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Australia: The Land Where Time Began |
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Coastal Moreton
Region, Queensland, Australia, Geoarchaeology and the Archaeological
Record A large database of dated sites that record at
least 20,000 years of Aboriginal occupation in coastal Southeast
Queensland and northern New South Wales has accumulated over about 30
years of intensive archaeological research. Robins, Hall & Stock say
this database, and the spatio-temporal distribution of dated sites in
particular, has been employed somewhat uncritically as a representative
sample to support various interpretive models of cultural change in the
region. However, not much attention has been paid to the substantial
sample biases that are inherent in this important work such as
interpretive arguments that have remained as rather speculative
scenarios. In this paper Robins, Hall & Stock identify and explicate
(explain in detail) critical issues relating to the use of such data
in constructing models of cultural change in this region via 3
case studies and closes with an appeal for consideration of these in
future research. Conclusions According to Robins, Hall & Stock devolving
interpretive schemes of cultural changes based on the archaeological
record of the region of the study is laudable aim is not one that can be
achieved readily by using the current extensive, though biased, record.
Through 3 case studies Robins, Hall & Stock have identified a number of
critical issues in respect of developing an archaeological record which
could be representative of space and time. Some geomorphic research is
necessary to identify the locations, character and history of such
landforms in order to identify archaeological remains on Pleistocene to
mid-Holocene landforms. When they have been identified they may be
targeted for specialised, robust survey and investigative strategies to
assess their archaeological potential. When archaeological methods have
revealed cultural materials within these sandy deposits their age should
be assessed by the use of at least 2 relevant dating techniques, such as
14C and TL/OSL. It will be crucial in most cases to undertake
taphonomic investigation in order to tease out post-depositional
agencies from the original deposition matrix. Use-wear and residue
analyses should be carried out, in respect of the cultural content, in
order to assess past natural resource procurement and processing as one
key to revealing changing cultural practices. An example is the
documenting of the age and distribution of specialised resource
processing technologies, such as that used in the processing of the fern
Blechnum indicum
(Gillieson and Hall, 1982; Higgins, 1988), may refine knowledge about
the timing of Aboriginal technological adaptation to Holocene
environmental change in coastal Southeastern Queensland/northern New
South Wales. There is also a need for the development of other
approaches to these cultural materials, such as the one that has been
developed (McNiven, 1999) which used the distribution of stone raw
materials from known quarries on Fraser Island to identify and explain
cultural change in the archaeological record. Another approach with
considerable potential is to identify the age of, and the differences
between, stone technologies. An example is the analysis by Moore of the
Cobaki stone assemblage that identified some artefact production
techniques not known for sites further to the north, though still within
the study area (Moore, 2011; Robins et
al., 2013). The understanding
of site-specific taphonomic and/or environmental factors remains an
integral part of constructing detailed individual site sequences.
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Author: M.H.Monroe Email: admin@austhrutime.com Sources & Further reading |