|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Papers published by Archaeology Staff and Departmental Visitors in 1997:
W.R. AMBROSE "Obsidian Hydration Dating of the Reef/Santa Cruz Lapita Sites". In J.Davidson, G. Irwin, F. Leach, A. Pawley and D. Brown (eds) Oceanic Culture History: Essays in Honour of Roger Green, pp.245-255. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology Special Publication 1996.
From the conclusion:
"The results call into question all previously published hydration dates from high rainfall tropical sites, and may also be relevant to lower temperature sites where ground conditions are conducive to surface dissolution effects on obsidian surfaces. Future work will need to check that surface loss has not occurred and this can be simply achieved by adopting a practice of measuring hydration from concealed cracks which are readily found near the percussion point on obsidian artefacts."
ATHOLL ANDERSON "Wakawaka and Mahinga Kai: Models of Traditional Land Management in Southern New Zealand". In J.Davidson, G. Irwin, F. Leach, A. Pawley and D. Brown (eds) Oceanic Culture History: Essays in Honour of Roger Green, pp.631-640. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology Special Publication 1996.
From the introduction:
"In a series of migrations in the approximate period AD 1650-1780, nearly all of the South Island, together with Stewart Island was claimed as the tribal territory of Ngai Tahu. Its vast extent in comparison with the patchwork of such territories elsewhere in New Zealand, was not matched by tribal numbers, which probably did not exceed 3000-4000 people at AD1800, and for climatic reasons only a tiny proportion of the tribal range was potentially able to support pre-European cultivation."
JACK GOLSON "Roger Green: Early and Late Encounters". In J.Davidson, G. Irwin, F. Leach, A. Pawley and D. Brown (eds) Oceanic Culture History: Essays in Honour of Roger Green, pp.307-317. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology Special Publication 1996.
Golson's paper gives a brief history of University-based anthropology and archaeology in New Zealand and recounts Roger Green's irruption into it. The Late Encounter of the title is a response to Green's interpretation of the New Caledonian "tumuli" as megapode mounds. Golson discusses subsequent research on the mounds and advises not to "close the book on New Caledonia for a while yet, Roger."
M. SPRIGGS "The Archaeology of Vanuatu in a Pacific Perspective". In J. Bonnemaison, C. Kaufmann, K. Huffman and D. Tryon (eds) Arts of Vanuatu, pp. 74-78. Crawford House Publishing, Bathurst. 1996.
Briefly addresses questions of when Vanuatu was settled, the nature of the Lapita culture, the relation between Lapita and other pottery styles, and the amount of later Polynesian influence on Vanuatu culture.
M. SPRIGGS "An Agricultural Art: Taro Irrigation in Vanuatu". In J. Bonnemaison, C. Kaufmann, K. Huffman and D. Tryon (eds) Arts of Vanuatu, pp. 90-93. Crawford House Publishing, Bathurst. 1996.
Discusses traditional techniques of irrigated agriculture in Vanuatu.
Darrell Tryon from RSPAS, ANU is one of the editors of this volume, which was prepared for a major travelling exhibition of Vanuatu Art. Other ANU contributors to the volume are Lissant Bolton of our Department, and Margaret Jolly of RSPAS.
M. SPRIGGS "Chronology and Colonisation in Island Southeast Asia and the Pacific: New Data and an Evaluation". In J. Davidson, G. Irwin, F. Leach, A. Pawley and D. Brown (eds) Oceanic Culture History: Essays in Honour of Roger Green, pp. 33-50. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology Special Publication 1996.
This paper follows up on previous Spriggs efforts at 'chronometric hygiene' in 1989 and 1990, displaying further radiocarbon determinations from Island Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Island Melanesia and Western Polynesia. Topics covered in discussion of the new data include the west to east spread of the Island Southeast Asian Neolithic and the Lapita Culture, the question of early pottery in New Guinea, dates for early human impacts on Pacific environments, Lapita contemporaries in Island Melanesia and the end of Lapita in the region.
