Aboriginal Perceptions Of Their Stone Tool Technology: A Case Study From The Western Desert, Australia

Cane, Scott

doi:10.1080/03122417.1992.11681466

Cited by 15 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Boreda quarry locations are associated with ancestors and chert is perceived to be formed by vital forces of earth and rain and proximity to sacred water and fig trees. Scholars and historic texts of other lithic practitioners refer to ‘the earth gestating the fetus stone’ (historic text from Mexico: Pastrana & Athie 2014, 96), ‘chert growing along watercourses ’ (Wola of Papua New Guinea: Sillitoe & Hardy 2005, 557–8), ‘breeding stone as in the case of a pregnant woman with young inside’ (Yolngu of Australia: Jones 1990, 27; Jones & White 1988, 61), ‘referred to cores as “the mother one” which was “cut” or “bled”’ (Gugadja of Australia: Cane 1992, 16), ‘when the world was made the stone came to Mt. Kagul … seeing a pleasanter place on the opposite of the Wahgi river, however, they moved across’ (Waghi of Papua New Guinea: Burton 1984, 260) and ‘when male and female stones were wrapped in a bundle they could reproduce … contain smaller stones that were regarded as offspring’ (Absarokee of United States: Irwin 1996, 224–5).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Material Scientists: Learning the Importance of Colour and Brightness from Lithic Practitioners

Arthur¹

2021

CAJ

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In this paper, I present Ethiopia's Boreda lithic practitioners’ perception of knapping stone as a living vital being and how it informs their selection of colourful stones and transmission of knowledge to apprentices. In particular, lithic practitioners select stones which are perceived to exhibit evidence of their vitality in the form of light and choose particular colours of stone for their association with transformation and community identity. Furthermore, elders use these attributes of stone to assist apprentices in learning to identify good-quality parent material, ensuring longevity of a tool's life.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Material Scientists: Learning the Importance of Colour and Brightness from Lithic Practitioners

Arthur¹

2021

CAJ

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“…Latz (1995) states that approximately seventy species were utilized across Central Australia for their seeds, with fifteen of these being grasses. Cane (1989) lists forty-two plant species yielding edible seeds for the Pintupi and Kukatja-speaking people of which fifteen were grasses, three were sedges, eleven Acacia spp., four eucalypts, three succulents, two herbs, and four miscellaneous shrubs. The number of species used, and the number of sources which record their use, are highly influenced by their natural range, as well as the progressive dispossession of Aboriginal people from their traditional lands starting around what is now Sydney in coastal southeastern Australia.…”

Section: Historical Records Of Seed Exploitation In Australiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Cooper's Creek in SW Queensland, native millet tillers were cut whilst green with stone knives and the seed was beaten out (Roth 1887, 132). In the Great Sandy Desert, seed was left on the plant by the Pintupi people until it had dried to an appropriate moisture content for threshing then it was stripped from seed heads by hand (Cane 1989;Latz 1995). Other accounts describe pretreatment, such as burning cut grass in either windrows or heaped piles.…”

Section: Growing Harvesting and Pretreatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What Do We Know About Threshing Traditional Grains in Australia?

Pattison,

McGee,

Birch

et al. 2023

Journal of Ethnobiology

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This article reviews ethnographic descriptions of Australia's First Nations people's grain threshing to inform future grain research and revival of practice in south-eastern Australia. The processing of grain requires many steps, and while harvesting, winnowing and grinding are comparatively well-documented, the threshing stage, which involves the removal of the husk and other nonedible parts of the seed head before the seed is winnowed and ground, remains poorly understood. In south-eastern Australia much of the threshing knowledge has been lost through the impacts of colonization; whereas communities in Central Australia have retained this knowledge in relation to their traditional grains. However, these species are not common in all areas. As different species require different threshing processes, only some of this knowledge can be directly applied in south-eastern Australia. Ethnographic descriptions have the potential to contribute additional First Nations knowledge to the revitalization of this practice. This article brings together ethnographic descriptions of traditional threshing to facilitate the revival of practice and further native grains research.

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“…Multiple tula flakes were carried as replacement parts for personal use or in trade parcels (Horne and Aiston 1924 : 106;Noone 1949 : 111-112;Roth 1904 : 20;Tindale 1965 : 154, 160). The completed tula adze was also carried around for personal use, especially when it was the multifunctional tool of a mobile hunter (Cane 1992).…”

Section: Transporting and Curating The Tula Adze Or Flakementioning

confidence: 99%

Design Theory and the Australian Tula Adze

Doelman¹,

Cochrane²

2014

asi

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The tula adze is a distinctive composite tool that was used in the Australian arid zone during the late Holocene. In this paper we use design theory to investigate why this particular tool form was so pervasive across time and space. Design theory provides a rational means for classifying tool designs and for determining why particular tool design classes were employed over others. We draw upon ethnographic and archaeological evidence to characterize the design of the tula adze and conclude that it is consistently the product of a “reliable” design strategy. We further determine that the high cost of a reliable design was chosen because the tula adze was employed in situations where failure could not be tolerated. Specifically, we argue that an important role of the tula adze was to manufacture wooden goods for not only personal use but more significantly for trade. The quantity and quality of these goods had an extremely strong bearing on the economic sustainability of arid zone Aboriginal groups.

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Aboriginal Perceptions Of Their Stone Tool Technology: A Case Study From The Western Desert, Australia

Cited by 15 publications

References 26 publications

Material Scientists: Learning the Importance of Colour and Brightness from Lithic Practitioners

Material Scientists: Learning the Importance of Colour and Brightness from Lithic Practitioners

What Do We Know About Threshing Traditional Grains in Australia?

Design Theory and the Australian Tula Adze

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