Archaeology of Australia
This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. (December 2020) |
Australian archaeology is a large sub-field in the discipline of
Research and investigations
Archaeological studies or investigations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and culture in Australia have had many different agendas through time. Initial archaeological investigation was often focused on finding the oldest sites. By the 1970s, archaeological research was concerned with the environment and the way it impacted on humans. In the late 1970s cultural heritage management gained prominence, with the increasing demands by Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups for representation in archaeological research. At a research level the focus shifted to cultural change of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through time.
Currently, archaeological research places great importance on Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's viewpoints on the land and history of Australia. Consideration is given to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's belief that archaeological sites are not just capsules of the past but a continuation from the past to the present. Therefore, at a research level significance is placed on the past but also on the importance of the present.
The first settlement of Australia is a popular research topic both in archaeology and in the public arena. There is consensus that no
There is controversy over where the first Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people originated. Both of the two main theories postulate that the first settlers were fully modern humans. Asian genetic studies have demonstrated that there are similarities between Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Melanesians and Indians. However, the suggested date of 60,000 years ago for initial settlement is quite early when compared to other areas of the world. This may suggest that the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population derive from an early African population which migrated along the south coast of Asia, at a much faster rate than other populations migrating across the continents of the Holocene.
The first settlement of Australia most likely occurred during the last glacial maximum. During this time Australia,
Sahul is important in that in the past Australia (including Tasmania) was not an isolated continent, but was joined with New Guinea and the Aru Islands. New Guinea and the Aru Islands have also been the focus of archaeological investigations by Australian researchers.
The most important early sites in Australia are:
- Nauwalabila (55,000 – 60,000 years old)[1][2]
- Madjedbebe (65,000 years ago)[3][4]
- Devil's Lair (45,000 years old)[5]
- Lake Mungo (61,000 or 40,000 years old)[6] – controversy exists over precise dating (see below)
- Warratyi (49,000 years old)[7]
The change in sea levels means that the first settlements located on the coast would have been submerged.
With the settlement of Australia, it is most probable that Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people first settled on the northern coast, as this is the area closest to Asia. However, the actual spread of people and the settlement of the continent is debated, with three major models put forward:
- Concentric dispersal through the entire continent through one single "entry" point.
- Coastal dispersal by spreading along the coastline and later entering inland areas, mainly via the major waterways.
- Fluctuating colonisation in and out of different environmental zones. For example, in plentiful years the population would occupy semi-arid regions, but in drought would move to areas with better resources.
Controversies in Aboriginal archaeology
Date of arrival
There is significant debate over the date of arrival of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people into the Australian continent. Until the 1950s it was often believed that arrival of the first Aboriginal people was within the last 10,000 years. In the 1950s, the dates were extended to the last Ice Age, based upon falling sea-levels at that period and the existence of
Multiple arrivals
Earlier anthropologists believed that there were "three waves" of arrival of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to Australia, the first being the "negrito" Tasmanian people, who were displaced by "Murrayans", who in turn were considered to be displaced by "Carpentarians". These theories were sometimes advocated to disprove the Aboriginal claim to being the indigenous "first peoples", and are no longer accepted by archaeologists.[10] The finding of a robust skeleton with surprisingly so-called "primitive" features at Kow Swamp was also advocated as proof of an earlier wave of settlers to the continent. Dating of the Kow Swamp material, however, showed that rather than being earlier, it was in fact a lot more recent than the nearby Mungo gracile skeletons that more closely resembled modern Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Today it is thought that Aboriginal people throughout the continent are descendants of an original founder population, although this does not completely exclude some contribution from later arrivals.[citation needed]
For example, on the basis of genomic analysis, it has been found that 4–500 years ago a small band from the Indian sub-continent traveled to northern Australia and contributed to the genome of people living in the north. At that time the appearance of the backed blade tradition, the dingo and other cultural features have been attributed to the arrivals.[11] Nevertheless, it now appears that rather than a connection with the Indian pariah dogs, as previously thought, the dingo shows a greater connection to the dogs of East Asia, and the genetic bottleneck through which they passed may have been due to a single pregnant female, introduced through Austronesian connections 5,000 years ago.[12]
Megafauna extinction
Some researchers, such as Tim Flannery, have put forward the idea that human settlement was responsible for the large climatic and environmental changes that occurred in Australia.[13]
The extent and causes of the
The most extreme theory is that Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were completely responsible for the extinction of these animals through extensive hunting. This theory is largely based on the
Approximately 18,000 to 7,000 years ago, many societies around the world underwent significant change; in particular, this time marks the rise of agriculture in many Neolithic societies. In the Australian context environmental change did not give rise to the development of agriculture but it may have contributed to the disappearance of populations of animals made even more vulnerable to depletion through hunting and marginalised grazing.
Lake Mungo dating
Arguably the oldest human remains in Australia, the Lake Mungo 3 skull was given the age of 60,000 years by Gregory Adcock and his researchers.
