts of Australia. Though results are preliminary due to sampling issues, we explore the timing and pattern of divergence between populations and its implications for current models of past settlement and demography.
Going East: considering the evidence from human palaeontology Michael C Westaway In a recent review of the global evidence from genetic and stone tools (Mellars 2006) it has been proposed that a model for modern human migration out of Africa in a single dispersal event is more probable than one that suggests two significant migrational events of modern humans out of Africa (Lahr and Foley 1997). This single migration resulted in the occupation of the world by anatomically and behaviourally modern people between 60,000 and 40,000 years ago. Modern humans, with a well adapted maritime economy, followed the 'coastal express route' and entered Australia by 45,000 BP (Mellars 2006). Becoming Australian: evolutionary processes and biological variation Colin Pardoe A model of human colonization of Australia is presented which describes morphological variation within the continent in terms of evolutionary processes that have created diversification. This model differs from models [di-hybrid, tri-hybrid] that explain observed variation as a result of colonization and subsequent inter-marriage of multiple migratory groups. Instead, a unitary origin model explains variation as a consequence of gene flow, natural selection and genetic drift. Three separate case studies are presented. Gene flow along the Murray River is shown to be a structuring agent of morphological variation that contributes to differentiation, of which a significant factor is population size. Selection accounts for, in part, regional differences in body proportions and size. Genetic Drift has probably been relatively more important among populations of the arid zone, which are characterized by small numbers and sparse distribution, compared to densely populated regions such as the Murray River and the Top E.
“There Ain’t no Easy Road”*: the role of inland tropical northern Australia Michael Slack One of the enduring debates in Australian prehistory concerns the timing and nature of the colonisation of the interior of the continent. Various models have been proposed including the concept of settlement in refugia during the height of the Last Glacial Maximum. The inland tropical region of Lawn Hill / Riversleigh in northwest Queensland has been proposed as one such refuge area. This paper discusses the settlement of northern inland Australia during the Late Pleistocene, and particularly the evidence for, and inferred nature of settlement of ‘refugia’ during the LGM. Data from a series of excavations at Lawn Hill / Riversleigh will be presented. These data indicate changes in settlement, mobility, subsistence and technological innovation on the basis of variability in stone artefact reduction across time and space. *Fred Eaglesmith and the Flying Squirrels, Sweetwater Records 1992.
Human-Environment interactions in Australian drylands: Mike Smith1, Alan Williams2, Chris Turney3 and Matt Cupper4 This paper looks at broad-scale temporal and geographic patterns across the Australian arid zone and asks what sort of articulation with palaeoenvironmental changes is evident and what we might need to do to strengthen our understanding of long-term human-environment interactions in the desert - and (crucially) what sort of human-environment dynamics we could expect to detect in these sorts of studies. At the core of this paper is a comprehensive database of existing 14C, TL, OSL and AAR age determinations for archaeological sites in the Australian arid zone, combined with application of formal time-series analyses to compare archaeological and palaeoenvironmental records. Several time slices are examined in more detail, either reviewing individual site histories or looking at population estimates or geographic spread of occupation.
Human Perspectives on the Timing and Process of Judith Field Marked divisions remain amongst scientists over the exact timing of the megafaunal extinctions and the type of information required to provide insights to process and timing. Currently, two positions have been clearly articulated in the literature. The first is that humans were responsible for the mass extinction of the megafauna, the only issues that need now to be resolved are when and how (see Burney and Flannery, 2005). A second view is that, on currently available evidence three things seem apparent: 1. the megafaunal extinctions were staggered over a long time period; 2. the role of humans is uncertain; and 3. the impact of long term climate change and short term climatic flux cannot be eliminated (Wroe and Field 2006). With respect to investigating the activities of humans, the critical information we require to assess their potential role is: (i) when did people arrive on the continent, (ii) the colonization pathways and (iii) what were the population levels required to effect a blitzkrieg or substantial ecosystem disruption that would have devastated megafaunal populations. Numerous studies have attempted to address the question of population levels at and after initial colonization both as a device to estimate how quickly the continent was filled and to reconstruct the patterns of movement across the highly variable landscapes that confronted the first arrivals. More importantly, if people were present in high enough numbers to irreversibly impact the megafaunal populations and their habitats, what were the mechanisms involved? The aim of this paper is to canvass these questions to further develop constructive approaches to the archaeological problems of Late Pleistocene Australia. References
The Illusion of Riches Revised: Richard Cosgrove At present we have a better understanding of the chronology for first
human arrivals in Tasmania than we do for the Australian mainland. The
crucial determinant of this event was the Bass land bridge, exposed from
~43,000 calBP to ~14,000 calBP (Lambeck and Chapell 2001) allowing behaviourally
modern people entry by at least 39,686±783 calBP. To grasp the
magnitude of early human impacts and symbolising behaviour on this landscape
firstly requires an understanding of human population dynamics over the
long term (Brumm and Moore 2005; Gamble et al. 2004, 2005; O’Connell
and Allen 2006; Henshilwood and Marean 2003). Attempts to characterise
this in Tasmania have used ‘dates as data’ (Holdaway and
Porch 1995), discard of cultural material and rates of site occupation
as proxy population indicators against changing environmental circumstances
(Cosgrove 1995, 1999; Sim 1998).
