Bryce Barker
University of Southern Queensland, Faculty of Arts, Faculty Member
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ABSTRACT This paper presents new results of on-wall and excavated pigments from two major rock art sites in northern Australia: the ‘Genyornis’ site, and Nawarla Gabarnmang. The former site has been argued in the archaeological literature... more
ABSTRACT This paper presents new results of on-wall and excavated pigments from two major rock art sites in northern Australia: the ‘Genyornis’ site, and Nawarla Gabarnmang. The former site has been argued in the archaeological literature to feature a painting of Genyornis newtoni, thought to have become extinct across Australia 40-45,000 years ago. The second site, Nawarla Gabarnmang, has extensive paintings on its ceiling and pillar walls as well as numerous coloured rocks (some of which are demonstrably ochre crayons) recovered by excavation. To determine the constituents and modes of preparation, pigment sources, and the potential antiquity of on-wall paintings at the ‘Genyornis’ site, tiny pieces of both pigmented and unpigmented rock were sampled from the‘Genyornis’ panel. X-ray fluorescence, SEM-EDX, PIXE, Raman and infrared spectroscopies, and XRD analyses were undertaken to determine the natural or cultural status of the excavated coloured rocks (potential ochre pieces)from Nawarla Gabarnmang. This paper presents results obtained so far.
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Bien que l’on ait souvent prétendu avoir la preuve que l’Australie possède certaines œuvres d’art rupestre les plus anciennes du monde et figure au premier plan des études sur cet art, très peu sont en fait bien datées. Récemment, fut... more
Bien que l’on ait souvent prétendu avoir la preuve que l’Australie possède certaines œuvres d’art rupestre les plus anciennes du monde et figure au premier plan des études sur cet art, très peu sont en fait bien datées. Récemment, fut signalée la première date pléistocène pour du pigment (peinture, dessin, imprimé ou en négatif) en Terre d’Arnhem, représentant l’un des exemples les plus anciens bien datés d’un art rupestre enfoui (voir Aubert 2012 et David et al. 2013a pour des études récentes sur les datations d’art rupestre australiennes).
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Les sites d'art rupestre de la Terre d'Arnhem (Northern Territory, Australie) sont les temoins de l'occupation de ce territoire sur plusieurs dizaines de milliers d'annees par les ancetres des communautes aborigenes. Leur... more
Les sites d'art rupestre de la Terre d'Arnhem (Northern Territory, Australie) sont les temoins de l'occupation de ce territoire sur plusieurs dizaines de milliers d'annees par les ancetres des communautes aborigenes. Leur etude permet de mieux connaitre la culture et l'histoire de ces societes et l'antiquite de certains de ces sites (plus de 40 000 ans) laisse entrevoir la possibilite de preciser l'histoire du peuplement du continent australien [1]. C'est dans cette optique, et a l'instigation de la communaute Jawoyn, que le programme de recherche Connecting Country a ete mis en place par l'universite de Monash autour d'une equipe interdisciplinaire et internationale (Australie, Nouvelle-Zelande, France) [2]. La tres grande difficulte de dater directement les peintures des abris-sous-roche de la Terre d'Arnhem a motive l'elaboration d'une methode de reconstitution de la chronologie relative des representations rupestres. Cette methode fait appel a des indices provenant de l'etude de l'art, de la geomorphologie des parois, de l'archeologie du sol et de comparaisons avec les sites voisins. En combinant l'analyse stratigraphique des representations graphiques, la caracterisation physico-chimique des pigments - in-situ avec des techniques portables non-destructives ou en laboratoire sur microechantillons - l'analyse des artefacts et colorants trouves en fouille, l'etude du support rocheux et des mecanismes d'alteration de la roche et des pigments, il est possible de proposer une premiere esquisse de la chronologie relative des interventions humaines sur les parois des sites etudies et des evenements naturels les ayant affectees.
