Australian Aboriginal Subsistence in the Western Desert

Cane, Scott

doi:10.1007/978-1-4757-9584-4_2

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The brood, accompanied by the male, leaves the nest shortly after hatching. Traditionally, Aboriginal Australians utilized emu meat and eggs as food sources (Cane, 1987). The southern cassowary, Casuarius casuarius, is slightly smaller than Dromaius, and is restricted to the rainforests of NE Australia.…”

Section: Australia's Giant Flightless Birds: Genyornis Dromaius and mentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling the impacts of climate and human colonization on the flora and fauna of the Australian arid zone over the past 100 ka using stable isotopes in avian eggshell

Miller

Fogel

Magee

et al. 2016

Quaternary Science Reviews

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Throughout the Quaternary, the flora and fauna of Australia evolved and adapted to the highamplitude, low-and high-frequency climate changes that characterized the ice-age cycles. However, during the last glacial cycle, between ~120 and 15 ka, unprecedented irreversible changes in flora and fauna occurred, and in that same interval modern humans established their first firm presence in the landscape. Disentangling the impacts of the first-order trend toward a colder, drier planet through the Late Quaternary from the impacts of human colonization has been challenging, from both the chronological and paleoenvironmental perspectives. We utilize the stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen preserved in nearcontinuous time series of Dromaius (emu) eggshell from five regions across Australia to provide independent reconstructions of ecosystem status and climate over the past 100 ka. Carbon isotopes are determined by the diet consumed by the female bird, whereas oxygen isotopes record the status of local moisture balance in the months prior to breeding. Together,  13 C and  18 O provide ecosystem status and climate from the same dated sample, reducing correlation uncertainties between proxies. Combined with recent improvements in the chronologies of Late Quaternary shorelines fringing inland lake basins and deflation during arid times, these data collectively reaffirm that Australia generally became increasingly, albeit irregularly, drier from the last interglaciation through to the last glacial maximum. Dromaius eggshell  18 O documents peak aridity between 30 and 15 ka, but shows no evidence of exceptional climate change between 60 and 40 ka. In contrast, Dromaius  13 C diet documents an irreversible loss of the majority of palatable summerrainfall-related C4 grasses across the Australian arid zone between 50 and 45 ka, about the same time that the giant megafaunal bird, Genyornis, became extinct, and coincident with human dispersal across the continent. Our data indicate that changes unique to Australia occurred between 50 and 45 ka that led to a new climate-vegetation relationship and an overall reduction in effective moisture across much of the continent. The large summerrainfall-dominated lakes of interior Australia failed to refill subsequently, despite a wide range of global climate states. A full explanation for the mechanisms behind these changes remains elusive, but they are almost certainly related to human agency. Plausible explanations include a change in fire regime resulting from human-lit fires, a change in fire regime following extinction of megafaunal browsers, and/or a threshold response to increasing aridity. Of these, the climate change explanation is least likely, given the lack of evidence for unprecedented aridity between 60 and 40 ka, and the successful adaptation of Australian ecosystems to 2.5 Ma of similar changes. 8 Although not much taller than Dromaius, Genyornis newtoni was a more robust bird (Fig. S2), with an estimated body mass of at least 160 kg, and possibly as much as 275 kg (Murra...

show abstract

Section: Australia's Giant Flightless Birds: Genyornis Dromaius and mentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling the impacts of climate and human colonization on the flora and fauna of the Australian arid zone over the past 100 ka using stable isotopes in avian eggshell

Miller

Fogel

Magee

et al. 2016

Quaternary Science Reviews

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…comm.). High degrees of reproductive intermittency in arid Triodia may also be inferred from the paucity of mention in the anthropological literature of Triodia seed being used as a food source by Australian Aboriginal peoples (Long 1971;Cane 1987). This is in spite of the widespread occurrence of spinifex grasslands within Aboriginal tribal lands, and the fact that the seeds of Triodia are nontoxic and much larger in size (and presumably contain higher calorific content) than those of other commonly harvested grasses such as Panicum spp.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Proximate causes and possible adaptive functions of mast seeding and barren flower shows in spinifex grasses (Triodia spp.) in arid regions of Australia

