Temporal variability in shell mound formation at Albatross Bay, northern Australia

We report the results of 212 radiocarbon determinations from the archaeological excavation of 70 shell mound deposits in the Wathayn region of Albatross Bay, Australia. This is an intensive study of a closely co-located group of mounds within a geographically restricted area in a wider region where many more shell mounds have been reported. Valves from the bivalve Tegillarca granosa (Linnaeus, 1758) were dated. The dates obtained are used to calculate rates of accumulation for the shell mound deposits. These demonstrate highly variable rates of accumulation both within and between mounds. We assess these results in relation to likely mechanisms of shell deposition and show that rates of deposition are affected by time-dependent processes both during the accumulation of shell deposits and during their subsequent deformation. This complicates the interpretation of the rates at which shell mound deposits appear to have accumulated. At Wathayn, there is little temporal or spatial consistency in the rates at which mounds accumulated. Comparisons between the Wathayn results and those obtained from shell deposits elsewhere, both in the wider Albatross Bay region and worldwide, suggest the need for caution when deriving behavioural inferences from shell mound deposition rates, and the need for more comprehensive sampling of individual mounds and groups of mounds

Temporal variability in shell mound formation at Albatross Bay, northern Australia

We report the results of 212 radiocarbon determinations from the archaeological excavation of 70 shell mound deposits in the Wathayn region of Albatross Bay, Australia. This is an intensive study of a closely co-located group of mounds within a geographically restricted area in a wider region where many more shell mounds have been reported. Valves from the bivalve Tegillarcca granosa were dated. The dates obtained are used to calculate rates of accumulation for the shell mound deposits. These demonstrate highly variable rates of accumulation both within and between mounds. We assess these results in relation to likely mechanisms of shell deposition and show that rates of deposition are affected by time-dependent processes both during the accumulation of shell deposits and during their subsequent deformation. This complicates the interpretation of the rates at which shell mound deposits appear to have accumulated. At Wathayn, there is little temporal or spatial consistency in the rates at which mounds accumulated. Comparisons between the Wathayn results and those obtained from shell deposits elsewhere, both in the wider Albatross Bay region and worldwide, suggest the need for caution when deriving behavioural inferences from shell mound deposition rates, and the need for more comprehensive sampling of individual mounds and groups of mounds

Hunter-Gatherers and the Archaeology of Discard Behavior: An Analysis of Surface Stone Artifacts from Sturt National Park, Western New South Wales, Australia

An analysis of surface scatters of stone artifacts from late Holocene contexts at Stud Creek, Sturt National Park in the northwest of New South Wales, Australia, is reported. A sedimentological and archaeological chronology for Stud Creek shows archaeological remains are no older than 2000 years and Stud Creek saw repeated occupation during the last two millennia. Methods are proposed whereby conflated stone artifact assemblages from different locations within the Stud Creek catchment can be analyzed to understand how use of the catchment differed from place to place. We propose "place use history," as a more useful concept than "settlement system" for understanding surface artifact assemblages. KEYWORDS: arid Australia, hunter-gatherers, late Holocene, lithics

The Contribution of Heritage Surveys towards Understanding the Cultural Landscape of the Weipa Bauxite Plateau

Five years of intensive cultural heritage surveys conducted as part of Rio Tinto Alcan's cultural heritage management programme on the bauxite plateau at Weipa (Figure 1) have resulted in the recording of several site types not previously reported from the area. Whereas previous archaeological work focused almost exclusively on the shell matrix sites common to the coastal environments bordering the plateau (e.g. Bailey 1975, 1977), surface distributions of stone artefacts, scarred trees and earth mounds have now been identified across much of the region. We report results of the surveys and discuss the implications of these for our understanding of the broader cultural landscape of the Weipa Peninsula. The assemblage of sites from across the plateau indicates a complex, multitemporal cultural landscape that presents further avenues for collaborative research with Traditional Owners

Absence of evidence or evidence of absence? Understanding the chronology of Indigenous occupation of western New South Wales, Australia

Radiocarbon determinations obtained from heat retainer hearths in four sampling locations in western New South Wales, Australia are reported, with age estimates ranging from the mid Holocene until the last few centuries BP. Hearths are first considered in their geomorphic setting to determine the likely age of the surfaces into which they were dug and the reasons why they are still extant today. Second, the radiocarbon determinations are analysed not to date single events in the past, but to construct a regional chronology of Indigenous Australian occupation. In this chronology, periods when hearths were not constructed are as important as periods when radiocarbon determinations indicate sustained hearth formation. Third, comparisons are made among the four sampling locations to determine regional patterns. Results suggest both regional and local patterns of occupation and abandonment, or at least very much reduced hearth construction, over the last two millennia. The increasing frequency of radiocarbon determination results from hearths as one approaches the present is likely to be a result of the relative abundance of well preserved recent surfaces in the locations we have studied and the consequent lack of relatively ancient surfaces.17 page(s

Mission-Based Indigenous Production at the Weipa Presbyterian Mission, Western Cape York Peninsula (1932-66)

Previous research on remote nineteenth-and early twentieth-century Indigenous missions in northern and central Australia point to their often tenuous existence and the complex nature of engagements between Christian Missionaries and Indigenous people. This paper explores the contribution and significance of Indigenous production of wild foods in the context of one such settlement located at Weipa on Cape York Peninsula, north eastern Australia. It is premised on the assertion that investigation of the economies of these often remote settlements has the potential to reveal much about the character of cross-cultural engagements within the context of early mission settlements. Many remote missions had a far from secure economic basis and were sometimes unable to produce the consistent food supplies that were central to their proselytizing efforts. In this paper it is suggested that Indigenous-produced wild foods were of significant importance to the mission on a day-to-day basis in terms of their dietary contribution (particularly in terms of protein sources) and were also important to Indigenous people from a social and cultural perspective. We develop this argument through the case study of culturally modified trees that resulted from the collection of wild honey

Note Taking Analysis

Note Taking Analysi