Research Interests: Humanities and Art
Abstract The archaeological record of Lower Laura (aka Boralga) Native Mounted Police camp, a longstanding base for Queensland’s frontier war in Cape York Peninsula, includes a diverse assemblage of culturally modified Erythophleum... more
Abstract The archaeological record of Lower Laura (aka Boralga) Native Mounted Police camp, a longstanding base for Queensland’s frontier war in Cape York Peninsula, includes a diverse assemblage of culturally modified Erythophleum chlorastychys (Cooktown ironwood) trees. Analysis of cultural scar attributes and tool marks – which were found to be variously associated with Aboriginal stone tools, tomahawks of different types, and long handled axes – reveals a scenario of nineteenth century land use and technology that transcends the pre-conflict era of Aboriginal clan estates. As well as reflecting traditional patterns of Aboriginal tenure of prime waterfront land, the assemblage reveals innovations that occurred in Aboriginal technology in the lead-up to war. However, an unusual style of cultural scar cut using long handled axes appears to signal transformations in demography and land use following Native Mounted Police occupation. By integrating historical, oral history, spatial, typological, and botanical data this study provides evidence of demographic and environmental changes set in train by the gold-rush invasion. It also highlights the complexities of documenting Cooktown ironwood trees of advanced age and their fragile, deteriorating cultural modifications.
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This paper presents archaeological evidence for the initial occupation and use of a large clan ossuary on the upper Kikori River at Baina in Papua New Guinea. Drawing extensively on clan oral accounts of its use and function, it is... more
This paper presents archaeological evidence for the initial occupation and use of a large clan ossuary on the upper Kikori River at Baina in Papua New Guinea. Drawing extensively on clan oral accounts of its use and function, it is posited that the timing and use of the site as an ossuary effectively dates the establishment of a sub clan entity known as Kesele and the fragmentation of larger clan based land owning units into smaller sub-clan entities dating from around 200 years ago in the region. It is further posited that evidence of the more intensive use of the site from around 600 years ago and its subsequent use as an ossuary at 200 years ago may be linked to its proximity to an important lithic raw material source used in the manufacture of sago pounders, a major trade item linked to the hiri pottery trade.
Research Interests: Geography, Archaeology, Pacific Archaeology, Pottery, New Guinea, and 3 moreClan, Ossuary, and Hiri trade
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Western Arnhem Land's rock art is world famous yet very poorly dated. Understanding its history over tens of thousands of years has huge implications for understanding Aboriginal cultural history. In this purpose, the rock art of the... more
Western Arnhem Land's rock art is world famous yet very poorly dated. Understanding its history over tens of thousands of years has huge implications for understanding Aboriginal cultural history. In this purpose, the rock art of the Arnhem Land plateau of Jawoyn country is archaeologically characterized and dated (1). Within the framework of "Jawoyn Rock Art and Heritage Program", this study focus on one particular rockshelter, where a bird, extincted 45 000 years ago, the Genyornis Newtoni was represented (2). During the excavation, pieces of colored matter were considered as potential pigment. In order to determine, i) the nature of used pigments constituents and their preparation mode, (ii) their geographic origin and (iii) the chronology of paintings, rock-painting pigments were sampled on the Genyornis panel and compared with excavated samples. Macroscopic observations (MO), thus analysis of the pigments composition carried out by means of scanning electron micro...