2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mast seeding, the intermittent production of large synchronised seed crops among plant populations, is a phenomenon that occurs at exceptionally long intervals in spinifex grasses (Triodia spp.) from arid regions of Australia. This is despite the reliance of these fire-sensitive plants on seeds for post-fire regeneration, and that spinifex grasslands rate among Australia’s most flammable ecosystems. The proximate causes and possible adaptive functions of masting in seven species of spinifex from arid regions within the 350-mm rainfall isohyet were investigated. Specifically, the seed set percentages of 79 specimens collected between 1947 and 2012 were related to the following environmental covariates: antecedent rainfall over 6, 12 and 36 months, relative humidity, and the number of days above 40°C and below 0°C during anthesis. Given the potential importance of seeding events for post-fire regeneration, it was also investigated whether masting in Triodia could represent a fire-related form of environmentally predictive masting, by testing whether high-yield years corresponded to years of increased fire occurrence. Examination of the dataset showed that 43% of specimens contained completely aborted inflorescences (0% seed fill), while seed set ranged from 2 to 69% in the remaining specimens. High levels of insect activity were also found, with 42% of specimens showing evidence of insect occupation. Statistical analyses showed that the main environmental driver of seed set was high precipitation over the previous 12 months, and that high-yield years were strongly related to years of increased fire likelihood. The number of days over 40°C was a weakly significant driver of yield, while the remaining covariates were not significant. It is hypothesised that intermittent reproduction by Triodia is a fire-related form of environmentally predictive masting, which maximises chances of post-fire regeneration by satiating seed predators during flammable periods (i.e. after heavy rain years). Furthermore, it is suggested that non-viable flower crops after initial low rainfalls may have an adaptive function, by diluting pre-dispersal seed predator densities with ‘decoy’ ovules that do not mature and lead to the starvation of developing larvae.

show abstract

“…Disspain et al, : 429; Standen et al, : 163), a mechanism that also causes an abundance of fish stocks off the coast of Oman (Cleuziou & Tosi, : 14; Sreeush et al, ). Similarly, Aboriginal groups in the western desert of Australia are known to utilise different environmental zones in the landscape, including river fish and wild game, on a seasonal basis (Cane, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The exploitation of marine resources at Saruq al‐Hadid: Insights into the movement of people and resources in Bronze and Iron Age south‐eastern Arabia

Roberts

Weeks

Fillios

et al. 2019

Arab Archaeol Epigr

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Marine resources were an integral and consistent component of subsistence strategies employed in south‐eastern Arabia throughout late prehistory. Of particular interest is the movement of these resources from the coast to interior sites and the implications of this movement for transhumance and trade in the region during this period. Marine species were frequently identified in the faunal assemblage from the inland site of Saruq al‐Hadid, dating from the Bronze Age to Early Iron Age (c.2000–c.800 BCE). This included marine fish species, along with two cormorant species (Phalacrocorax sp.) and several fragments of dugong (Dugong dugon). Twenty‐seven families of marine shell were also identified in the remains recovered from the site. The presence of these remains at this inland site demonstrates that resources were frequently moved from the coast to the interior throughout Saruq al‐Hadid’s occupation, indicative of their enduring significance in subsistence strategies employed at the site. This paper presents the results of zooarchaeological analysis of these remains and discusses the significance of their presence at Saruq al‐Hadid, with reference to subsistence, craft production and intra‐regional exchange during the Bronze and Iron Ages.

show abstract

Australian Aboriginal Subsistence in the Western Desert

Cited by 7 publications

References 11 publications

Disentangling the impacts of climate and human colonization on the flora and fauna of the Australian arid zone over the past 100 ka using stable isotopes in avian eggshell

Disentangling the impacts of climate and human colonization on the flora and fauna of the Australian arid zone over the past 100 ka using stable isotopes in avian eggshell

Proximate causes and possible adaptive functions of mast seeding and barren flower shows in spinifex grasses (Triodia spp.) in arid regions of Australia

The exploitation of marine resources at Saruq al‐Hadid: Insights into the movement of people and resources in Bronze and Iron Age south‐eastern Arabia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About