R. Torrence, J. Specht, R. Fullagar and G. SUMMERHAYES "Which Obsidian is Worth it? A View from the West New Britain Sources". In J. Davidson, G. Irwin, F. Leach, A. Pawley and D. Brown (eds) Oceanic Culture History: Essays in Honour of Roger Green, pp. 211-224. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology Special Publication 1996.
GEOFF CLARK 1997 "Osteology of the Kuri Maori: the Prehistoric Dog of New Zealand". Journal of Archaeological Science 24: 113-126.
Abstract:
This paper describes osteometric dimensions and anatomical features of the Polynesian dog of New Zealand (kuri) and phenotype reconstruction is made using regression formulae. Compared to other prehistoric dog populations, kuri were found to exhibit low to moderate levels of morphological variation. Studies of ancient dog remains have tended to focus on the metric variation found in cranial remains, and post-cranial elements are not reported. It is suggested that a holistic approach, incorporating anatomical and osteometric data from cranial and appendicular remains, will provide better archaeological data on which to base population comparisons.
Keywords: KURI, DOG, PREHISTORIC, OSTEOLOGY, NEW ZEALAND, POLYNESIA.
Geoff Clark is a PhD scholar in ANH, RSPAS
B. David, R. Roberts, C. Tuniz, R. JONES and J. HEAD 1997 New Optical and Radiocarbon Dates from Ngarrabullgan Cave, a Pleistocene Archaeological Site in Australia: Implications for the Comparability of Time Clocks and for Human Colonization of Australia. Antiquity 71:183-188.
Abstract:
The human settlement of Australia falls into that period where dating is hard because it is near or beyond the reliable limit of radiocarbon study; instead a range of luminescence methods are being turned to. Ngarrabullgan Cave, a rock-shelter in Queensland, now offers a good suite of radiocarbon determinations which match well a pair of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates - encouraging sign that OSL determinations can be relied on.
G. Farquhar, G.S. Harris, R. JONES and J. Zilman (eds) 1997Australians and our Changing Climate: Past Experiences and Future Destiny, National Academies Forum, 25 November 1996. Canberra: Australian Academy of Science.
R. JONES 1997 The Sceptical Archaeologist: Some Observations on Pleistocene Climates and Prehistoric Aboriginal Responses to Environmental Change in Australia. In G. Farquhar, G.S. Harris and R. Jones and J. Zilman (eds) Australians and our Changing Climate: Past Experiences and Future Destiny, National Academies Forum, 25 November 1996, pp. 22-37. Canberra: Australian Academy of Science.
From the introduction:
"Whereas the climate of the future may be hidden, some clues as to its probable outcome in the mid term, may be gained from an analysisof the past over the time scale of the Pleistocene. The title of this Forum - 'Global Climate Change' is to some extent superfluous, since climate has always changed, and will always do so. It is the scale of these changes, both in terms of magnitude and in time that concerns us. Also, whether or not the recent intrusion of the effects of industrial man marks some new fundamentally different territory over the pattern of the distant past."
ATHOLL ANDERSON "Prehistoric Polynesian Impact on the New Zealand Environment: Te Whenua Hou". In P.V. Kirch and T.L. Hunt (eds) Historical Ecology in the Pacific Islands: Prehistoric Environmental and Landscape Change, pp. 271-283. Yale University Press, New Haven and London.
ATHOLL ANDERSON, WAL AMBROSE, Foss Leach and Marshall Weisler "Material Sources of Basalt and Obsidian Artefacts from a Prehistoric Site on Norfolk Island, South Pacific. Archaeology in Oceania 32(1): 39-46.
Abstract:
Recent discovery of a prehistoric archaeological site at Emily Bay, Norfolk Island, enables the question of settlement origins to be revisited. Analysis of a sample of basalt flakes by non-destructive, energy-dispersive XRF analysis indicates that there was local adze production, not merely refurbishment, suggesting that quarry and reduction sites might yet be discovered. Analysis of an obsidian blade by major elements and PIXE shows that it originated in a Raoul Island (Kermadecs) source. It is hypothesized that the colonisation history of the Norfolk group belongs with those of other temperate archipelagoes (Kermadecs, Chathams, Snares) which appear to have originated in New Zealand rather than tropical Polynesia.
