New approaches to open site spatial archaeology in Sturt National Park, New South Wales, Australia

Holdaway, Simon; Witter, Dan; Fanning, Patricia; Musgrave, R. J.; Cochrane, Grant W.G.; Doelman, Trudy; Greenwood, Simon; Pigdon, Dan; Reeves, J. E.

doi:10.1002/j.1834-4453.1998.tb00395.x

Cited by 52 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…For the past ten years, the Western New South Wales Archaeology Program (WNSWAP) has been developing not only new ways of recording and analysing this extensive surface (i.e., open site) record ( [5], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16]), but also a chronology of occupation based on radiocarbon dating of charcoal from the hearths and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of the surfaces on which the archaeological record now rests ( [17], [18], [19]). As indicated in Figure 1, we have studied these surface artefact assemblages from a number of locations across a large area of western NSW.…”

Section: Location and Description Of The Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Significant differences in the ages of landsurfaces at adjacent locations -a result, we believe, of the episodic nature of geomorphic processes -seemed to us to defeat the conventional approach that sought to survey for contemporaneous archaeological sites across large geographic regions, or to employ a sophisticated sampling scheme to stratify the landscape and relate the density of sites to different environmental zones. Indeed, we were initially struck by the difficulty of identifying sites at all since the distribution of artefacts across the surface seemed to reflect differential artefact visibility, itself a reflection of episodic changes in ground surface visibility, rather than any reflection of a spatial limit on behaviour in the past ( [11], [14]). Instead, we have emphasised the study of individual locations, not because these are necessarily representative of occupations within a particular area, but because within small geographic regions, we can study the geomorphic history in sufficient detail to document the peculiarities that let us infer the nature of episodic change.…”

Section: Alternative Approaches To Documenting An Episodic Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A geomorphic framework for understanding the surface archaeological record in arid environments

2007

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We present data from Australian study areas that support episodic nonequilibrium as a suitable model for developing a theoretical and methodological framework for interpreting the surface archaeological record. According to this model, long periods of little or no geomorphic activity are punctuated by catastrophic events that erode or deposit sediments, and hence remove or cover up surface stone artefact deposits discarded by Indigenous people in the past. We demonstrate the impact of a single rainfall event on the surface archaeological record at one of our western New South Wales study locations. We then use the results of Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) of sediments underlying the artefact deposits and radiocarbon dating of associated heat-retainer hearths to suggest that both landscape chronology and the surface archaeological record are reflections of a series of episodic events such as this rain event. We conclude that, at least in our study area, the archaeological record is discontinuous in time because geomorphic events have removed the record equating to particular time periods. This process is cumulative so that the record of recent times is much more common when compared to that from earlier times. The episodic nature of geomorphic processes also has an effect on human behaviour, such that occupation of place is discontinuous. The methods by which the archaeological record is surveyed and interpreted need to take into account these spatial and temporal landscape discontinuities.

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Section: Location and Description Of The Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Alternative Approaches To Documenting An Episodic Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%

A geomorphic framework for understanding the surface archaeological record in arid environments

2007

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“…Bird and Frankel 1991a;Fanning and Holdaway 2001;Hiscock and Attenbrow 1998;Holdaway et al 1998;Holdaway et al 2002;Ulm and Hall 1996). This shift to a conceptual emphasis on local and regional historical archaeological and environmental histories has not, however, been matched by an equivalent shift to the finer-grained methodologies needed to provide resolution of these issues.…”

Section: The Continental Narrativementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent landscape approaches, employing a wide range of archaeological and environmental data, have begun to explicitly redress some of these problems, particularly in arid areas. For example, Holdaway and Fanning (Fanning and Holdaway 2001;Holdaway et al 1998;Holdaway et al 2002) adopted a conjunctive approach employing detailed archaeological recording with modelling of geomorphic landscape dynamics in arid western New South Wales. They found major discontinuities in the regional sedimentary record indicating erosion and general instability of land surfaces prior to 2,000 years ago (see also Robins 1999).…”

