Australian Indigenous Archaeology

Simple stone flaking in Australasia: patterns and implications

by Mark Moore

in press, Quaternary International

Review: Clarkson 2007 Lithics in the Land of the Lightning Brothers

by Sam Lin

Book Review, PaleoAnthropology 2012

Looking for the Archaeological Signature in Australian Megafaunal Extinctions

by Simon Wyatt-Spratt

The Return of Ngarrindjeri Old People

by Christopher Wilson

Written by Christopher Wilson, published in 'inSITE', Museum Victoria, 2005

The repatriation of human remains has revealed stories of the official practice of removal and the ensuing cultural,... more The repatriation of human remains has revealed stories of the official practice of removal and the ensuing cultural, social and financial consequences for Indigenous communities. Chris Wilson writes about the experience of repatriation once the museum has been left behind.

A Structure and Process for 'Working Beyond the Site" in a Commercial Context: A Case Study from Dunsborough, Southwest Western Australia

by David Guilfoyle

Indigenous Archaeologies: An Australian Perspective

by Christopher Wilson

Written by Christopher Wilson, in Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, (in press)

New radiocarbon ages for the Lower Murray River, South Australia: A chronology for occupation during the Holocene

by Christopher Wilson

Written by Christopher Wilson and Stewart Fallon, in Archaeology in Oceania, (in press)

Morphological and geochemical analysis of archaeological fish otoliths from the Lower Murray

by Christopher Wilson

Written by Morgan Disspain, Christopher Wilson and Bronwyn Gillanders, (in press)

The First 'Stolen Generations': Repatriation and Reburial in Ngarrindjeri Ruwe (country)

by Christopher Wilson

Written by Steve Hemming and Christopher Wilson, published in "The Long Way Home: The Meanings and Values of Repatriation", edited by Paul Turnbull and Michael Pickering, 2010

In this chapter, we consider some of the social, cultural, political and economic implications of repatriating Old... more In this chapter, we consider some of the social, cultural, political and economic implications of repatriating Old People (human remains) to an Indigenous community. Our focus is the return of Ngarrindjeri Old People from museums within Australia and the United Kingdom to Ngarrindjeri Ruwe (country) in the lower Murray region of South Australia. This issue is part of the global repatriation debate which often excludes serious consideration of the consequences of repatriation for Indigenous people. We seek to expand understandings of the impacts of repatriation on Indigenous communities as well as to provide an anticolonial reading of the practice of archaeology from the perspective of an Indigenous archaeologist and a non-Indigenous academic (see Smith 1999; Hemming and Trevorrow 2005; Wilson 2005; Hemming 2006). We argue that non-Indigenous governments and ‘collecting’ institutions, such as museums, have a responsibility to compensate for the damage caused by their actions. We also argue that these same governments and institutions have a longer-term duty, requiring significant resources, to support Indigenous communities in the difficult and overwhelming process to care for and rebury their Old People.

Becoming An Ngarrindjeri Archaeologist: The Journey to and from Suburbia

by Christopher Wilson

Written by Christopher Wilson, published in "Being and Becoming Indigenous Archaeologists" Edited by George Nicholas, 2010

This paper provides a short biography on my experiences growing up in Adelaide, South Australia and my interests... more This paper provides a short biography on my experiences growing up in Adelaide, South Australia and my interests leading up to studying archaeology at Flinders University. Further, academia has provided a space for me as a Ngarirndjeri archaeologist to explore my poeple and culture and provide new interpretations and meanings to the archaeological record in Ngarrindjeri ruwe!

Pleistocene palaeoecology of the eastern Darling Downs

by Gilbert Price

Price, Gilbert J. (2006) Pleistocene palaeoecology of the eastern Darling Downs. PhD thesis, Queensland University of Technology.

Several late Pleistocene fossil localities in the Kings Creek catchment, Darling Downs, southeastern Queensland,... more Several late Pleistocene fossil localities in the Kings Creek catchment, Darling Downs, southeastern Queensland, Australia, were examined in detail to establish an accurate, dated palaeoecological record for the region, and to test human versus climate change megafauna extinction hypotheses. Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS 14C) and U/Th dating confirm that the deposits are late Pleistocene in age, but the dates obtained from the two methods are not in agreement. Fluvial depositional accumulation processes in the catchment reflect both high-energy channel and low-energy episodic overbank deposition. The most striking taphonomic observations for vertebrates in the deposits include: 1) low representation of post-cranial elements; 2) high degree of bone breakage; 3) variable abrasion but most identifiable bone elements with low to moderate degree of abrasion; 4) low rates of bone weathering; 5) low degree of carnivore bone modification; and 6) low degree of articulated or associated specimens. Collectively, those data suggest that the material was transported into the deposit from the surrounding proximal floodplain and that the assemblages reflect hydraulic sorting. A multifaceted palaeoecological investigation revealed significant habitat change between superposed assemblages of site QML796. The basal fossiliferous unit contained species that indicate the presence of a mosaic of habitats including riparian vegetation, vine thickets, scrubland, open and closed woodlands, and open grasslands during the late Pleistocene. Those woody and scrubby habitats contracted over the period of deposition so that by the time of deposition of the youngest horizon, the creek sampled a more open type environment. Sequential faunal horizons show a step-wise decrease in taxonomic diversity that cannot be explained by sampling or taphonomic bias. The decreasing diversity includes loss of some, but not all, megafauna and is consistent with a progressive local loss of megafauna in the catchment over an extended interval of time. Collectively, those data are consistent with a climatic cause of megafauna extinction, and no specific evidence was found to support human involvement in the local extinctions. Better dating of the deposits is critically important, as a secure chronology would have significant implications regarding the continent-wide extinction of the Australian megafauna.