Indigenous perspectives on Australian archaeology
The role for geophysical survey techniques within the repatriation and reburial process: A Ngarrindjeri case study Ian Moffat1,2, Lynley A. Wallis3, George Trevorrow4 and Toni Massy3 Geophysical techniques were recently employed to assist with a reburial ceremony of Old People stolen from Ngarrindjeri ruwe (country), South Australia and held until 2003 by the Edinburgh Museum (UK). In the days leading up to the reburial ceremony, electromagnetic induction and magnetometer surveys were used to identify locations that were free of existing disturbance (graves) within a known burial mound on Hack’s Point. These surveys allowed the reconciliation of the wishes of the community for the repatriated material to be buried within this traditional burial area without disturbing other Old People in the vicinity. Both geophysical methods identified an undisturbed area within the mound that was subsequently utilised for a reburial ceremony conducted on 23 September 2003, thereby preventing any further disturbance of Old People or other items of material culture. This example demonstrates that geophysical methods can be used to assist community aspirations for the preservation of culturally significant materials and traditions.
The archaeological signature of behavioural modernity
The importance of archaeological evidence for investigating the evolutionary emergence of language.Iain Davidson The earliest speculations about language origins, when they used any evidence, derived their knowledge from modern languages themselves together with some intellectual assumptions we would now regard as inappropriate. Despite the protestations of some sceptics, things have moved on, but not necessarily as far as they could. A variety of scholars call on evidence from physical anthropology, genetics, primatology, neurology, linguistics and archaeology, sometimes bolstered by much better understandings than before about processes of evolution. Even Chomsky has finally considered the role that evolution may have had in language. But a sampling of recent work shows that there are still some fundamental misconceptions, particularly involving a persistent inability to acknowledge that, although speech and language are inextricably linked, the use of vocal utterances does not mean that those sounds were used for language. This presentation will argue that only the archaeological evidence, which is a testament of what actually happened, can move the argument forward beyond some of the boundaries of speculation.
Does the behavioural repertoire of modern humans have a single, diagnostic signature? Nicola Stern The idea that each of our ancestors had a unique behavioural repertoire, and therefore created a distinctive archaeological signature, is deeply embedded in the consciousness of archaeologists. As a result, the assumptions underlying this notion have been subject to little scrutiny. This lack of critical assessment is reflected in ongoing debate about the origin of modern human behaviour patterns. This debate includes disagreement about the critical components of the modern behavioural repertoire, widely divergent views about how and when those behaviours were established and no consensus about how they are manifest in the material record. In fact, the behaviours exhibited by any species are the outcome of complex interplay between anatomy, physiology, cognition and ecology. This observation provides a rationale for re-assessing those portions of the archaeological record that apparently do not preserve evidence for the behaviours, or the material culture markers, long thought to indicate the existence of modern behaviour patterns.
Technological transitions in the late Pleistocene of South Africa’s Western CapeAlex Mackay This paper discusses changes in flaked stone artefact technology at three rock shelter sites in the Western Cape of South Africa, occupied between ~100ka and 18ka. This period includes technologically innovative stages such as the Still Bay and the Howiesons Poort – stages that have produced early evidence for the human use of symbols and personal ornamentation. It is argued that technological changes exhibited over the study period are best understood in terms of transitions rather than breaks, and that there is no clear evidence for a technological revolution during the Middle Stone Age (MSA). The transition from Middle to Later Stone Age (~40ka-20ka) may be more significant than any changes within the MSA.
Technological markers of behavioural modernityChris Clarkson Modern humans no doubt left an archaeological record behind them on their journey out of Africa, and this is sure to comprise mainly stone artefacts. Few 'fossil' finds of early moderns exist in Europe or on the southern route to Australia. We are therefore compelled to develop techniques that can detect and track the signal of modern human dispersal from their home in Africa to journey's end in Australia and Melanesia using the lithic assemblages they left behind. While the first moderns in Europe left a distinctive technological signal in the form of the Aurignacian and other early Upper Palaeolithic industries, it is less clear what moderns brought with them through India and into southeast Asia and Australia. This presentation reports on recent work on the Palaeolithic industries of India, which highlights the difficulty of identifying the signal of dispersing modern humans. I also present a new multivariate approach to the quantification of core assemblages that may help resolve some of these difficulties.
En route to Sahul: Jerimalai shelter, a 40,000 year-old record of occupation by Homo sapiens in East TimorSue O’Connor This paper reports new finds from Timor, where a habitation site dated to 38,255+/-596 b.p. or > 42,000 calBP provides the earliest evidence for migration by modern sapiens east of the Sunda Shelf into Island Southeast Asia. Until now there has been a major discrepancy between the dates for earliest occupation in Australia and those from island Southeast Asia, with the earliest dated sites from Australia being significantly older than the oldest sites from any of the potential stepping stone islands en route (even relying purely on the radiocarbon chronology). Although a southern route through the Lesser Sunda islands (including Flores and Timor) has usually been proposed as the most parsimonious for maritime passage to Sahul (the ancient continent that encompassed Australia and New Guinea), the lack of early dated evidence on any of the stepping stone islands of this group has led some authors to propose alternative routes (albeit equally lacking in evidence for early colonization). Perhaps the greatest recent challenge to the southern route has been posed by the recent finds from Flores, Timor’s eastern neighbour island, where modern humans apparently failed to colonise prior to the Holocene. The new dates and data from Timor redresses this situation, and indicate that the southern route is still the strongest contender for the earliest seafaring passage to Sahul. With moderns humans firmly ensconced in Australia by this time, it would not previously have been considered necessary to argue the case that a site of this age was the product of modern human behaviour; especially for a site on an island requiring a water crossing to reach it. But the fact that a non-modern hominid was present on Flores until 12,000 years ago changes this. In the absence of human skeletal remains, the nature of the occupation evidence from Timor is evaluated in order to demonstrate that it is qualitatively different from the assemblage produced by non-moderns from the late Pleistocene context at Liang Bua, as well as for its significance in contributing to our understanding of the types of adaptations made at this early date on route to Sahul.