The intensification debate
The idea of intensification was put forward by a number of archaeologists, but the most prominent in developing the idea was Harry Lourandos. Intensification is an idea that posits that change in economic systems of peoples is controlled by social changes. This means that change can occur without an external force such as environmental change. The idea is derived from a 1990s debate about the Tasmanian Aboriginal people and whether large social/economic change was caused by environmental factors (see Environmental determinism), or from factors within the society.[22][23] The predominant view at the time held that in the case of the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people any social change was largely influenced by external, largely environmental, factors.
The evidence that supports this idea is that sites at approximately the same time (around 4,000 years ago) experienced increased usage. This is supported by increased site numbers, increased artefact density and an expansion into new environments. This evidence better explained as an artefact of archaeological research and conflation of independent events, by environmental factors, large population growth, technological change, or post-depositional factors.
The cultivation question
Kent Flannery's model
- Conditions became more inviting to marine life offshore in shallow, warm waters.
- Quantity and variety of marine life increased drastically as did the number of edible species.
- Because the rivers' power weakened with rising waters, and the creation of many estuaries, the currents flowing into the ocean were slow enough to allow fish to ascend upstream to spawn.
- Birds found refuge next to riverbeds in marsh grasses and then proceeded to migrate to different habitats.
Aboriginal people had a good understanding of local ecologies, and harvested many varieties of plants and animals in season. W.E.Roth talks about driving kangaroos into a 3 sided enclosure of nets "with the assistance of numerous beaters". Wallabies and emus were also caught in a similar way. Wallaroos were hunted with fire and beaten towards a creek, where they were killed with spears and sticks.[25] Animals were also driven towards set nets and fish traps were common.[26]
The degree to which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on the Australian continent practised agriculture has long been debated by archaeologists. Earlier it was believed that Australian Aboriginal people were ignorant of the principles of agriculture, but this has since been disproven. For instance, Australian Aboriginal women in traditional societies often transplanted immature "
Historical archaeology in Australia
Historical archaeology is the study of the past through material remains such as artefacts (i.e. objects), structures (e.g. standing and ruined buildings, fences, roads), features (e.g. ditches, mounds, canals, landfill), and even whole landscapes modified by human activity and their spatial and stratigraphic contexts.
The origins of historical archaeology in Australia are generally held to lie in archaeological investigations by the late William (Bill) Culican at Fossil Beach in Victoria, in Jim Allen's PhD research at Port Essington in the Northern Territory and in Judy Birmingham's work at Irrawang Pottery in the Hunter Valley of NSW. An increasingly important area of Australian historical archaeology studies the interaction between European and other settlers, and Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Underwater and maritime archaeology in Australia
In mirroring their terrestrial roots, underwater, maritime and nautical archaeology can now include the examination of a wide range of sites ranging from the Indigenous through to industrial archaeology, including historic submerged aircraft. Better known as a sub-discipline of aviation archaeology, underwater aviation archaeology is arguably the most recent offshoot of underwater archaeology, having developed its theoretical underpinnings and a substantial corpus of fieldwork, research and publication work in the late 1990s.[27]
Maritime archaeology, the first of these sub-disciplines to emerge in Australia, commenced under the aegis of Jeremy Green in the 1970s after concerns were expressed by academics and politicians over the rampant destruction of Dutch and
Now far broader in its scope, in some states maritime and underwater archaeology is managed by museums and in others by cultural heritage management units. There are also numerous practitioners in private practice, or acting as consultants. All practitioners operate under the aegis of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology (AIMA).[28]
Cultural heritage management
Commercial or consulting archaeology (also termed cultural heritage management) only developed in earnest in Australia from the 1970s, with the advent of various state legislation requiring approvals for damage or disturbance to archaeological relics, such as the Aboriginal and Archaeological Relics Preservation Act 1972, in Victoria. The Victoria Archaeological Survey was established from the Relics Office in 1975. Historical Archaeology is generally protected by separate legislation, such as the New South Wales Heritage Act 1977, and the various other state counterparts.
Cultural Heritage Management for archaeological sites is seen in the context of wider heritage issues, and follows the principles set out in the Burra Charter or the Australia ICOMOS charter for the conservation of places of cultural significance.
From a handful of practitioners in the '70s, there are now more than 250 commercially based archaeologists in Australia. Again in Victoria, one of the first to establish was du Cros and associates (later absorbed by Biosis Research, renamed
Consultancy archaeology is primarily driven by development, and so is often at the centre of controversy over ownership of heritage and in particular the conflicting objectives of conservation and development. Aboriginal communities often ascribe a special significance to the places where archaeological remains have been found.
Legal obligations in Australia
Protection and management of archaeology in Australia is controlled by Federal and State Government legislation including the Commonwealth Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984, The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and the various state archaeological legislation such as Victoria's Heritage Act 1995 (covering historical archaeology) and the
Native title and land rights
Native title is formalised under The Commonwealth
- the rights and interests are possessed under traditional laws and customs that continue to be acknowledged and observed by the relevant Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people;
- by virtue of those laws and customs, the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people have a connection with the land or waters; and
- the native title rights and interests are recognised by the common law of Australia.