Research Interests: Geography, Archaeology, Cultural Heritage, Painting, Weathering, and 3 moreRock Art, Chronology, and Hematite
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Research Interests: History, Indigenous Studies, Indigenous or Aboriginal Studies, Historical Archaeology, Architecture, and 15 moreAustralian Indigenous Archaeology, Australian History, Aboriginal History in Australia, Colonial Architecture, Literary studies, Australian architecture, Fortifications, Borders and Frontiers, Australian colonial history, Aboriginal Studies, Frontier, Aboriginal History, Historical Studies, Comparative Frontiers, and Australian Frontier Wars
Dans le cadre du projet du "Jawoyn RockArt and Heritage Program", des membres de la Jawoyn Association et les partenaires francais (EDYTEM et CNP) se sont interesses a l'etude du panneau de Genyornis, en Terre d'Arnhem... more
Dans le cadre du projet du "Jawoyn RockArt and Heritage Program", des membres de la Jawoyn Association et les partenaires francais (EDYTEM et CNP) se sont interesses a l'etude du panneau de Genyornis, en Terre d'Arnhem (Australie) qui represente d'un oiseau disparu il y a environ 45 000 ans, Genyornis newtoni. Afin de determiner, i) la nature des constituants des pigments utilises et leur mode de preparation, ii) leur origine geographique et, iii) la chronologie des peintures, neuf echantillons de peinture ont ete preleves sur le panneau. Des observations macroscopiques (OM), ainsi que des analyses sur la composition des pigments faites par microscopie electronique a balayage couplee a un detecteur de rayons X en energie dispersive (MEB-EDS) et par microspectrometrie Raman ont ete effectuees sur echantillons bruts ou blocs polis. Des oxydes de fer, sous forme d'hematite et de goethite, ont ete identifies au niveau de la couche picturale. Le support matricie...
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This paper examines the impact the massacre at Myall Creek had on subsequent frontier interactions in other parts of Australia. It is argued that its aftermath in the region then known as Northern NSW, where a Native Police force was... more
This paper examines the impact the massacre at Myall Creek had on subsequent frontier interactions in other parts of Australia. It is argued that its aftermath in the region then known as Northern NSW, where a Native Police force was formed a decade later was extensive and that Aboriginal responses to the event provide new insights, including how people from different Aboriginal groups at the time may have heard about Myall Creek and other violent clashes with white settlers, and how their families remember frontier conflict today.
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Review(s) of: Contemporary Archaeology in Theory: A Reader, by edited by R.W. Preucel and I. Hodder, Blackwell Publishers Ltd. (1996) xiv, 678 pages, ISBN 0 631 19561 0 (paperback), Price US$24.95. Includes references.
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This paper examines the nature of archaeological evidence relating to frontier confl ict/violence in the Australian context. Because of the unique nature of Aboriginal/European frontier encounters, it is argued that a focus on locating... more
This paper examines the nature of archaeological evidence relating to frontier confl ict/violence in the Australian context. Because of the unique nature of Aboriginal/European frontier encounters, it is argued that a focus on locating archaeological evidence for massacres is problematic. It is suggested that rather than focus on frontier confl ict in terms of massacre sites, archaeologists employ a broader social landscape archaeological approach, thus allowing a more holistic contextualisation of Aboriginal/European frontier interactions.
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The invasion of the Australian continent by Europeans caused massive disruptions to Indigenous cultures and ways of life. The adoption of new raw materials, often for the production of “traditional” artifact forms, is one archaeological... more
The invasion of the Australian continent by Europeans caused massive disruptions to Indigenous cultures and ways of life. The adoption of new raw materials, often for the production of “traditional” artifact forms, is one archaeological indicator of the changes wrought by “colonization.” Two camp sites associated with the Queensland Native Mounted Police (NMP), a punitive paramilitary government force that operated through the latter half of the nineteenth century in the northeastern part of the continent, contain abundant flaked glass artifacts. These were undoubtedly manufactured by the Aboriginal men who were employed as troopers in the NMP, and/or their wives and children. Produced using traditional stone working techniques applied to a novel raw material, these artifacts are a tangible demonstration of the messy entanglements experienced by people living and working in this particular — and in some ways unique — cross-cultural context. For the Aboriginal troopers stationed in alien landscapes, the easy accessibility of glass afforded a means by which they could maintain cultural practices and exert independence from their employers, unencumbered by traditional normative behaviors
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This paper reports an archaeological excavation at Nara Inlet, Hook Island, one of the Whitsunday group off the central Queensland coast. The site, Nara Inlet 1, is a large rockshelter which returned a non-basal 14C date of 8150±80 bp.... more
This paper reports an archaeological excavation at Nara Inlet, Hook Island, one of the Whitsunday group off the central Queensland coast. The site, Nara Inlet 1, is a large rockshelter which returned a non-basal 14C date of 8150±80 bp. The excavation forms part of a wider study investigating prehistoric island use by Aborigines of the Whitsunday region as well as archaeological change in the Holocene Period.