Starch Grains, Stone Tools and Modern Hominin BehaviourRichard Fullagar Starch has been found in a wide variety of archaeological contexts over time periods spanning much of human history. Starch grains, particularly in conjunction with use-wear traces on stone tools, have high potential for tracking the exploitation of plant resources and particularly the nature of plant food processing in many parts of the world. This paper reviews the evidence of starch grains as indicators of food in the archaeological record, and suggests that plant processing techniques such as grinding seeds, cooking and leaching might be found much earlier in the history of modern humans than previously thought possible. To explore origins of modern human behaviour, it is argued that we need comparative data sets on starchy plant food processing among different hominin species.
Hunting strategies in late Pleistocene South West TasmaniaJillian Garvey1, Anne Pike-Tay2 and Richard Cosgrove1 Archaeologists have been increasingly interested in the first appearance of fully modern human behaviour and debate has raged as to how to characterise it. Work on pre 45,000 BP hominid sites now shows material evidence of “advanced” cognitive abilities, previously thought to indicate the existence of modern human behaviour. Faunal studies in particular have highlighted the presence of these “advanced” skills at various archaeological sites in both time and space. In an effort to widen the debate, we examine the late Pleistocene Tasmanian faunal data, focussing on human prey selection and land use. We apply skeleto-chronological analysis to Bennett’s wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus) from Tasmania’s earliest sites, presenting results of seasonal teeth annuli growth. Results suggest that hunting occurred in upland and lowland valleys on a coordinated seasonal basis using what would be considered a Middle Palaeolithic stone technology. This data brings into question the use of single sets of criteria used presently to characterize modern human behaviour.
Defining settlement systems: the interaction of space and time as a means of identifying the modern human behavioural repertoireSimon Holdaway1 and Patricia Fanning2 Recent research conducted on the stone artefacts from the Tasmanian Pleistocene site of Bone Cave concluded that, although change in the typology and technology of the artefacts was lacking across the Late Glacial Maximum, technological organization as manifest in a ‘settlement system’ did show change. It was argued that the identification of such systems form an alternative means of identifying modern human behaviour since, in Australia, neither artefact form nor reduction strategies show the types of variation evidenced in the European Upper Palaeolithic or the African Late Stone Age. Here we explore the types of variability that exist in the Australian archaeological record from which we might construct such settlement systems. We present analyses of Holocene artefact data sets gathered in western NSW, a region and time period where the record is unassailably the product of modern humans. The record is largely formed from flaked and heated stone and so is comparable to the types of materials that dominate the archaeological record of the earliest modern humans and our archaic ancestors. Application of a new geoarchaeological methodology has in addition provided precise chronological and contextual controls. We focus on marrying the nature of inferences that can be drawn from the archaeological record with the time scales over which this material is deposited. We suggest that the formation of the archaeological record in large measure determines the specificity of settlement systems used to identify the repertoire of past human behaviour.
A Polythetic Approach to Identifying Modern Behaviour from Archaeological SignaturesTerrence Twomey Polythetic classification provides the best approach for investigating the emergence of those human cognitive abilities that we associate with modern behavior. Behaviourally modern humans can’t be distinguished from other humans in terms of rigid divisions inferred from a unique set of common archaeological features. Purported examples of modern behaviour may share some features with a loosely defined prototype, but no definitive feature state is demonstrably held in common by all examples. The concept of modern behaviour presupposes a relationship between cognition and action. Therefore, as an analytical concept, it must be sensitive to advances in both archaeology and the cognitive sciences, and to the fact that we are uncertain about how human cognition has evolved. The monothetic principles that govern the way we define modern behaviour are inadequate to accommodate this research agenda. Considering the variable distribution of the evidence for modern behaviour, the diverse theoretical dispositions associating this evidence with human cognitive abilities and the various theoretical definitions of the concept itself, it would be both prudent and informative to adopt a polythetic approach. This paper outlines why such an approach is warranted, the theoretical commitments involved and the implications for paleoanthropological research.
Human-environment interactions in Australia: temporality and mutual transformationsIs the concept of human impacts past its use-by date? Lesley Head Scientific research now shows that humans are pervasive in earth ecosystems, and have been so for many thousands of years. So it may seem strange to argue against a concept that has been so hard won and is now empirically incontrovertible. What is starting to seem stranger is that, to paraphrase anthropologist Tim Ingold, the best way we have to describe our role in the world is to take ourselves out of it. As human influence on the Earth and its processes increases, we face the profound paradox that most of our intellectual weapons in the environmental area – from prehistoric fire debates to projections of climate change - have maintained a separation of humans and nature. This is an argument based not on semantics but on false separations that are adversely affecting the quality of our research and practice, including the ways we attempt to integrate archaeology and palaeoecology. Four dimensions of these separations are discussed, using examples from debates in prehistory. I argue that while ‘human impacts’ may be applicable to a subset of human activities, it is neither conceptually nor empirically strong enough for the detailed networks of human and nonhuman others now evident. I will articulate a broader concept of human agency and suggest some ways to operationalise it.