PETER BELLWOOD: "Ancient Seafarers: New Evidence of Early Southeast Asian Sea Voyages". Archaeology 50(2):20-22.
Discusses recent archaeological research in Southeast Asia, New Guinea and Australia.
R. Bird, R. Torrence, G.R. SUMMERHAYES and G. Bailey "New Britain Obsidian Sources". Archaeology in Oceania 32(1):61-67.
The natural occurrence of obsidian in volcanic flows in West New Britain has been thoroughly investigated and new measurements of the composition of field samples have been made with a proton dose of 150 mC, increased by a factor of three compared to analyses reported in early studies. New data on precision and accuracy of PIXE-PIGME show that measurement error is not a significant factor in interpretations of chemical variability among source and artifact samples. The results provide evidence for 5 readily distinguishable groups of source samples (Gulu, Kutau/Bao, Baki, Hamilton and Mopir) plus two subgroups (GaralaB and GaralaC) which differ from the Baki source for a few elements and have higher standard deviations from most elements. An unusual degree of variability within the Hamilton and Garala source samples must be taken into account during the classification of artifact collections.
GEOFFREY R. CLARK "Anthropogenic Factors and Prehistoric Dog Morphology: a Case Study from Polynesia". Archaeology in Oceania 32(1): 124-130.
Abstract:
This study of a prehistoric Polynesian commensal, using data from New Zealand and Hawaiian dogs, identifies significant skeletal differences between and within the populations. Genetic, environmental and anthropogenic factors are discussed to account for the differences. It is suggested that anthropogenic factors are an important influence on the commensal's skeleton.
BARRY FANKHAUSER "Amino Acid Analysis of Food Residues in Pottery: a Field and Laboratory Study". Archaeology in Oceania 32(1): 131-140.
Abstract:
When food is cooked in a clay pot, traces remain within the fabric and in charred deposits on the walls of the vessel. To better define the parameters of food deposits in pottery, field research was carried out in Papua New Guinea (PNG) on cooking methods and pottery making as they relate to organic residues. Samples of common foods, pottery with known residues, and newly made pottery for laboratory studies were collected and analysed for amino acids using high performance liquid chromatography. The background amino acid content of fired pottery was found to be negligible compared to food residues incorporated into the vessel walls during cooking. Mainly free amino acids are absorbed into the pot matrix when foods are boiled. It is these amino acids which must be analysed when making comparison to food standards. Amino acid results for food residues and foods cooked in the laboratory duplicated those from samples obtained in PNG. Ageing studies carried out under varying conditions on food and food residues within the pottery fabric found that amino acids were quite stable especially under dry ageing conditions.
CLAYTON FREDERICKSEN "Changes in Admiralty Islands Obsidian Source Use: the View from Pamwak". Archaeology in Oceania 32(1): 68-73. (based on research done while a PhD student at ANU)
Abstract:
I report the results of characterisation analysis of obsidian from Pamwak shelter on Manus in the Admiralty Islands (Papua New Guinea). Evidence is presented that the first transport of obsidian to the shelter occurred in the terminal Pleistocene, probably from an offshore source. A mid Holocene change in the use of predominantly Pam Islands obsidian is noted. The use of significant amounts of Lou obsidian, a material widely used and traded after 3500 BP, is identified as occurring only late in the sequence. The implications of these changes int he context of Wal Ambrose's research are discussed.
IAN FARRINGTON: The second volume of Tawantinsuyu, edited by Ian Farrington.
JACK GOLSON "From Horticulture to Agriculture in the New Guinea Highlands: A Case Study of People and their Environments". In P.V. Kirch and T.L. Hunt (eds) Historical Ecology in the Pacific Islands: Prehistoric Environmental and Landscape Change, pp. 39-50. Yale University Press, New Haven and London.
JACK GOLSON "W.R. Ambrose: an Archaeological Boffin". Archaeology in Oceania 32(1): 4-12.
Abstract:
Wal Ambrose has a special status in his profession because he is both archaeologist and archaeometrician. This paper discusses not only the nature of his contributions in conservation and materials analysis, particularly of obsidian, but also the archaeological contexts in which the work was done. It is a celebration of the achievements of an individual of remarkable talents who has put his colleagues greatly in his debt in the fields in which he has operated.
