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Australian Archaeology is a large sub-field in the discipline of Archaeology. Archaeology in Australia takes main two forms, Aboriginal Archaeology (the archaeology of Aborigines and Australia before European Settlement) and Historical Archaeology (the archaeology of Australia after European Settlement). Bridging these two sub-disciplines is the important concept of Cultural Heritage Management which encompasses both Aboriginal and Historical sites. Archaeology, archeology, or archology (from the Greek words αÏχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech/discourse) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ...
Aboriginal Flag Australian Aborigines is a name used to collectively describe most of the indigenous peoples of the Australian continent and its nearby islands. ...
Cultural resources management (CRM) is a branch of archaeology concerned with the identification, maintenance, and preservation of significant cultural sites in the face of threat. ...
Aboriginal archaeology The Archaeology focusing on Aborigines in Australia has had many different predominant agendas through time. The earliest form of archaeology was largely focused on finding the oldest sites. By the 1970s, archaeology largely focused on the environment and they way it impacted on humans. In the late 1970s, Cultural Heritage Management gained prominence with the increasing demands by Aboriginal groups for representation in archaeological research. At a research level the focus shifted to cultural change of Aborigines through time.
Currently, archaeological research places great importance on Aboriginal viewpoints of the land and history of Australia. Consideration is given to the Aboriginal 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.
First settlement of Australia - See also: Prehistory of Australia
The First Settlement of Australia is a popular research topic both in archaeology and in the public arena. There is a consensus that no human or closely related species evolved independently in Australia. This is suggested because there are no species of primate to be found in Australia, both at present and in the fossil record. It is therefore assumed that the first settlers of Australia came from outside. At present the fossil record suggests that the first settlers were Homo sapiens, or fully modern humans, and it is highly unlikely that any earlier hominid species made it to Australia. The prehistory of Australia is a term which may be used to describe the period of approximately 40-45,000 years (or more, as is contended by some studies) between the first human habitation of the Australian continent and the first definitive sighting of Australia by Europeans in 1606, which...
Genera The hominids are the members of the biological family Hominidae (the great apes), which includes humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. ...
Human beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. ...
There is controversy as to where the Aborigines originated. The two main theories postulate that they are fully modern people from or from a population in Asia Genetic studies have demonstrated that there are similarities between Aborigines, Melanesians and Indians. The early suggested date of 60, 000 years ago for initial settlement is quite early when compared to other areas in the world. This may suggest that the Aborigine population derives 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. Melanesia (from Greek black islands) is a region extending from the west Pacific to the Arafura Sea, north and north-east of Australia. ...
The Holocene epoch is a geological period that extends from the present day back to about 10,000 radiocarbon years, approximately 11,430 ± 130 calendar years BP (between 9560 and 9300 BC). ...
The first settlement of Australia most likely occurred during the last glacial maximum. During this time Australia and New Guinea were joined as a single land mass called Sahul. The south-east asian continent and islands were also joined as a single land mass called Sunda. It is generally that the first Australians crossed the sea between Sahul and Sunda at about 60,000 to 40,000 years ago. Other dates have been suggested but these results are not seen as definite conclusions. Sunda and Sahul had a permanent water-crossing, meaning that the first Aborigines had to make a crossing on the open sea (see Wallace Line). Australia-New Guinea, also called Sahul or Meganesia, is made up of the continent of Australia and the islands of New Guinea and Tasmania. ...
Sunda edition of Wikipedia The word Sunda refers to a kingdom and an ethnic group living in especially the west part of Java. ...
Wallaces hypothetical line between Australasian and Southeast Asian fauna. ...
The importance of Sahul is that Australia in the past was not a single isolated continent but joined to New Guinea. As such, New Guinea has 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)
- Malakanunja (45,000 - 61,000 years old)
- Devil's Lair (45,000 years old)
- Lake Mungo (61,000 or 40,000 years old) - controversy exists over precise dating (see below)
It is important to note that the change in sea levels means that the first settlements located on the coast would have been submerged. It is therefore acceptable to suggest that the earliest dates of the earliest sites are the dates by which Aborigines "at least" settled Australia. The shore of Lake Mungo. ...
With the settlement of Australia, it is most probable that the Aborigines first settled on the northern coast as this area is closest to Asia. However, the actual spread of people and the settlement of the continent is largely debated with three mahor models put forward:
- Concentric dispersal through the entire continent through one single "entry" point.
- Coastal dispersal by spreading along the coast line 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 be in semi-arid regions, but in drought would move to areas with better resources.
Controversies in Aboriginal archaeology
Megafauna extinction It is proven that that Megafauna existed in Australia alongside Aborigines until about 6,000 years ago. A large extinction occurred as is evident by the lack of these species in modern times. The great debate centres on whether Aborigines were responsible for the extinction of these animals. Many factors have been considered as possible causes of the extinction, ranging from environmental variables to entirely human-based activity. Australian megafauna is a term used to describe a number of comparatively large animal species in Australia. ...
The Dodo, shown here in illustration, is an often-cited[1] example of extinction. ...
The most extreme theory is that Aborigines were completely responsible for the extinction of these animals through extensive hunting. This theory is largely based on the Overkill Hypothesis of the Americas, where hunters traveled through the land exterminating megafauna. This theory is largely discredited as there have been no confirmed discoveries of kill sites, sites that are found in other contexts around the world and associated with Megafauna hunting. The site of Cuddie Springs in New South Wales, does display some evidence of the hunting of these animals, but it is an isolated site and could not prove conclusively the overkill theory. World map showing the Americas The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World consisting of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. ...
Cuddie Springs is a notable archeologic site in in the semi-arid zone of central northern New South Wales, Australia. ...
Capital Sydney Government Const. ...