‘Top Dates from the Top End’: Holocene
Settlement of the Patricia Bourke1, Sally Brockwell2, Annie Clarke3, Christine Crassweller1, Patrick Faulkner2, Daryl Guse4, Betty Meehan2, Robin Sim2 The coastal plains of northern Australia are relatively recent formations, which have undergone dynamic evolution from the mid to late Holocene. The development and use of these landscapes across the Northern Territory have been widely investigated by both archaeologists and geomorphologists. Over the last 15 years there has been a number of research projects focused on the archaeology of these coastal plains from the Reynolds River in the west to the southern coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria in the east. Over 300 radiocarbon dates are now available and these have enabled us to provide a more detailed interpretation of human settlement and resource use. In addition to this growing body of evidence, new palaeo-climatic data is becoming available that is relevant to these northern Australian contexts. This paper provides a synthesis of the archaeological evidence and integrates it with the available palaeo-environmental frameworks. It characterises the timing, pattern and nature of human-environment interaction in this newly formed landscape over the last 7000 years.
Rainforests as Barriers or Refuge to Human Occupation in Holocene Tropical Australia: palaeoecological and archaeological contributions to tropical rainforest history Simon Haberle1, John Tibby2,
Richard Cosgrove3 In this study we explore the potential of combining archaeological data and palaeoecological proxies for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems at the same locality to investigate the nature and consequence of human occupation of rainforests on the Atherton Tablelands of northeast Queensland. Archaeological and historical data from the region show that humans have occupied rainforest environments from at least the beginning of climatically driven Holocene rainforest expansion around 8300 cal yr BP. The nature and intensity of occupation appears to have changed over the last 8000 yrs and this is reflected in the number and use of rainforest occupation sites and the rate of ecosystem change and fire history recorded in lake sediments. The combined analysis shows that the present mosaic of vegetation types in this region is a complex function of climatic and human driven changes operating across a range of spatial and temporal scales that presented ongoing challenges and opportunities to human inhabitants over time.
Case studies of Holocene fire activity
in the Sydney Basin: natural, Scott Mooney1, Val Attenbrow2,
M. P. Black1, M. Webb1 Anthropogenic and climatic influences on fire activity and the nature of any inter-relationships between humans, climate and fire are still far from clear. To assess these issues, local fire activity was reconstructed for the Holocene at five locations within the Sydney Basin and compared with nearby archaeological evidence. In this study various archaeological indices were used as a guide to human activity through time, and fire activity was reconstructed using macroscopic charcoal, quantified in 14C-dated sediment cores from the swamp sites. Together, the data from these five swamp sites tend to portray differences between the early-to-mid- (ca. 9 to 6 ka BP) and the mid-to-late-Holocene (after ca. 5.5 ka BP). At one site, Gooches Crater Swamp, an abrupt increase in fire activity from 5.5 ka BP was evident which we relate to increased climatic variability and, in particular, the onset of modern ENSO conditions. Nonetheless, it is possible that these changing environmental conditions both promoted a higher natural fire frequency and influenced human activity. At another subset of the investigated Sydney Basin sites a significant
change in fire activity is approximately coeval with changes in the Holocene
archaeological records, suggesting human use of fire played a greater
role. Although not universal, perhaps reflecting the diversity of human
occupation, some sites have reduced charcoal accumulation in the late
Holocene – a time when the archaeological record indicates dynamic
changes in human activities. We interpret these changes in fire activity
as new subsistence and land use strategies by Aboriginal people who influenced
fuel loads and/or charcoal taphonomy. This change in fire regime may
have been a response to increased climate variability or seasonality
as people sought to minimise risk as their landscapes naturally became
more fire-prone. This latter suggestion is a distinctly different strategy
to that usually proposed under ‘fire-stick farming’.
The socio-environmental Holocene landscapes of Numundo, W.E. Boyd1, J.F. Parr1,
V. Harriott1, R. Torrence2 The changing landscapes of Numundo, West New Britain, Papua New Guinea, provide a dynamic backdrop for the human settlement of this lowland wet tropical environment during the Holocene. The paper will describe the landscape evolution from prior to the Witori-Kimbe 2 volcanic eruption (W-K2, c. 3,600 BP) to after the Witori-Kimbe 4 eruption (W-K4, c. 1,400 BP), using fossil coral evidence and phytolith data extracted from palaeosols at seven archaeological sites. From c. 5,900 BP to c. 3,600 BP, all the sites were close to the coast, and all show varying evidence of disturbance. In the early part of this period, disturbance is directly related to the effects of, and recovery from, the W-K1 volcanic eruption (c. 5,900 BP). However, later, the increased presence of artefacts, continued evidence for burning, and presence of open vegetation phytolith types is more consistent with human activity. In contrast, following the W-K2 eruption, true forest phytolith types representing regrowth from natural disturbance, and typically found in the early pre-W-K2 soils, are completely absent. Open environments typical of anthropogenic disturbance are persistently present throughout the W-K2 to W-K3 period. Inter-site variability was high throughout this period; the landscape was a mosaic of localised regenerating, disturbed and managed vegetation. The vegetation, landscape and anthropogenic recovery for the W-K3 and W-K4 eruptions (c. 1,700 BP and c. 1,400 BP) was completely different, reflecting the severity of the volcanic events and short hiatus between eruptions. The post-W-K3 soil was not well developed before being sealed by the W-K4 tephra some 300 years later. Although there is some evidence for anthropogenic activity following W-K3, as after earlier eruptions, most of the phytolith evidence is consistent with natural disturbance. On the other hand, the low impact of W-K4 and the 900-year hiatus before the next volcanic event allowed rapid vegetation recovery and significant anthropogenic exploitation of the landscape. The post-W-K4 landscapes, like those prior to W-K3, exhibit high inter-site variability, and comprised a mosaic of localised regenerating, disturbed and managed vegetation.
