Shell bed to shell midden

This thesis is about the role of shellfish in the total diet of a group of coastal hunters and gatherers. The shell gathering activities of the Anbara, a group of Gidjingali-speaking Australian Aborigines living around the mouth of the Blyth River in Arnhem Land during 1972-3, is described in detailed quantitative terms. Reasons for choosing this topic are discussed in Chapter 1 where attention is drawn to the contrast between the abundance of shell midden deposits in the archaeological record and the paucity of shell gathering studies amongst contemporary hunters and gatherers. The Gidjingali are introduced in Chapters 2 and 3 in which an account of their culture, history and present situation is given, together with a description of the major features of their hunting life during 1972-3. Fieldwork conditions and methods are discussed in Chapter 4. Chapters 5 to 9 contain data about the shellfish gathering that occurred during 1972-3. Chapter 5 describes Gidjingali systems of classification that incorporate shellfish taxa; while Chapter 6 elucidates the major patterns of shellfish predation. A detailed ethnographic background for this quantitative data is provided in Chapter 7, where the collection, cooking and disposal of shellfish are described. The performances of individual gatherers are presented in Chapter 8 and the conclusions are compared with those from other similar studies. The contribution made by shellfish to the total Anbara diet is assessed in Chapter 9 and the diets of several other foraging groups are examined. Destruction of the open sea Blyth River shell beds, during the 1973-4 wet season is discussed in terms of the changing role of shellfish in Anbara diet. Evidence for dietary changes within the remembered past are presented; together with an introduction to the numerous prehistoric shell middens on Anbara territory which extend back in time to the days of the ’dreaming

Climate variability in the mid to late Holocene Arnhem Land Region, North Australia: Archaeological Archives of environmental and cultural change

A number of archaeologists have suggested that significant climatic change with environmental and social consequences occurred between 1000 and 400 years ago in the Indo-Pacific region. We investigate this premise by examining the archaeological record of changes in hunter-gatherer economies in three geographically distinct coastal regions of tropical northern Australia. These case studies support the argument that Aboriginal mollusc exploitation reflects the altered local ecological habitats that accompanied broader coastal environmental change over the last few thousand years. Overlap between the phases and timing of climatic and behavioural changes within each region suggests that, given regional variation in the nature and of these changes, there was an associated human response to late Holocene climatic variability. These case studies establish that archaeological and environmental evidence mutually support the argument for climate change influencing cultural change in northern Australia. We suggest that, while a direct physical link between environmental change and the interpretations of significant cultural change in the archaeological record have yet to be demonstrated unambiguously in this region, the analysis of mollusc exploitation has the potential to provide the direct link that is currently missing between changes in climate, environment and human responses over the last millennium

Radiocarbon dates from the Top End: A cultural chronology for the Northern Territory coastal plains

The coastal plains of northern Australia are relatively recent formations that have undergone dynamic evolution through 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 past 15 years, a number of research and consultancy projects have 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. More than 300 radiocarbon dates are now available and these have enabled us to provide a more detailed interpretation of the pattern of human settlement. In addition to this growing body of evidence, new palaeoclimatic data that is relevant to these northern Australian contexts is becoming available. This paper provides a synthesis of the archaeological evidence, integrates it within the available palaeo-environmental frameworks and characterises the cultural chronology of human settlement of the Northern Territory coastal plains over the past 10 000 years

Radiocarbon Dates from The Top End: A Cultural Chronology for the Northern Territory Coastal Plains

The coastal plains of northern Australia are relatively recent formations that have undergone dynamic evolution through 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 past 15 years, a number of research and consultancy projects have 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. More than 300 radiocarbon dates are now available and these have enabled us to provide a more detailed interpretation of the pattern of human settlement. In addition to this growing body of evidence, new palaeoclimatic data that is relevant to these northern Australian contexts is becoming available. This paper provides a synthesis of the archaeological evidence, integrates it within the available palaeo-environmental frameworks and characterises the cultural chronology of human settlement of the Northern Territory coastal plains over the past 10 000 years

Holocene settlement of the northern coastal plains, Northern Territory, Australia

The northern Australian coastal plains are relatively recent landforms that have undergone dynamic evolution over the last 10,000 years. Over 300 radiocarbon dates have enabled archaeologists and geomorphologists to provide a more detailed interpretatio