JEAN KENNEDY "The Loneliness of an Obsidian Source in Southwest Manus". Archaeology in Oceania 32(1): 85-96.
Abstract:
Of two obsidian source areas in the Admiralty Islands (Manus Province, Papua New Guinea), only the Lou-Pam Islands source has a well-established place in archaeological distributions both local and regional. From the other source area in southwest Manus Island, many sites have been recorded following their exposure by bulldozers. These sites contain retouched obsidian point fragments like those from the Emsin workshop site excavated on Lou Island. Comparison of the two sets confirms the close similarity. The evidence suggests that manufacture and use are both represented in the southwest Manus collection and, since the only point fragment so far analysed derives from Lou, that material from both sources was being used. A review of the ethnographic evidence suggests that the regional integrative network in the past might not have distinguished obsidian by source as strongly as in the period of ethnographic description.
MATTHEW SPRIGGS: "Landscape Catastrophe and Landscape Enhancement: Are Either or Both True in the Pacific?" In P.V. Kirch and T.L. Hunt (eds) Historical Ecology in the Pacific Islands: Prehistoric Environmental and Landscape Change, pp. 80-104.Yale University Press, New Haven and London
Using examples from Aneityum Island (Vanuatu), Futuna (Western Polynesia), O'ahu Island (Hawaii), a 'pioneering pattern' of massive human impact on the environments of Pacific islands is identified, with landscape instability induced by vegetation clearance and burning for agriculture soon after human settlement. Later, more sustainable agricultural practices can be identified in the cultural sequences of these islands.
For further details including ordering information click here.
GLENN SUMMERHAYES: Departmental Visitor Glenn Summerhayes, received his Doctorate from La Trobe University for his Dissertation: Interaction in Pacific Prehistory: an approach based on the production, distribution and use of pottery.
This dissertation addresses the nature of social and economic interaction between the prehistoric Western Pacific communities in the 3rd millennium BP by examining the nature of production, exchange and use of ceramics from one region, West New Britain, Papua New Guinea. My analysis of Lapita pottery from West New Britain demonstrates that production of pottery was mainly local. In contrast, an analysis of style and form in relationship to production support the theory that people were moving regularly over vast areas of the Pacific. The limited amount of ceramic exchange that did occur was ephiphenomonal to larger social processes occurring in the region at this time.
GLENN SUMMERHAYES: "Losing your Temper: the Effect of Mineral Inclusions on Pottery Analyses". Archaeology in Oceania 32 (1):108-117.
Pottery from Buka Island, Papua New Guinea, was subjected to chemical characterisation studies using both the electron microprobe and PIXE-PIGME. I report here on the problems and limits of using chemical analyses on prehistoric pottery to assess questions concerning technology and production patterns, and address in particular the problem of compensating for the chemical noise that arises when mineral inclusions are added to a clay in the manufacturing process of pottery. This chemical noise, if not taken into account, can lead to erroneous models of production and exchange. The results demonstrate that the electron microprobe is a useful tool in overcoming the problem of chemical noise and when used in conjunction with PIXE-PIGME can also be useful in identifying whether inclusions found in a sherd were manually added or found naturally in the original clay. This allows archaeologists another dimension to identify technological changes between assemblages.
R. Torrence and G.R. SUMMERHAYES "Sociality and the Short Distance Trader: Intra-Regional Obsidian Exchange in the Willaumez Region, Papua New Guinea. Archaeology in Oceania 32(1):74-84.
An analysis of changes in the assemblage composition of obsidian from different sources was undertaken on 12 assemblages from sites dating over the past 6,000 years in the Willaumez region (including the peninsula and nearby islands) in West New Britain, in order to investigate Ambrose's (1978) prediction that Lapita obsidian trade differed from recent ethnographic systems. The history of obsidian use on Garua Island, where sites contain various mixes of local and imported obsidian, points to the existence of an intra-regional system of exchange between communities specialising in one or more goods during the time of Lapita pottery (c.3,500-2,000 BP). The method of obsidian procurement is shown to have been significantly different from both the earlier and later phases. It is argued that the widespread distribution of obsidian on Lapita sites in both Near and Remote Oceania is the result of movement between a loosely integrated series of local, intra-regional systems and not long-distance trade over the entire area as proposed by previous scholars.