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This paper reports on the recording of previously unpublished Aboriginal stone hut structures in southwestern Queensland. Located along the Georgina River, these 15 structures are typical of the region, being generally circular in plan... more
This paper reports on the recording of previously unpublished Aboriginal stone hut structures in southwestern Queensland. Located along the Georgina River, these 15 structures are typical of the region, being generally circular in plan view, with an average diameter of 5m and a 1m-wide opening consistently positioned to afford protection from prevailing winds. Evidence suggests these structures were roofed with vegetation and, while they pre-date the contact period, appear also to have been used into at least the late 1800s. Artefacts associated with them include stone flakes, cores and edge-ground axe fragments, freshwater mussel shells, rifle cartridge cases, fragments of glass, and metal objects. A comparison of these stone hut structures is made with similar features from elsewhere in Australia, demonstrating that there was a widespread but consistent use of stone for construction. This short report contributes to an increasing awareness of, and literature about, built structure...
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A O Australian Archaeology, the official publication of the Australian Archaeological Association Inc., is a refereed journal published since 1974. It accepts original articles in all fields of archaeology and other subjects relevant to... more
A O Australian Archaeology, the official publication of the Australian Archaeological Association Inc., is a refereed journal published since 1974. It accepts original articles in all fields of archaeology and other subjects relevant to archaeological research and practice in Australia and nearby areas. Contributions are accepted in six sections: Articles (5000-8000 words), Short Reports (1000-3000), Obituaries (500-2000), Thesis Abstracts (200-500), Book Reviews (500-2000) and Backfill (which includes letters, conference details, announcements and other material of ...
Preucel and Hodder state that their Reader is a point of entry into recent debates about archaeology (p. xi). To this end, they have assembled 26 articles by 30 contributors. The articles are grouped into seven topical sections (Parts... more
Preucel and Hodder state that their Reader is a point of entry into recent debates about archaeology (p. xi). To this end, they have assembled 26 articles by 30 contributors. The articles are grouped into seven topical sections (Parts II-VIII) arranged roughly in chronological order: Ecological Relations, Political Economy; Social and Cultural Evolution; Meaning and Practice; Feminist and Gender Archaeologies; The Past as Power; Responses of the "Other." These sections are prefaced by the editors' Prologue (Part I, a synthetic-analytic overview of contemporary archaeological theory) and followed by a Dialogue among six anonymous voices (Part IX, also the work of the coeditors). Each section or part (except the Prologue and Dialogue) contains three or four chapters, which are reprinted papers from journals or edited volumes (or, in one case, a pamphlet) meant to exemplify and illustrate the section theme. This is a procedure guaranteed to generate disagreement among readers, and between readers and editors about errors of omission and commission. As Preucel and Hodder note, however, such disagreements can be quite useful pedagogically. In general, with one partial exception noted below, I did not find any truly egregious errors of selection or balance. Nevertheless, Part II (with only three chapters) would have benefited by inclusion of a paper from a long-term cultural ecological/ethnoarchaeological investigation such as the Hadza Project or the Kofyar-Tiv study, or by an example drawn from, say, Robert Bettinger's or John Speth's work on foraging/gathering/hunting societies.