Notable Australian archaeologists
This is an abbreviated
- Jim Allen
- Val Attenbrow
- Diane Barwick
- Judy Birmingham
- Jim Bowler
- Vere Gordon Childe
- Peter Coutts
- Roger Cribb
- William (Bill) Culican
- Raymond Dart
- Josephine Flood
- David Frankel
- Sandor (Alexander) Gallus
- Jack Golson
- Laila Haglund
- Peter Hiscock
- Rhys Jones
- Harry Lourandos
- Isabel McBryde
- Betty Meehan
- John Mulvaney
- Tim Murray
- Gary Presland
- Claire Smith
- Arthur Dale Trendall
Professional societies in Australian archaeology
The Australian Archaeological Association is one of the largest and oldest organisations devoted to furthering archaeology of all types within Australia.
The Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology (ASHA) founded as the Australian Society for Historical Archaeology in 1970. Its aims were, and still are, to promote the study of historical archaeology in Australia.
The Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists Inc. was founded in 1979 and aims to promote and represent professional archaeologists.
The Archaeological and Anthropological Society of Victoria (AASV) is predominantly a non-professional organisation, which was formed in 1976 in through the amalgamation of two earlier societies, the Anthropological Society of Victoria formed in 1934, and the Archaeological Society of Victoria formed in 1964.[29]
Notable sites
- Baiame's Cave
- Ban Ban Springs
- Budj Bim heritage areas
- Cuddie Springs
- Fromm's landing
- Juukan Gorge
- Kakadu National Park
- Karnatukul
- Port Arthur, Tasmania
- Riverland midden
- Willandra Lakes Region
- Murujuga
- Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park
Publications
General books
- Flood, Josephine, 2010. Archaeology of the dreamtime: the story of prehistoric Australia and its people. Revised edition. Marleston: Gecko Books.
- Frankel, David, 1991. Remains to be seen: archaeological insights into Australian prehistory. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire.
- Frankel, David, 2017. Between the Murray and the sea: Aboriginal archaeology in south-eastern Australia. Sydney: Sydney University Press.
- ISBN 9781760640446.
- Hiscock, Peter, 2008. Archaeology of ancient Australia. Abingdon: Routledge.
- Holdaway, Simon and Nicola Stern, 2004. A record in stone: the study of Australia’s flaked stone artefacts. Melbourne: Museum Victoria and Aboriginal Studies Press.
- Mulvaney, John and Johan Kamminga, 1999. Prehistory of Australia. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
- Mulvaney, John and J. Peter White, (eds), 1987. Australians to 1788. Sydney: Fairfax, Syme & Weldon.
- Lourandos, Harry, 1997. A continent of hunter-gatherers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Journals
The principal academic journals publishing on Australian archaeology in Australia, are:
- Australian Archaeology
- Archaeology in Oceania
- Queensland Archaeological Research[30]
- The Artefact
- Bulletin of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology
- Australasian Historical Archaeology
Some history-focused journals such as
See also
References
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- ^ a b Hiscock, P. (2008). Archaeology of Ancient Australia, London; New York: Routledge
- ^ http://geogenetics.ku.dk/latest-news/aboriginals-get-new-history/ Archived 21 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine accessed 2/22016
- ^ Westaway, Michael; Hiscock, Peter. "The Extinction of Rigour: A Comment on 'The Extinction of the Australian Pygmies' by Keith Windschuttle and Tim Gillin". Aboriginal History. 29: 142–148.
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- ^ Flannery, Tim (2002), "The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and People." (Grove Press)
- ^ D.R.Horton, "Red kangaroos: Last of the Australian megafauna" (CSA Illumina)
- ^ Roberts R.G. (2001), "New Ages for the Last Australian Megafauna: Continent-Wide Extinction About 46,000 Years Ago" (Science, 8 June 2001: Vol. 292 no. 5523 pp. 1888–1892)
- ^ Miller, Gifford et al (1999), "Pleistocene Extinction of Genyornis newtoni: Human Impact on Australian Megafauna" (Science 8 January 1999: Vol. 283 no. 5399 pp. 205–208)
- ^ Biello, D. (22 March 2012). "Big Kill, Not Big Chill, Finished Off Giant Kangaroos". Scientific American. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
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- ^ Brown, Peter. (2005). Lake Mungo 3 Archived 26 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 January 2006
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- ^ Kent Flannery, "Origins and Ecological Effects of Early Domestication in Iran and the Near East," The Domestication and Exploitation of Plants and Animals, eds. Peter J. Ucko and G.W. Dimbleby (Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co., 1969), 73–100
- ^ Roth W.E. Food: Its Search, Capture and Preparation: North Queensland Ethnography Bulletin No.3 1901.
- ^ Davis G (Nungabana) The Mullunburra: people of the Mulgrave River. Cassowary Publications. 2001
- ^ a b c Nash, M., (ed.) 2007. Shipwreck archaeology in Australia. UWA Press, Nedlands
- ^ Staniforth, M., & Nash, M., (eds.) 2006, Underwater Archaeology: Australian Approaches. Springer, NY
- ^ Margaret Bullen, Transforming Economies, Changing States Australian Anthropological Society, Annual Conference 2007
- ^ "About the Journal". Queensland Archaeological Research. JCU Journals. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
- ^ "List of issues History Australia". Taylor & Francis Online. Retrieved 28 August 2020.