Broughton Island, N.S.W. Recent Prehistoric use of an Offshore Ocean Island

In June 1974 exceptionally strong winds coincided with high tides on the coast of New South Wales to create damaging waves. Unpublicized results were wave cut sections in middens previously unrecorded. One such exposure was on Broughton Island, which was visited by the author for a day in July 1974

A terminal Pleistocene open site on the Hawkesbury River, Pitt Town, New South Wales

Salvage excavations of 25 m2 on a levee adjacent to the Hawkesbury River near Pitt Town, New South Wales, identified a 1.5 m deep sand body containing three discrete artefact assemblages, collectively designated as site PT12. Six optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages provide a chronology for the sand body, which began forming >50 ka. Peak artefact numbers for the two lowest assemblages were centred on ca 15 ka and ca 11 ka, and had Capertian (pre- Bondaian) characteristics. These included amorphous pebble tools and manuports of locally-derived river cobbles, which were probably exposed through entrenchment of the river during lower sea-levels. Comparisons with the KII rockshelter, approximately 20 km upstream, show a similar assemblage dated to ca 13 ka. The uppermost assemblage at PT12 was dominated by backed artefacts and composed primarily of silcrete. Reliable OSL ages indicate this assemblage may have been deposited in the early Holocene, with a proliferation of backed blades occurring ca 5 ka, although typological comparisons with other local assemblages suggest an age of <4.5 ka is more likely. Along with other studies, the site indicates the systematic exploitation of resources along the Hawkesbury River from ca 15 ka before an apparent abandonment of the region in the early/mid-Holocene. Late Holocene artefact numbers suggest a subdued reoccupation of the area following this hiatus

A terminal Pleistocene open site on the Hawkesbury River, Pitt Town, New South Wales

Salvage excavations of 25 m2 on a levee adjacent to the Hawkesbury River near Pitt Town, New South Wales, identified a 1.5 m deep sand body containing three discrete artefact assemblages, collectively designated as site PT12. Six optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages provide a chronology for the sand body, which began forming >50 ka. Peak artefact numbers for the two lowest assemblages were centred on ca 15 ka and ca 11 ka, and had Capertian (pre- Bondaian) characteristics. These included amorphous pebble tools and manuports of locally-derived river cobbles, which were probably exposed through entrenchment of the river during lower sea-levels. Comparisons with the KII rockshelter, approximately 20 km upstream, show a similar assemblage dated to ca 13 ka. The uppermost assemblage at PT12 was dominated by backed artefacts and composed primarily of silcrete. Reliable OSL ages indicate this assemblage may have been deposited in the early Holocene, with a proliferation of backed blades occurring ca 5 ka, although typological comparisons with other local assemblages suggest an age of <4.5 ka is more likely. Along with other studies, the site indicates the systematic exploitation of resources along the Hawkesbury River from ca 15 ka before an apparent abandonment of the region in the early/mid-Holocene. Late Holocene artefact numbers suggest a subdued reoccupation of the area following this hiatus

Lancefield Swamp and the extinction of the Australian megafauna

Excavations into the Australian swamp of Lancefield show that a bone bed dated at 26,000 years ago contains perhaps 10,000 giant extinct animals. Associated artifacts suggest that humans were in the area, but the direct cause of death of the animals is, on present evidence, not explicable. Such a recent date for the classic megafauna shows that it was living together with humans for at least 7000 years in southeast Australia. This enduring association argues against a catastrophic and rapid overkill in the Australian Pleistocene