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An extensive body of engraved rock art on the Great Papuan Plateau is documented here for the first time, along with the first dates for occupation. Consisting largely of deeply abraded or pecked barred ovals and cupules, the rock art of... more
An extensive body of engraved rock art on the Great Papuan Plateau is documented here for the first time, along with the first dates for occupation. Consisting largely of deeply abraded or pecked barred ovals and cupules, the rock art of this region does not fit comfortably into any regional models for rock art previously described. It does, however, exhibit some similarity to art in regions to the east and the west of the plateau. Subject to further archaeological testing, we present a number of exploratory hypotheses with which to explain the presence of the engravings; as part of the ethnographic and contemporary Kasua's cultural suite; as part of a relatively recent (late Holocene) migration of peoples from the Gulf to the plateau; or as part of an earlier movement of people from the west, possibly as part of the movement of people into the Sahul continent in the Late Pleistocene. We conclude that the Great Papuan Plateau is not a late and marginally occupied ‘backwater’ but rather part of a possible corridor of human movement across northern Sahul and a region that could allow us to better understand modern humans as they reached the Sahul continent.
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This paper reports on an Aboriginal site complex, incorporating hut structures, ceremonial stone arrangements, an extensive surface artefact assemblage of lithics and mussel shell, and a silcrete quarry, located along Hilary Creek, a... more
This paper reports on an Aboriginal site complex, incorporating hut structures, ceremonial stone arrangements, an extensive surface artefact assemblage of lithics and mussel shell, and a silcrete quarry, located along Hilary Creek, a tributary of the Georgina River in western Queensland, Australia. At least two phases of occupation are indicated. The most recent huts have their collapsed organic superstructure still present, while those of a presumably earlier phase are distinguished as bare, circular patches of earth which are conspicuous amongst the ubiquitous gibber, with or without stone bases, and lacking any collapsed superstructure. Immediately adjacent to the huts and also a few hundred metres away are clusters of small stone arrangements, and about 2 km to the southwest, along the same creekline, is another series of larger, more substantial stone arrangements; these features speak to the importance of the general Hilary Creek area for ceremonial purposes. Radiocarbon datin...
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Further fieldwork has been undertaken at the digging stick site, Namadgi National Park, Australian Capital Territory earlier reported by Argue (1995:38-39). The site is located at 970m altitude near the head of a steep valley on the... more
Further fieldwork has been undertaken at the digging stick site, Namadgi National Park, Australian Capital Territory earlier reported by Argue (1995:38-39). The site is located at 970m altitude near the head of a steep valley on the western flank of Mt Tidbinbilla above the Bendora Dam. The site is defined as the discrete location.at the base of a cliff where the digging stick was found. The cliff is about lOOm in height, broken by a complex of tiers. The objective of the ongoing project is to determine the function of the site in the context of Aboriginal occupation of the Australian Alps. The objectives of this stage of the fieldwork program were: to examine the stick under a microscope to determine whether it was made with a stone or metal tool, to extract two 0.8g samples of wood from the stick: one for AMS dating and one for the identification of the wood species of timber fiom which it was made; and determine if there were any other indications of human occupation at the site....
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This chapter reports on the personnel, research structure and analytical methods employed in the Caution Bay project, constituting the sum of the various phases of field and laboratory research at Caution Bay. We stress that from the... more
This chapter reports on the personnel, research structure and analytical methods employed in the Caution Bay project, constituting the sum of the various phases of field and laboratory research at Caution Bay. We stress that from the onset our approach has been to investigate through excavation the character of the archaeological record at a landscape scale, rather than more detailed investigations of a handful of sites that would have provided limited spatial understandings across the whole of the study area. That is, limited excavations at numerous sites were favoured over large-scale horizontal excavations of a few sites. This choice of strategy has arguably been vindicated by the discovery of rich cultural deposits that would have been entirely missed had we focused on the 'best' surface sites, none of which possess the treasured and then-unexpected Lapita horizons subsequently found at depth following excavation at sites with minor post-Lapita surface cultural deposits....