E. WACHIRA WAHOME "Continuity and Change in Lapita and Post-Lapita Ceramics: a Review of Evidence from the Admiralty Islands and New Ireland, Papua New Guinea". Archaeology in Oceania 32(1): 118-123. (based on research done while a PhD student at ANU)
Abstract:
Although a relationship between Lapita and post-Lapita ceramic traditions has long been suspected, a systematic and detailed examination of similarities and differences between them has not been previously made. An important first step is to determine the nature of change from one to the other by examining pottery from sites which have the full ceramic sequence. My analyses of ceramic assemblages from Manus and New Ireland demonstrate continuity between the two traditions.
The Island Melanesians
by: Matthew Spriggs
Blackwell Publishers. 1997. Series: The Peoples of South-East Asia and the Pacific. General Editors: Peter Bellwood and Ian Glover
ISBN 0-631-16727-7 (acid free paper). xxv, 326 pp. 53 plates, 41 figures and maps, 3 tables.
The Island Melanesians is the first book to focus on the inhabitants of the chain of archipelagoes stretching east and south-east of the large island of New Guinea - the Bismarcks, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia (Kanaky). The story of these people begins with the first settlement of the region over 30,000 years ago and continues with their mixed hunter-horticultural economy, developed over the next 25,000 years. Then came the sudden irruption of new colonists bringing a fully agricultural and domestic animals some 3500 years ago. These colonists, ancestors too of the Fijians and the Polynesians, were almost certainly the first humans to settle the previously empty islands in the southern archipelagoes of Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
Click to go to Blackwells web site for ordering details.
Peter R. Kabaila 1997 Belconnen's Aboriginal Past: a glimpse into the archaeology of the Australian Capital Territory. Black Mountain Projects, Canberra. 60 pp., 25 maps, tables and Illustrations. ISBN 0 646 31 5617.
The book contains three main sections: Past Landscapes of Belconnen, the Nature of Aboriginal Sites and Site's in Today's Landscape and is well-illustrated with photographs and site maps. Peter, a former student in the Department and currently a Tutor there, has published two earlier books on local archaeology - Wiradjuri Places: the Murrumbidgee River Basin (1995) and Wiradjuri Places: the Lachlan River Basin (1996). His latest book is available from the publishers Black Mountain Projects, PO Box 279, Jamison Centre, ACT 2614 or from University Co-op Bookshops. Price is $12, plus postage where applicable.
Andree Rosenfeld and Claire Smith 1997 Recent Developments in Radiocarbon and Stylistic Methods of Dating Rock Art. Antiquity 71:405-411.
"The 1950s, era of the first radiocarbon revolution, saw famous clashes between confidence in the old chronologies and the new results from radiocarbon, which sometimes appeared 'archaeologically unacceptable'. The same issues continue in respect of the radiocarbon dating of rock art, where the sheer technical difficulty of securing a dating number in which one can have confidence, remains a large real obstacle."
Andree retired from the Department in 1996 and Claire Smith is at UNE in Armidale.
R. Roberts, G. Walsh, A. Murray, J. Olley, R. JONES, M. Morwood, C. Tuniz, M. MACPHAIL, D. BOWDERY and I. Naumann 1997 Rock Art Dates and Past Environments from Mud-Wasp Nests in Northern Australia. Nature 387, June 12:696-699.
Abstract:
Mud-nesting wasps are found in all of the main biogeographical regions of the world, and construct nests that become petrified after abandonment. Nests built by mud-dauber and potter wasps in rock shelters in northern Australia often overlie, and occasionally underlie, prehistoric rock paintings. Mud nests contain pollen, spores and phytoliths from which information about local palaeovegetation data can be gleaned. Here we report a new application of optical dating, using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dating of pollen to determine the ages of mud-wasp nests associated with rock paintings in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Optical dating of quartz sand (including the analysis of individual grains) embedded in the mud of fossilized nests shows that some anthropomorphic paintings are more than 17,000 years old. Reconstructions of past local environments are also possible from the range of pollen and phytolith types identified. This approach should have widespread application to studies of rock art dating and late Quaternary environmental change on continents where mud-wasps once lived and other sources of palaeoecological information are absent.