5. Climatic forcing for Pleistocene megafaunal extinction: evidence from eastern Australia

by Gilbert Price

Price, Gilbert J. (Invited speaker) 2007. Climatic forcing for Pleistocene megafaunal extinction: Evidence from eastern Australia. In: Cupper, M.L. and Gallagher, S.J. (Eds.) Selwyn Symposium 2007, Climate Change or Human Impact? Australia’s Megafaunal Extinction, Geological Society of Australia, Victoria Division, Extended Abstracts, 79: 25-29.

La pintura y su simbología en las comunidades de cazadores-recolectores de la Tierra de Arnhem (Territorio del Norte, Australia)

by Ines Domingo Sanz

Domingo, I. y May, S.K. (2008)

Milly’s Cave: Evidence for Human Occupation of the Inland Pilbara during the Last Glacial Maximum

by Ben Marwick

2002 Tempus 7:21-33

The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) peaked in Australia around 18,000 BP. At this time, many previously-occupied... more The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) peaked in Australia around 18,000 BP. At this time, many previously-occupied archaeological sites in the northwest quarter of the Australian continent show signs of abandonment or reduced occupation. Previously-reported evidence from the inland Pilbara on LGM activity is ambiguous and has been interpreted to mean both abandonment and continuous occupation. Excavations at Millys Cave have revealed the first unambiguous evidence for human occupation in the inland Pilbara during the LGM. Stone artefact data from Millys Cave indicate that the occupants exploited a smaller territorial area during the LGM compared with later periods, but did not substantially alter their land-use system. Population size probably changed very little but social networks and aggregation activities were reduced during the LGM.

Archaeology of Aboriginal Australia: A Reader by Tim Murray Review by: Robert H. Gargett

by Robert H. Gargett

Mount Talbot 1: a rockshelter in the southern Wimmera, Victoria, Australia

by Caroline Bird

The Artefact 1995, volume 18, pp. 12-21

Pleistocene and early Holocene archaeology in Victoria. A view from Gariwerd.

by Caroline Bird

C.F.M. Bird & D. Frankel, 1998, The Artefact vol 21, pp48-62.

Analysis of material from archaeological excavations in the Grampians- Gariwerd region in Western Victoria provides... more Analysis of material from archaeological excavations in the Grampians- Gariwerd region in Western Victoria provides the most comprehensive description of Pleistocene and early Holocene stone tool assemblages in Victoria. These data prompt a reconsideration of material from contemporary sites in the state. A discussion of regional variation is set within a broader discusssion of the nature of variation in lithic assemblages.

Excavations at Koongine Cave: lithics & land-use in the Terminal Pleistocene and Holocene of South Australia

by Caroline Bird

C.F.M. Bird & D. Frankel, 2001. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 67, pp. 49-83

Koongine is a sizeable limestone cave set in a low ridge some 4 km from the sea in the lower South-east of South... more Koongine is a sizeable limestone cave set in a low ridge some 4 km from the sea in the lower South-east of South Australia. It was used for about 2000 years at the transition from the Pleistocene to Holocene, and then again during the last millennium. The sequence at this site exposes issues of the appropriate scale and form of explanation for changes in site use. The stratified deposits of stone artefacts provide an opportunity to define for the first time the nature of the 'Gambieran' Industry. This spatially and temporally restricted industry characterised by large convex scrapers made on large, often asymmetrical flakes is otherwise known mainly from older surface collections. The formal definition of this local industry adds to the grwoing evidence of considerable variarion in the earlier stone tools of Australia, and provides an additional basis for rejecting the concept of a widespread Core Tool and Scraper Tradition, and replacing it with a model which recognises a mosaic of different tool-making traditions embedded in local social, economic and technological contexts.

Problems in constructing a prehistoric regional sequence: Holocene southeast Australia

by Caroline Bird

C.F.M. Bird & David Frankel. World Archaeology, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 179-192

Chronological sequences are as much a product of overall concepts as of data or techniques of dating. This is... more Chronological sequences are as much a product of overall concepts as of data or techniques of dating. This is illustrated by a critical assessment of the foundations of a prehistoric regional sequence in Victoria and South Australia. Taphonomic and research biases structure the data and limit the potential for demonstrating long-term or cumulative change. Recent attempts to see a cumulative or unified progression in the area cannot be sustained. The short-term and local may be the more appropriate scales at which to identify and understand variation in hunter-gatherer societies.

What's the Point? The TCSA of Projectile Points - an Australian Perspective (Abstract)

by Kim Newman

Honours Thesis (Abstract)
University of New England