Landscapes of the Upper Wahgi valley, Papua New Guinea: Early Holocene to present Tim Denham1 and Simon Haberle2 The development of landscapes during the Holocene is well-documented at palaeoecological sites across the highland spine of New Guinea (including both Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian province of Papua).
Human – environment interactions in the Holocene record from Patricia Fanning1, Simon Holdaway2, Ed Rhodes3 Geomorphic processes that affect the archaeological record – by exposing it, destroying it or covering it up – are episodic. Recent landscape instability in western NSW, Australia (i.e. within the last 200 years), has had profound effects on the preservation and exposure of the surface archaeological record on timescales that can be as short as days. But the record of such instability extends much further back in time: valley fill chronologies show that episodic landscape change is typical of the palaeoenvironmental record of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. There are three important consequences for understanding past human-environment interactions:
In this paper, we present data (radiocarbon determinations from heat-retainer hearths and OSL determinations from valley fill sediments) from our western NSW study locations that support the first two notions, and illustrate that an integrated geo-archaeological research framework can provide the contextual analyses needed to understand human-environment interactions in the past.
A multi-source history of Holocene vegetation change, Aboriginal wetland use and the impact of European settlement on the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia Sophie Bickford1 and Peter Gell2 There are few palaeoecological records documenting environmental changes through the Holocene in the western temperate regions of South Australia. The most notable is Robyn Clarke’s 1983 record of vegetation and burning history on Kangaroo Island. This paper presents a history of vegetation dynamics in the adjacent Fleurieu Peninsula, derived from palaeoecological and documented historical sources. Interpretation of vegetation dynamics required their integration with archaeological and historical records of occupancy and land use. The heterogeneous environments, supporting different vegetation types, experienced different histories of land use and change. The paper documents the major changes to vegetation through that time, demonstrates the necessity for multi-source historical reconstruction and suggests that the confluence of vegetation and human histories provide a powerful starting point for understanding culture and landscape.
Development of the Budj Bim Landscape Heather Builth1, Peter Kershaw1,
Tara Lewis1, Chris White1, Anna
Roach1, Lee Hartney1, Geraldine
Jacobsen2 Archaeological landscape interpretation and GIS analysis of the Budj Bim landscape in southwestern Victoria have revealed the existence of a highly modified and productive cultural landscape based on eel aquaculture. The failure of European land users to emulate the high productivity of the pre-contact Gunditjmara Aboriginal economy has inadvertently preserved many features on the landscape. These demonstrate in detail the sophistication of a system that involved manipulation of weathered basalt to: facilitate wetland construction and water movement to optimize eel growth; channel excavation for eel movement and capture; and the use of hollow trees to smoke and preserve eels. The development of such a system has been facilitated by the nature and age of the physical landscape. The Budj Bim landscape is one of the youngest lava flows in Australia, and younger than the time of arrival of people on the continent, dating back to only 30,000 to 35,000 years. The outpourings of basalt from Mt Eccles created a complex wetland system through disruption of pre-existing drainage, resulting in springs and swamps on the undulating volcanic surface and the formation of Lake Surprise in the plug of the volcano. Multi-proxy analyses of sediment cores, swamps and lakes associated with the flow are allowing the reconstruction of a continuous picture of environmental change. Although sedimentary records go back to the time of landscape origin, boundary conditions would have inhibited the development of an eel management system prior to about 8000 years ago. At this time sea level rise combined with increased precipitation and swamp development would have made the area naturally very productive and ideal as eel habitat. Rates of change analysis suggests that management regimes may have been triggered in response to climatic conditions. Intensive management may have dated from about 4000 years ago, a time of increasingly variable climate, where some landscape changes are inconsistent with natural control.
Late Holocene landscape change in the sclerophyll/rainforest margin of the Atherton Tableland, north-eastern Australia Patrick T. Moss1, Richard Cosgrove2,
Peter Kershaw3 This presentation will examine late Holocene landscape change for the sclerophyll/rainforest margin of the Atherton Tableland based on the relationship between the climatic and anthropogenic indicators in a 4,200 year old pollen record taken from a sclerophyll community (Witherspoon Swamp) with patterns found in the late Holocene archaeological record for the Tableland. The Witherspoon swamp pollen record suggests that the area was dominated by sclerophyll woodland (predominantly Casuarinaceae and Euclyptus) with a grassy understorey, with little or no expansion of rainforest (located within 5 km of the site) throughout the late Holocene period. Alterations in aquatic taxa suggest variations in water level in the swamp that may be associated with late Holocene climate alterations. Archaeological excavations from the Tablelands suggest an initial phase of toxic rainforest plant exploitation beginning about 1,800 BP and intensifying after 500 BP. This pattern is seen in both rockshelter and open sites that are widely separated in space. Although the appearance of toxic nut processing fits with similar trends seen in northern Australia, alternative explanations are offered for the late incorporation of these food types.
What happened at 1000 BP in central Australia?: Timing, impact, Mike Smith1, June Ross2 The period 800-1500 BP saw significant changes in the archaeological record in central Australia with a range of changes in settlement pattern, site histories, resource use, tool inventories and rock art. Now, with more than 30 excavated sites and nearly 100 14C dates, major studies of region rock art sequences, as well as a range of (albeit poor) palaeo-environmental data for the late Holocene, it is timely to revisit ideas about the nature of these changes in prehistoric land use. At issue is their articulation (if any) with climate-driven or human-driven changes in central Australian environments and the question of whether the archaeological record simply registers a redistribution of prehistoric settlement away from the major drainage lines, involving changing relations between core and peripheral parts of the desert and new patterns of resource use, or whether it signals a more general increase in the human population of the region. The paper reviews the emerging pattern of changes in settlement and discusses the importance for arid zone prehistory of generating a palaeo-environmental record of climate variability - not simply long-term averages. We also reflect on the ways in which archaeologists conceptualise human-environment interactions and employ archaeological and palaeoecological information.