Matthew Spriggs 1997 Who Taught Marx, Engels and Morgan about Australian Aborigines? History and Anthropology 10 (2-3): 185-218.
"The construction of the ideas about Australian Aborigines as the 'natural men' par excellence in nineteenth century Western Thought is based on a very select group of texts, traceable through the more generally available anthropological (in a wide sense) and archaeological literature of the period...This paper traces such founding texts for Marx, Engels and Morgan, who between them created a major strain of social evolutionary theory which continues to influence archaeologists and anthropologists today, particularly those working in socialist countries such as China and in the former Soviet bloc."
Wilcox, B.A., T.P.Denham, G.Ahlborn, K.Duin, and R. Palmer 1997 Integrated resource management plan for the Nu'upia Ponds Management Zone, Marine Corps Base Hawai'i (MCBH), Island of O'ahu, State of Hawai'i.. Pp.111.
T.P.Denham and J.Pantaleo 1997 Archaeological data recovery excavations at the Fort DeRussy Military Reservation, Waikiki, Island of O'ahu, State of Hawai'i. Pp.85
T.P.Denham and J.Pantaleo 1997 Archaeological monitoring and investigations during Phase 1: Kalia Road Realignment and Underground Utilities Project, Fort DeRussy, Waikiki, O'ahu. Pp.67.
P. Gorecki, M. Grant, S. O'CONNOR and P. Veth 1997 "The morphology, function and antiquity of Australian grinding implements". Archaeology in Oceania 32 (2): 141-150.
Abstract:
This paper critiques a number of core assumptions about the age, form and function of grinding implements from Australia. Distinctions which have been drawn between so-called amorphous versus formal grindstones and their associated functions are questioned given the effects of low sample size in earlier assemblages, the general lack of independent studies of grindstone function and the need to consider more thoroughly the use-life cycles of this class of implements. The role of bedrock grinding patches in a seed-based economy is examined. The possibility that intensive seed processing may have occurred in the Pleistocene is also canvassed.
Peter Bellwood 1997 Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago. Second (revised) edition. 400pp., 155 illus., 26 maps. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. Cloth ISBN: 0-8248-1883-0, Paper ISBN: 0-8248-1907-1.
R. Blench and M. SPRIGGS (eds) 1997 Archaeology and Language I: Theoretical and Methodological Orientations. London: Routledge.
388 + xxi pp., 80 figs. ISBN 0-415-11760-7.
From the cover blurb:
How did language begin? How far are oral traditions confirmed by Archaeology?
Archaeology and Language I represents groundbreaking work in synthesizing two disciplines that are now seen as interlinked: linguistics and archaeology. This volume is the first of a three-part survey of innovative results emerging from their combination.
Archaeology and historical linguistics have largely pursued separate tracks until recently, although their goals can be very similar. While there is a new awareness that these disciplines can be used to complement one another, both rigourous methodological awareness and detailed case-studies are still lacking in the literature. Archaeology and Language I is the first study to address this.
Exploring a wide range of techniques developed by specialists in each discipline, this first volume deals with broad theoretical and methodological issues and provides an indispensable background to the detail of the studies presented in volumes II and III. This collection deals with the controversial question of the origins of language, the validity of deep-level reconstruction, the sociolinguistic modelling of prehistory and the use and value of oral tradition.
Archaeology and Language I will be of interest not only to linguists and archaeologists, but also to anthropologists.
Roger Blench is a Research Fellow of the Overseas Development Institute, London. Matthew Spriggs is Professor of Archaeology at the Australian National University, Canberra.
John Mulvaney and Stephen Morton (eds) 1997 Exploring Central Australia. 398pp. Sydney: Surrey Beatty and Sons.
JACK GOLSON "Happy 6000th Anniversary". Australian Archaeology 44 (June): 35-38.