Section: Rockshelters Versus Open Sites: Some Taphonomic Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coastal Themes: An Archaeology of the Southern Curtis Coast, Queensland : An Archaeology of the Southern Curtis Coast, Queensland

Ulm¹

2006

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terra australis 24Terra Australis reports the results of archaeological and related research within the south and east of Asia, though mainly Australia, New Guinea and island Melanesia -lands that remained terra australis incognita to generations of prehistorians. Its subject is the settlement of the diverse environments in this isolated quarter of the globe by peoples who have maintained their discrete and traditional ways of life into the recent recorded or remembered past and at times into the observable present.Since the beginning of the series, the basic colour on the spine and cover has distinguished the regional distribution of topics as follows: ochre for Australia, green for New Guinea, red for South-East Asia and blue for the Pacific Islands. From 2001, issues with a gold spine will include conference proceedings, edited papers and monographs which in topic or desired format do not fit easily within the original arrangements. All volumes are numbered within the same series. List of volumes in Terra AustralisVolume 1: Burrill Lake and Currarong: Coastal Sites in Southern New South Wales. R.J. Lampert (1971) Volume 2: Ol Tumbuna: Archaeological Excavations in the Eastern Central Highlands, Papua New Guinea. J.P. White (1972) Volume 3 994.01Copyright of the text remains with the contributors/authors, 2006. This book is copyright in all countries subscribing to the Berne convention. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should be made to the publisher. THE RESEARCH DOCUMENTED here represents the first systematic archaeological work in this area of the southeast Queensland coast and was undertaken as a major part of a larger, multicomponent project concerning archaeology and cultural heritage in the traditional country of Gooreng Gooreng speaking people. Sean's task was to build upon the results of exploratory site survey and excavation to address two key concerns. The first was the relationship of patterns of cultural change in his study area to those described elsewhere in southeast Queensland. The second was to ensure that any such comparisons were taphonomically well-founded, particularly with regard to the analytical integrity of the shell middens upon which he and other coastal researchers in Australia rely so heavily. Sean took to this task with a vengeance, closely surveying a large area of landscape and excavating an array of site types to provide himself with a solid sample of the archaeological variation thus revealed. Though most were not archaeologically rich, these sites provided substantial grist for Sean's taphonomic mill, prompting him to adapt conjoining techniques to work on bivalve shellfish -a simple but clever innovation -as well as to undertake much more sophisticated work on local variation in correction factors for the radiocarbon dating of marine shell. In the end, he was able to distil the three-phase cul...

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“…Haselgrove et al 1985;Shennan 1985;Ebert 1992;Rossignol and Wandsnider 1992) and, in Australia, the Western New South Wales Archaeological Project has demonstrated the value of investigating the distribution of surface artefacts and features within their geomorphological context (e.g. Holdaway et al 1998;Doelman et al 2001;Doelman 2005;Holdaway et al 2005). …”

Section: Records Of the Western Australian Museummentioning

confidence: 99%

Topographic archaeology revisited: regional archaeological structure in the southern Wimmera, Victoria, Australia

Bird¹,

Rhoads²

2011

Rec West Aust Mus Sup

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-In this paper we explore the relationship between regional distributions of surface archaeological remains and long term landscape features in the semi-arid southern Wimmera region of Victoria. We conclude that both point and linear water sources concentrate settlement at particular points in the landscape ('sites'). However, at a regional level, the nature and distribution of water resources also infl uences the character of the background scatter.

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New approaches to open site spatial archaeology in Sturt National Park, New South Wales, Australia

Abstract: SH, GC, TO, SG, JR:

Cited by 52 publications

References 17 publications

A geomorphic framework for understanding the surface archaeological record in arid environments

A geomorphic framework for understanding the surface archaeological record in arid environments

Coastal Themes: An Archaeology of the Southern Curtis Coast, Queensland : An Archaeology of the Southern Curtis Coast, Queensland

Topographic archaeology revisited: regional archaeological structure in the southern Wimmera, Victoria, Australia

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