Multi-disciplinary investigations at the California Road wetland, Carol Lentfer1, Ellen Stuart2,
Sophie Bickford3, Cameron Barr4,
Tim Denham5 Multi-proxy palaeoecological analyses and dating results from the California wetland have been integrated with historical archaeological investigations of the Willunga Basin. Although there is poor preservation of diatom and pollen assemblages, phytoliths are well-preserved and enable landscape transformations associated with initial clearance and sequential land uses to be reconstructed from the 1840s. Two methodological issues are discussed:
Debates on island archaeology in Australasia, Oceania and Asia
We have your coconuts, now f**k off! – Islands and isolation Mike Rowland A number of scholars (John Terrell, Paul Rainbird, and others) have in recent years critiqued the concept of islands as isolates. I argue that their ‘myth of the primitive isolate’ is essentially a myth of their own making and that their hypothesis of the ‘universality of contact as a fundamental feature of human existence’ is an overreaction to previous models and not supported by the evidence. There has arguably been some overemphasis on island biogeographical theory in recent years but there is no doubt that physically isolated islands do exist and that distance and/or social factors enhance isolation. To deny the role of history, geography and isolation in the past is to undermine the principles of anthropology and one of the fundamentals of the human condition i.e. cultural diversity. Distance and geography remain significant factors in insularity and as late as the 1990’s occupants of the Sentinel Islands in the Andaman Island group made it quite clear that social factors also remain important in defining isolation through their clear intention to retain their independence and exclude outsiders. Their sentiments are aptly expressed in the title of this paper.
Mission: Tiga. French-Australian archaeological research in the Ian Lilley This paper describes the background to and preliminary results of a developing program of archaeological and oral-historical research in New Caledonia being conducted by the the ATSIS Unit at the University of Queensland, the New Caledonian Department of Archaeology and the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. The objective is to match comprehensive archaeological research with detailed mapping of the contemporary cultural landscape of Tiga, smallest of the Loyalty Islands, in an attempt to produce an understanding of the islands human history that makes sense to the local community as well as to archaeologists. Results of pilot fieldwork completed in November 2006 will be outlined.
Understanding Isolation and Change in Island Environments: Paul Memmott, Sean Ulm1, Ian Lilley, Richard Robins, Errol Stock, This paper presents a set of hypotheses to explain the cultural differences between Aboriginal people of the North and South Wellesley Islands, Gulf of Carpentaria and to characterise the relative degree and nature of their isolation and cultural change over a 10,000 year timescale. This opportunity to study parallelisms and divergences in the cultural and demographic histories of fisher-hunter-gatherers arises from the comparison of three distinct cultural groupings: (a) the Ganggalida of the mainland, (b) the Lardil and Yangkaal of the North Wellesley Islands, and (c) the Kaiadilt of the South Wellesley Islands. Despite occupying similar island environments, there are some major differences in cultural , economic and social organisation between the North and South Wellesley populations. This paper synthesizes data from linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, genetics and environmental science to present hypotheses of how these intriguing differences were generated, and what we might learn about early processes of marine colonization and cultural change from this case study.
Palm Reading: a morphometric analysis of the opal phytoliths of four species of palm, and its implications for archæological science in South-East Asia and the Pacific Rohan Fenwick and Carol Lentfer Analyses of opal phytoliths, to various levels of taxonomic specificity, have become common as an archæological tool, and have proven to be extremely valuable in providing palæobotanical evidence for agriculture, food processing, and even trade. This is particularly true in much of South-East Asia and the Pacific, where the wet tropical environment, coupled with periodic catastrophic volcanism, is not conducive to the survival of macroscopic plant material, and where phytoliths may be the only surviving remnants of plant material. Yet, despite the rapid growth of the discipline of phytolithology, very little is known of the archæological exploitation of palms in the region, as no systematic investigation of the phytolith series diagnostic for palms has been done. This study fills a small part of this void by considering the morphological differences between four important palm taxa: the sago palm Metroxylon sagu, the coconut palm Cocos nucifera, the rattan Calamus aruensis and the betel nut palm Areca catechu. The results of this investigation indicate that there are statistically significant differences between these species that outweigh the observed intraspecific variation, and that an assemblage-based analysis may be able to distinguish between these four species in archæological sediments. Future analyses of other palm taxa will further elucidate the ability of this statistical method to identify these taxa in the archæological record.
What’s on at Liang Bua? Latest clues for hominin activity from use Carol Lentfer1, Gail Robertson, Mike Morwood, Thomas Sutikna, Numerous stone tools excavated from Liang Bua on the island of Flores, Indonesia, have been examined for use wear and residue. These include a selection from within the Homo floresiensis layers and the early Holocene layers. Many of the artefacts have well-preserved residues and distinctive patterns of use-wear that provide us with clues to how the tools were used and some of the tasks for which they were used. In this paper we present the results of these analyses and discuss the implications for hominin activity, resource exploitation and subsistence during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene at Liang Bua.