This is a slightly edited and fully referenced version of Professor Golson's after-dinner address at the 1996 Annual Conference of the Australian Archaeological Association, held at Normanville, South Australia, which took Creation as its theme, in acknowledgment of the creation of the world in 4004 BC, according to Archbishop Ussher and others in the 17th century. It examines disciplinary history, giving it a South Australian focus in keeping with where the address was delivered.
DARRELL LEWIS "Bradshaws: the View from Arnhem Land". Australian Archaeology 44 (June): 1-16. (Darrell Lewis is attached to the ANU's North Australia Research Unit in Darwin).
From the conclusion:
"Parallels between early rock art in the Kimberley and in Arnhem Land are striking, both for resemblances in styles, subject matter, and themes, and for the parallel changes that took place...If the Kimberley Bradshaw Figures and Arnhem Land Dynamic Figures are accepted as being related culturally, with a minimum age of about 9000 years and a maximum of no more than 15,000 years, then Walsh's suggestions of a 'mystery origin' for Bradshaws and of 'migratory waves' of 'ethnically distinct people' can be dismissed. Instead, serious attention can be given to the much more compelling issue of the regional links and differences between the two art bodies."
MATTHEW SPRIGGS "Recent Prehistory (the Holocene)" and "Bibliographic Essay". In D. Denoon, with S. Firth, J. Linnekin, M. Meleisea and K. Nero (eds) The Cambridge History of the Pacific Islanders, pp. 52-69 and 77-79. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0 521 44195 1 hardback. (Click here for ordering details)
This section is included in a chapter on "Human Settlement" organised by Donald Denoon which also includes contributions by Sandra Bowdler (on the Pleistocene), and Darrell Tryon, Robert Langdon and Paul D'Arcy. The section (written in 1994) attempts to provide 'snapshots' of the Pacific Islands at 10,000 BP, 5000 BP, 3000 BP, 2000 BP, 1000 BP and 500 BP.
PETER BELLWOOD 1997 "Prehistoric cultural explanations for widespread language families". In P. McConvell and N. Evans (eds) Archaeology and Linguistics: Aboriginal Australia in Global Perspective, pp. 123-134. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
ISBN 0 19 553728 9 (Hb); ISBN 0 19 550670 7 (Pb)
Nicholas Evans and RHYS JONES 1997 "The cradle of the Pama-Nyungans: archaeological and linguistic speculations". In P. McConvell and N. Evans (eds) Archaeology and Linguistics: Aboriginal Australia in Global Perspective, pp. 385-417. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
ISBN 0 19 553728 9 (Hb); ISBN 0 19 550670 7 (Pb)
ISABEL MCBRYDE 1997 "'Worth a thousand words'? Words, images and material culture: a New England case study. In P. McConvell and N. Evans (eds) Archaeology and Linguistics: Aboriginal Australia in Global Perspective, pp. 311-340. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
ISBN 0 19 553728 9 (Hb); ISBN 0 19 550670 7 (Pb)
Other papers by ANU staff in the book are Ian Keen's "A continent of foragers: Aboriginal Australia as a 'regional system'", Harold Koch's "Comparative linguistics and Australian prehistory", and David Nash's "Comparative flora terminology of the central Northern Territory".
Mike Barbetti and JOHN HEAD 1997 Obituary: Henry A. Polach. Australian Archaeology 44 (June): 55-56.
An obituary for Henry Polach (6 May 1925 - 21 November 1996), former head of the ANU Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, and described here as "the father of radiocarbon dating in Australia". He set up the ANU Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory in 1965.
WAL AMBROSE 1997 "Contradictions in Lapita Pottery: a Composite Clone." Antiquity 71: 525-538. (ISSN 0003-598X)
"Like the cultures of Neolithic Europe - 'Glockenbecherkultur', 'Trichterbecherkultur', 'Linienbandkeramik' - The 'Lapita culture' of the western Pacific is defined by its distinctive ceramics. What that 'ceramic culture' amounts to in human terms has been a key question in the region's archaeology - complete with a quest for a Lapita homeland. This fresh review focuses on the pottery, the defining stuff itself of the affair."
ATHOLL ANDERSON 1997 "Historical and Archaeological Aspects of Muttonbirding in New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 17 (for 1995): 35-55.
