Just passing through: Archaeological investigations of a late Holocene open site in the Mitchell Grass Downs, inland northwest Queensland

Abstract

<p>Comparatively little is known about the archaeology of the Mitchell Grass Downs region of inland Queensland. This paper reports the results of investigations of an open site complex therein, comprising numerous hearths, a human burial, middens, stone arrangements and a stone artefact assemblage. Analysis reveals the stone artefact assemblage is a palimpsest, representing multiple events in the late Holocene compressed into a single non-stratified archaeological surface assemblage. The evidence suggests use of the area was by highly mobile, transient populations passing through on an occasional seasonal basis when environmental conditions were amenable to travel; suggestions for a semi-sedentary population are not supported. Clear evidence for the extensive removal, weathering, reuse and recycling of artefacts has implications for our ability to reconstruct past human behaviours and landscape use in this region.</p>

The first successful application of Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating to a colonial era (<0.25 ka) archaeological site in Australia

“…Colonial and post-colonial era Indigenous sites have similar issues (e.g. McNiven et al, 2017;Wallis and Collins, 2013;Wallis et al, 2017). Our results, therefore, provide a successful proof of concept for using quartz OSL to date anthropogenic sediments at archaeological sites of the colonial era (i.e.…”