The contemporary and archaeological significance of colonial landscapes in the Pacific: convict landscapes in New Caledonia In the Pacific Island nations where over 90% of land remains in traditional ownership, post-contact sites have not been of great interest to governments or researchers. This is rapidly changing due to the increasing importance of these sites in the creation of post-colonial national identities. This paper introduces new research looking at the association of these sites with the diverse cultural and ethnic communities of the Pacific that arose through the labour migration of colonial economies. We discuss our initial case study - the convict landscapes of New Caledonia, the potential of the archaeology to provide insights into the industries and associated societies of the convict era and the documenting of changing community and government responses to these places.
The emergence of villages on Mabuiag Island in the Torres Strait Duncan Wright Mabuiag (or Mabuyag) Island in the North Western Torres Strait is the residential island of the Goemulgal (named after a village on the island). Existing archaeological research at the Goemu village shows that intensive fishing and dugong/turtle hunting dates back at least 800 years, before which there is little evidence for human occupation. However, oral histories from the Goemulgaw inhabitants of Mabuyag suggest that older “village” sites exist on the island. Within the context of 3500BP dates on the adjacent islet of Pulu (a short walk away from Mabuyag at low tide) this seems highly probable. This paper presents preliminary results from three months of excavation on Mabuyag. These have been located at a number of known “villages” including the ancestral village of Wagedagam. The topography of the island (being extremely steep and rocky in the middle) and the large size of known “village” locations has also allowed us to test many of the areas believed to offer insight into the colonisation history of the island.
Current research in Australasia, the Pacific and Asia.
The archaeological excavations at Claremont Meadows 2006 – site placement and landscape theory Tim Owen The archaeological salvage of the Claremont Meadows Aboriginal site (OAD-1), Western Sydney, NSW, was conducted in 2005 in order to recover heritage material and heritage information before it was lost through development impact. The objective of allowing this material to be passed on to future generations was achieved through the recovery of stone artefacts and the archaeological records of how those artefacts were arranged within the soil. Ultimately the aim was to understand what Aboriginal people were doing in the past in the area now known as Claremont Meadows. The excavation saw the recovery of around 2000 stone artefacts from a total area of 141.5 m2, in two excavation zones. The GIS spatial analysis of the stone artefacts revealed that spatial patterning was present within the site OAD-1. This patterning could be related to complex activity zones, with evidence for overlapping knapping floors. Circumstantial evidence has suggested that a correlation can also be drawn between the heat shattered artefacts and possible indications of camp fires. The results of the excavation were placed within a socio-demographic framework that attempted to elucidate reasons for site use, with reference to landscape positioning, the environment, and local Aboriginal Holocene social, demographic and economic patterning. It was concluded that the OAD-1 site possibly represented the seasonal occupation of a landscape which was previously thought to contain only limited evidence for Aboriginal habitation on the Cumberland Plain. OAD-1 may have been used during months of the year when food supplies were more plentiful and weather conditions were favourable. The location of the site, within a local context, could be related to the exploitation of economical resources associated with South Creek and the interface between the flood plain and commencement of small hills to its west. The results from the excavation of OAD-1 were coupled with further local Aboriginal site patterning evidence to devise a new predictive model, called the ‘economic resource model’. This model can be used to explain the Aboriginal use of more ‘marginal’ landscapes on the Cumberland Plain and should permit future archaeological studies to predict with more accuracy possible areas which could contain significant Aboriginal Holocene archaeological deposits. The paper will present the results of the excavation and also the associated landscape theory.
Recent fieldwork in the corner country, far western New South Wales Bridget Mosley1, Hans-Dieter Bader2 This paper will report on recent fieldwork at Lake Pinaroo on Sturt National Park. In association with the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, a combination of archaeological and geophysical fieldwork has resulted in the locating of what is thought to be a campsite of one of the early Australian survey expeditions. Although few surface indications of the campsite remain, the use of geo-archaeological techniques identified sub-surface features interpreted as the remains of structures mentioned in historical records of the expedition. Further fieldwork to record the area in more detail is planned for 2007.
Predictive modelling of features in DEC's AHIMS database for all of NSW. Mal Ridges AHIMS is the primary source of information about the location of places with Aboriginal cultural material NSW, and as such it is often a key referent in planning decisions. However, since it is based on point data, its applicability in any given situation often has more to do with previous recording intensity than it does any real notion about the density of Aboriginal features or their value in conservation terms. For many area-based assessments it is highly likely that a search of AHIMS will not produce any records, or insufficient records to make a considered appraisal of conservation value. There is a need therefore to have some way of gauging the distribution and conservation status of Aboriginal features across the whole landscape so that Aboriginal communities can more readily assess and convey this information, as well as permitting it to be incorporated better into planning strategies. This paper presents initial work on projecting the information stored within AHIMS to the whole of NSW using archaeological predictive modelling. The paper describes the method used to derive the models, some analysis describing the status of features within NSW, as well as illustrating the application of the models in some of the programs run by DEC.
Bigger is more complex? Large-scale artefact scatters in the inland Pilbara: a contribution to an emerging model of Late Holocene occupation. Ian Ryan, Kate Morse This paper will discuss assemblages from two large open surface artefact scatter complexes in the inland Pilbara and what our interpretation of them suggests about occupation of the region during the late Holocene – a period about which little is known in spite of the enormous number of archaeological sites recorded in the area. The structure of stone tool assemblages in the inland Pilbara has been used previously to interpret site use within a wider settlement system (Ryan and Morse in press). We report here on the analysis of assemblages from two unusual and large artefact scatters, and argue that the results suggest particular activities were undertaken at these sites which makes them unique in the region. Finally, the potential for these assemblages to indicate social interaction is explored (cf. Guilfoyle (2005).