It is clear from paleobotanical and palaeontological evidence that the extinction coincided with great environmental change. Approximately 18,000 to 7,000 years 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 vulerable to depletion through hunting and marginalised grazing. Paleobotany (from the Greek words paleon = old and botanikos = of herbs) is the branch of paleontology dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use in the reconstruction of past environments and the history of life. ...
Some researchers, such as Tim Flannery, have put forward the idea human settlement was responsible for the large climatic and environmental changes that occurred in Neolithic Australia. Timothy Fridtjof Flannery (born 28 January 1956) is a well-known Australian mammalogist, biologist, writer, Humanist and paleontologist. ...
Lake Mungo dating Arguably the oldest human remains in Australia, the Lake Mungo 3 skull was given date of 60,000 years old by Gregory Adcock and his researchers [1]. However, this claim has come under criticism largely due to the process used to analyse the skull and the claims regarding the dating and the mtDNA found [2]. Most people suggest that the date of the specimen is approximately 40,000 years old. The problem with this particular specimen is that all research is done on pre-existing samples as the original specimen has been reburied. Problems, such as contamination, cannot be rectified without exhuming the remains. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is DNA which is not located in the nucleus of the cell but in the mitochondria. ...
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 derived from a debate about the Tasmanian Aborigines and whether large social/economic change was caused by environmental factors (see Environmental determinism), or from factors within the society [3][4]. The predominant view at the time held that in the case of the Aborigines any social change was largely influenced by external, largely environmental, factors. Emblems: Flora - Tasmanian Blue Gum; Mineral - Crocoite Motto: Ubertas et Fidelitas (Fertility and Faithfulness) Slogan or Nickname: The Apple Isle; Holiday Isle Other Australian states and territories Capital Hobart Government Const. ...
Environmental determinism, also known as Climatic determinism, environmentalism, or the geographic factor, is the view that the physical environment, rather than social conditions, determines culture. ...
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 has also been explained by environmental factors, large population growth, technological change, or even post-depositional factors. Taphonomy is the study of the fate of the remains of organisms after they die. ...
The cultivation question WE 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 beating towards a creek, where they were killed with spears and sticks. [1]
Wallaroos were hunted with fire and beating towards a creek, where they were killed with spears and sticks. Animals were also driven towards set nets [2]
Historical archaeology Historical archaeology is the archaeology of colonisation and the growth of capitalist economies in the post-medieval period. In the Australian context, it is largely the archaeology of Europeans who are the most significant ethnic influence in Australia prior to the present day. Historical archaeology also focuses on other ethnic groups who have made an impact on the material record, such as the Chinese, Macassarese and Melanesians. An increasingly important area of Australian historical archaeology studies the interaction between European and other settlers, and Aboriginal peoples. Historical archaeology is a branch of archaeology that concerns itself with historical societies, i. ...
World map showing Europe Political map Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of Earth; the term continent here referring to a cultural and political distinction, rather than a physiographic one, thus leading to various perspectives about Europes precise borders. ...
The oldest historical artefacts discovered in Australia are several chinese coins, discovered in a cache found buried in Northern Queensland. The coins have been given dates of up to 613 CE. The oldest archaeological site in Australia is the Batavia shipwreck, found on Beacon Island off the coast of Western Australia. This site is also the location of the settlement of the mutineers and is dated to 1629. This article is about monetary coins. ...
Emblems: Faunal - Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus); Floral - Cooktown orchid (Dendrobium bigibbum); Bird - Brolga (Grus rubicunda); Aquatic - Barrier Reef Anemonefish (Amphiprion akindynos); Gem - Sapphire; Colour - Maroon Motto: Audax at Fidelis (Bold but Faithful) Slogan or Nickname: Sunshine State, Smart State Other Australian states and territories Capital Brisbane Government Const. ...
Events Clotaire II reunites the Frankish kingdoms by ordering the murder of Sigebert II. Saint Columbanus founds the monastery of Bobbio in northern Italy. ...
For other meanings of Batavia see Batavia The Batavia was a ship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), built in 1628 in Amsterdam, which was struck by mutiny and shipwreck during her maiden voyage. ...
Emblems: Floral - Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos manglesii); Mammal - Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus); Bird - Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) Motto: none Slogan or Nickname: Wildflower State Other Australian states and territories Capital Perth Government Const. ...
Events March 4 - Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal charter. ...
Cultural heritage management
Legal obligations in australia
Native Title and Land Rights
Post-European settlement cultural heritage management
Important Australian archaeologists Vere Gordon Childe (April 14, 1892–October 19, 1957) was an Australian philologist by training who later specialised in archaeology, perhaps best known for his excavation of the unique Neolithic site of Skara Brae in Orkney and for his Marxist views which informed his thinking about prehistory. ...
Rhys Maengwyn Jones (1941 - September 19, 2001) was a Welsh-Australian archeologist. ...
References - ↑ - Adcock, G., Dennis, E., Easteal, S., Huttley, G., Jermin, L., Peacock, W. & Thorne, A. (2001). "Mitochondrial DNA sequences in ancient Australians: Implications for modern human origins". Proceedings National Academy of Science 98(2), 537-542.
- ↑ - Brown, Peter. (2005). Lake Mungo 3. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2006
- ↑ - Lourandos, Harry. Ross, Anne. (1994). "The Great 'Intensification Debate': Its history and place in Australian Archaeology." Australian Archaeology 39 54-63.
- ↑ - Lourandos, Harry. (1997). Continent of Hunter-Gatherers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-35946-5
Josephine Flood. Archaeology of the Dreamtime Lourandos. Continent of Hunter-Gatherers Justin McCarthy Wendy Thorpe G. Wilson. Kevin Hickson
External links - Australian Archaeological Association
- National Archaeology Week
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