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Cet article presente les derniers resultats issus respectivement de l’etude de pigments preleves sur un panneau rupestre et de pigments excaves de deux sites majeurs d’art rupestre dans le nord de l’Australie : le site de ‘Genyornis’, et... more
Cet article presente les derniers resultats issus respectivement de l’etude de pigments preleves sur un panneau rupestre et de pigments excaves de deux sites majeurs d’art rupestre dans le nord de l’Australie : le site de ‘Genyornis’, et Nawarla Gabarnmang. Il a ete avance dans la litterature archeologique que le premier site abriterait la peinture de Genyornis newtoni, dont l’extinction est estimee a 40-45000 ans sur le continent australien. Le second site, Nawarla Gabarnmang, se caracterise quant a lui par un vaste ensemble archeologique dont les plafonds et les piliers sont recouverts de plusieurs generations de peintures ; les fouilles archeologiques ont permis de mettre au jour une importante collection de blocs colores (dont certains ont ete identifies comme etant des crayons d’ocre). Afin de determiner pour le site de ‘Genyornis’, les constituants des pigments utilises, leur mode de preparation, leur origine geographique et la chronologie des peintures, des micro-echantillons...
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Research Interests: Sociology, Archaeology, Folklore, Architecture, Australia, and 14 moreAustralian Indigenous Studies, Australian History, Australian archaeology, Literary studies, Australian architecture, Australian colonial history, Houses, Australian historical archaeology, Aboriginal History, Arts and Humanities, Historical Studies, Homes, Cross Cultural Relationships, and Aboriginal Australians
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Although the historical record relating to nineteenth century frontier conflict between Aboriginal groups and Europeans in Queensland has been clearly documented, there have been limited associated archaeological studies. As part of the... more
Although the historical record relating to nineteenth century frontier conflict between Aboriginal groups and Europeans in Queensland has been clearly documented, there have been limited associated archaeological studies. As part of the Archaeology of the Queensland Native Mounted Police (NMP) project, this paper canvasses the physical imprint of frontier conflict across Queensland between 1849 and the early 1900s, focusing specifically on the activities and camp sites of the NMP, the paramilitary government-sanctioned force tasked with policing Aboriginal people to protect settler livelihoods. At least 148 NMP camps of varying duration once existed, and historical and archaeological investigations of these demonstrate some consistent patterning amongst them, as well as idiosyncrasies depending on individual locations and circumstances. All camps were positioned with primary regard to the availability of water and forage. Owing to their intended temporary nature and the frugality of...
Research Interests: Geography, Archaeology, Indigenous Studies, Indigenous or Aboriginal Studies, Historical Archaeology, and 15 moreAustralian Indigenous Archaeology, Australia, Aboriginal History in Australia, Frontier Studies, Australian colonial history, Australian cultural history, Australian Aboriginal History, Frontier, Australian Aboriginal Archaeology, Massacres in History, Australian frontier conflict, Colonial Massacres, Australian Frontier Wars, Coonial Queensland Massacres, and Native Mounted Police
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Research Interests: Archaeology, Historical Archaeology, Conflict, Australian Indigenous Archaeology, Oral history, and 15 moreColonialism, Printing History, Australian History, Aboriginal History in Australia, Frontier Studies, Oral History and Memory, Queensland history, Studying Historical Sources in Interpreting History, Frontier Violence, Oral History, Routledge, Australian Frontier Wars, Colonial Frontier, Aboriginal massacres, and Native Mounted Police
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Research Interests: Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Australian Indigenous Archaeology, Use Wear Analysis, Papua New Guinea, and 8 moreLithics, Australian archaeology, Oceania archaeology, The archaeology of the Kikori River, Lithic Use Wear Analysis, Residue and use wear analysis, Papua New Guinea archaeology, and Australian
[Extract] Lapita ceramics have been found on islands across a vast stretch of the western Pacific Ocean, spanning some 4500 km from the Bismarck Archipelago in the west to Tonga and Samoa in the east, with recent finds (David et al. 2011;... more