Communities of confidence: documenting Indigenous land use and settlement patterns from rock art distribution in Western Arnhem Land Daryl Guse, Richard Woolfe The overwhelming majority of archaeological sites in western Arnhemland consist of rock art in the sandstone escarpment and outliers of the Arnhemland Plateau. As a result, this extraordinarily visible archaeological record has seen the documentation and production of a temporal framework of stylistic rock art sequences (Chaloupka 1994; Chippindale & Taçon 1998). Hiscock (1999) surmises that Indigenous settlement patterns in Western Arnhemland was that of a mobile Aboriginal population during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition with an increasing trend towards more sedentary patterns of occupation in the late Holocene. It has been proposed that rock art from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition depicts a population of Aboriginal people that have complex material culture, engage in a variety of activities that occurred in a time of conflict during environmental stress (Taçon & Chippindale). In contrast, the late Holocene period up to the present is known to have been a period of far greater ecological abundance and diversity after the sea level stabilisation with fewer depictions of large scale conflict (although scenes of small scale conflict occur through to the present). Rock art from this period, although with many stylistic changes, continued to be complex depicting a wide variety narratives and images of people, ecology, spirituality and mythology.
Use-wear and residue analysis of spears – a work in progress Sue Nugent Current understanding of spear function relies almost exclusively on associated archaeological evidence or ethnographic accounts which are often generalized or in conflict with one another. In my research, a sample of ethnographic Australian spears is being examined using residue and use-wear analysis, with a view to enhancing our understanding of the functional variation that exists within this class of tools. A sample of archaeological spear points will also be examined. While strong indications of use in the form of starch granules, plant tissue residues and possible use-wear marks were identified on a sample of wooden digging sticks during previous research, no residues indicative of use were identified on a pilot sample of spears from Mornington Island, housed in the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum. This result suggested the need to re-examine the sample selection process bearing in mind missionary influence and how and when these artefacts were acquired.
An integrated socio-environment model of Holocene 1W.E. Boyd, 2N. Chang, 3S. Talbot The archaeology of the Mun River floodplain, northeast Thailand, indicates a long and rich settlement in a now resource-poor landscape. The valley was settled for three millennia during the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages with continued occupation into the proto-historic period. Large settlement sites with encircling channels represent effective water management systems. The environment is now seasonally arid, saline, sparsely populated and resource-poor;, contrasting the 4th to 2nd millennia BP, when the region supported large communities living in relative comfort. Excavation reveals evidence of expanding trade networks, sophisticated technologies, and extended periods of social stability. Geoarchaeological study of this landscape seeks reasons for the difference between past and present social and environmental conditions, and identifies very different hydrological and climatic conditions critical controlling social potential. This society’s demise may be explained by reference to collapse of a rich supporting environmental system, possibly driven by several environmental processes. Human response to these processes is traced through changing mortuary ritual and artefact assemblages during the Bronze and Iron Ages, while Iron Age society adapted using sophisticated water engineering. A major social effect may have been an increasing emphasis on rice cultivation and associated rituals and paraphernalia; throughout the Iron Age environmental stress is expressed through changes in social behaviour. Eventually, established social and engineering solutions supporting social sustainability during environmental uncertainty no longer moderated the effects of environmental change. By the end of the Iron Age, the Dvaravati civilization of central Thailand was expanding into the region closely followed by Khmer architecture and other material culture, bringing very different social solutions to environmental challenges, and thus developing a very different archaeological record. With this history, it is possible to trace a model of Late Holocene landscape evolution influenced by intimate relationships between internal and external social and environmental processes. This evolution spans development of a landscape of mid Holocene optimal conditions being settled and adapted, through to a critical threshold change resulting in a new equilibrium landscape. It is this new landscape, emerging about 1,500 BP, in which the Khmer established their important present in early historical time.
WorkshopPublishing archaeology in North America Mitch Allen This workshop is designed to provide Australian archaeologists with guidance on how to make the decision whether to try to publish their work in North America rather than locally, and the ramifications of that decision. The workshop will begin by describing the structure of the publishing industry in the United States, both for books and journals. Attendees will be shown how to find the right publication venue and how to convince a publisher or journal editor to produce the work. It will show that the difference in how various types of publications are marketed and distributed to their audience, the inherent differences in those audiences, and how that dictates what the researcher writes, how he or she writes it, and where and when to seek a publication outlet. Emphasizing the pragmatic, the workshop will include guidelines for developing publishing proposals, spreadsheets on publishing economics, tips on common contractual questions, suggestions for getting started (and finished) in the writing process, and a roadmap to the inner workings of publishing houses. The goal is to create a better informed author who can be more successful at getting published for a global audience and who has fewer problems in the publication process. Handouts will be included. Workshop leader, Mitch Allen, is Publisher of Left Coast Press, Inc., a year-old publishing house that focuses largely on works for archaeologists, historians, heritage professionals and museum professionals. Prior to starting Left Coast, Allen launched AltaMira Press and directed it for its first 10 years. AltaMira books won the Society for American Archaeology book award three of the past four years. He also served as an editor for Sage Publications for 20 years. Allen has a Ph.D. in archaeology from UCLA, teaches archaeology at Mills College in Oakland, California, has written his own books and articles, edited two journals and several book series, as well as being sponsoring editor on over 800 books and dozens of journals in his 30 year publishing career. Content Approved by: AAA 2006
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