Variability in the Chronology of Late Holocene Aboriginal Occupation on the Arid Margin of Southeastern Australia

Holdaway, Simon; Fanning, Patricia; Jones, Martin; Shiner, Justin; Witter, Dan; Nicholls, Geoff K.

doi:10.1006/jasc.2002.0719

Cited by 67 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Such a discontinuous pattern is similar to that reported from our Table I. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) age determinations for multiple sediment sequences located near four hearth clusters (Clusters 11,16,26,and 40) previous research at Stud Creek and Fowlers Gap (Holdaway et al 2002;, and may reflect a behavioral response to environmental change. We are currently exploring this hypothesis by comparing our hearth dates with various environmental proxies .…”

Section: Determining a Chronology For Surface Artifact Depositssupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Establishing the age of the sediment deposit that forms the surface on which artifacts now rest provides a means to define the age of the "minimum archaeological stratigraphic unit" (following Stern, 1994) into which surface artifacts may be grouped. In our western NSW study areas, we use a combination of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon age estimates to build a chronology of the surface archaeological record (Holdaway et al 2002;Fanning, Holdaway, & Philipps, 2008, in press;Rhodes et al, in press). …”

Section: Determining a Chronology For Surface Artifact Depositsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The rocks once lined a fire pit in which food was buried and cooked, but over the centuries, erosion has removed the sediment cover, leaving the clusters of stones as a protective cap. Age estimates obtained from clusters of hearths provide a chronology of occupation at each location, the pattern of determinations distributed through time indicating both periods of hearth construction and, equally, times when no hearths were constructed (Holdaway et al, 2002;. Descriptions of typical hearths, and charcoal sampling methods, are described elsewhere (Holdaway et al, 2002;.…”

Section: Determining a Chronology For Surface Artifact Depositsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The surface archaeological record in arid Australia: Geomorphic controls on preservation, exposure, and visibility

et al. 2009

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The conventional approach to assessing the archaeological record in most parts of the world involves a combination of excavation of stratified deposits and extensive survey of surface deposits. Although widely applied in Australia, in both research-based and management archaeology, the method does not conform well to the nature of the surface archaeological record here. Over much of semi-arid and arid Australia, archaeological "sites" are, in fact, accretion phenomena that are not easily interpreted as the outcome of short-term behavioral events. Using results from twelve years of geoarchaeological research in western New South Wales, we demonstrate that there is considerable variability in landsurface age, and hence the "availability" of archaeological surfaces, over relatively short distances. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that stone artifact deposits, for example, that appear to be similar in character are of similar age. Data are also presented that demonstrate that the presence of artifacts on the surface, their apparent absence in sediments buried beneath the surface, and the apparent recent ubiquity of the archaeological record are all a function of geomorphic processes that, at the same time, expose some artifact deposits at the surface and erode and bury others amid large volumes of sediment. Interpreting the surface artifact record within a spatial and temporal geomorphic framework is crucial to understanding the past human behavior that the artifact deposits represent.

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Section: Determining a Chronology For Surface Artifact Depositssupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Determining a Chronology For Surface Artifact Depositsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Determining a Chronology For Surface Artifact Depositsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The surface archaeological record in arid Australia: Geomorphic controls on preservation, exposure, and visibility

et al. 2009

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“…In the past, these hearths were constructed by Aboriginal people as shallow pits in which a fire was lit and stone heat retainers added, the pit then being used as an oven to cook a variety of food stuffs ( [18], [19]). At ND, we obtained sufficient charcoal for radiocarbon age determinations from eight of these hearths ( Table 5).…”

Section: Radiocarbon Dating Of Charcoal: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…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%

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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Interdecadal Pacific variability and eastern Australian megadroughts over the last millennium

Vance

Roberts

Plummer

et al. 2015

Geophys. Res. Lett.

127

180

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Variability in the Chronology of Late Holocene Aboriginal Occupation on the Arid Margin of Southeastern Australia

Cited by 67 publications

References 37 publications

The surface archaeological record in arid Australia: Geomorphic controls on preservation, exposure, and visibility

The surface archaeological record in arid Australia: Geomorphic controls on preservation, exposure, and visibility

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

Interdecadal Pacific variability and eastern Australian megadroughts over the last millennium

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