[Extract] Lapita ceramics have been found on islands across a vast stretch of the western Pacific Ocean, spanning some 4500 km from the Bismarck Archipelago in the west to Tonga and Samoa in the east, with recent finds (David et al. 2011; McNiven et al. 2011) extending their distribution to the south coast of mainland Papua New Guinea (PNG). While Lapita ceramics have long been recognised by their iconic (comb) dentate-stamped designs that include a range of largely geometric shapes (e.g. linear or curved motifs, including labyrinths), usually in bands or demarcated zones on the upper portions of pots (Kirch 1997: 13), they are also characterised by a broad range of distinctive vessel forms including but not limited to collared and carinated jars and bowls with everted rims (of a range of rim courses) and globular bodies, flat dishes, and rare cylinder stands. While decorated vessels are typically highlighted as characteristic of Lapita in many studies, >90% of sherds in most archaeological assemblages are undecorated (e.g. Burley et al. 2010; Kirch 1997: 146; for exceptions from more westerly assemblages, see Kirch 2000; Sand 2001). Such high proportions of plain sherds are due to a combination of sherds from plainware vessels and from undecorated parts of decorated wares. However, it is not usually possible to determine which of these two options the plain sherds represent (although conjoining of sherds and matching against various characteristics of decorated sherds can in some circumstances shed light on this issue). Plainwares enable us to better understand relationships between vessel form and decoration – and with this the culture of Lapita ceramics generally – by comparing how vessel shape changes with, and without, decoration through time. However, plainwares are rarely reported in any detail, making it difficult to compare the broader distribution of full assemblage characteristics across space and time. Here we report three Lapita pots from Caution Bay, south coast of mainland PNG, recently substantially reconstructed from conjoined sherds during the course of conservation work by the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation at the University of Melbourne. Our aim is, firstly, to document vessel form for one newly revealed Lapita region (Caution Bay, south coast of mainland PNG) through hitherto poorly documented plain body ceramics that require substantial reconstruction to make morphological sense of otherwise relatively small sherds, and, secondly, to discuss how such vessel forms change with the demise of Lapita at Caution Bay after 2600–2500 cal. BP. These pots represent the first substantial excavated Lapita vessels from mainland PNG.
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Caves and rockshelters are a key component of the archaeological record but are often regarded as natural places conveniently exploited by human communities. Archaeomorphological study shows however that they are not inert spaces but have... more
Caves and rockshelters are a key component of the archaeological record but are often regarded as natural places conveniently exploited by human communities. Archaeomorphological study shows however that they are not inert spaces but have frequently been modified by human action, sometimes in ways that imply a strong symbolic significance. In this paper the concept of ‘aménagement’, the re-shaping of a material space or of elements within it, is applied to Chauvet Cave in France and Nawarla Gabarnmang rockshelter in Australia. Deep within Chauvet Cave, fallen blocks were moved into position to augment the natural structure known as The Cactus, while at Nawarla Gabarnmang, blocks were removed from the ceiling and supporting pillars removed and discarded down the talus slope. These are hence not ‘natural’ places, but modified and socially constructed.
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Review(s) of: Shamans, Sorcerers and Saints: A Prehistory of Religion, by Brian Hayden, Smithsonian Books, Washington, 2003, Xi+468pp, ISBN 1-58834-168-2. Includes references.
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Abstract This paper presents archaeological evidence for the initial occupation and use of a large clan ossuary on the upper Kikori River at Baina in Papua New Guinea. Drawing extensively on clan oral accounts of its use and function, it... more
Abstract This paper presents archaeological evidence for the initial occupation and use of a large clan ossuary on the upper Kikori River at Baina in Papua New Guinea. Drawing extensively on clan oral accounts of its use and function, it is posited that the timing and use of the site as an ossuary effectively dates the establishment of a sub clan entity known as Kesele and the fragmentation of larger clan based land owning units into smaller sub-clan entities dating from around 200 years ago in the region. It is further posited that evidence of the more intensive use of the site from around 600 years ago and its subsequent use as an ossuary at 200 years ago may be linked to its proximity to an important lithic raw material source used in the manufacture of sago pounders, a major trade item linked to the hiri pottery trade.
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This chapter explores the incongruity in the distribution of European contact motifs in northwestern and southwestern Arnhem Land.