Abstract
Muttonbirding involved the catching and preparation for storage of fledgling Procellariiformes, notably the sooty shearwater (Puffinus griseus) in Foveaux Strait. The historical industry, described briefly here, provided an important source of food for winter consumption and also a valued item of exchange. Archaeological data show that while muttonbirds (here confined to shearwaters), were widely exploited in prehistoric New Zealand, there is still only one probably early site at which systematic harvesting of the historical form can be documented. In addition, there is almost no evidence, from any source, of prehistoric occupation of the muttonbird islands in Foveaux Strait. Consequently, whether muttonbirding has a long pre-European history or is a relatively modern phenomenon remains uncertain. However, I favour the latter view and argue that the development of muttonbirding may be related to resource depletion on the mainland.
Kevin L. Jones, Ray Hooker and ATHOLL ANDERSON 1997 "Bruce Bay Revisited: Archaic Maori Occupation and Haast's 'Palaeolithic' ". New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 17 (for 1995): 111-124.
Abstract
Julius Haast (later von Haast), the founding father of New Zealand archaeology, based his initial view that there had been a 'Palaeolithic era' in New Zealand substantially upon evidence observed at Bruce Bay in 1868. From at least that time, the Bruce Bay coast, southern West Coast, has been eroding, exposing a series of middens. This paper describes recent archaeological and geomorphological investigations which set Haast's conclusions in modern context and restore credibility to his primary observations.
PETER BELLWOOD 1997 "The Austronesian Dispersal". Newsletter of Chinese Ethnology 35 (June): 1-26. Taipei: Ethnological Society of China.
This review article looks at the dispersal of Austronesian language speakers from Taiwan, through Island SE Asia and out into the Pacific. It discusses why the initial Austronesian dispersal occurred.
MATTHEW SPRIGGS 1997 "More Extraordinary Rowes and their Lost Cornish Language Manuscript". Cornwall Family History Society Journal 85 (September): 11-12. (ISSN 0141-7614)
This discusses the family of William Rowe (1666-17??), prominent in the preservation of Cornish language materials, and the quest for a Cornish language manuscript of his, last seen in Boston, USA in 1908 in the possession of John Rowe Needham.
MATTHEW SPRIGGS 1997 "Time to Take a Back Seat". Canberra Times, 19th September, page 11.
"Matthew Spriggs says that Australia is still regarded with suspicion on Bougainville and should not try to take a major role in the peace process, but recommends offering more logistic and financial support".
MATTHEW SPRIGGS 1997 Review of Ward H. Goodenough (ed.) 'Prehistoric Settlement of the Pacific'(1996). Journal of the Polynesian Society 106(3): 299-301.
JOHN MULVANEY, HOWARD MORPHY and Alison Petch 1997 My Dear Spencer. 554pp. Melbourne: Hyland House. $49-95.
Letters from Frank Gillen to Prof. Baldwin Spencer. A full-page feature article on the book can be found in Canberra Times, 19th October, page 20, by Jack Waterford.
ATHOLL ANDERSON 1997 "Uniformity and Regional Variation in Marine Fish Catches from Prehistoric New Zealand". Asian Perspectives 36 (1): 1-26. (ISSN 0066-8435)
Abstract
Catch patterns of prehistoric Maori fishing, including their regional variations, have been described by Leach and Boocock (1993) for one large sample of archaeological assemblages. A second large sample is described here, and the results compared. The new data strengthen evidence of a narrow focus upon snapper fishing in the southern South Island. The central regions are still inadequately represented by catch data. The overall emphasis upon a few medium-sized, shallow water, carnivorous species; regional variation in the taxa of these; and signs of a broad stability in catch patterns can be related fundamentally to the nature of a temperate-zone ichthyofauna and secondarily to probable features of the fishing gear and subsistence economy. There are some deficiencies in current data and approaches that need to be addressed. KEYWORDS: New Zealand, catch patterns, regional variation, fishing strategy.
PETER HISCOCK 1997 "Archaeological Evidence for Environmental Change in Darwin Harbour." In J.R. Hamley, G. Caswell, D. Megirian and H.K. Larson (eds) Proceedings of the Sixth International Marine Biological Workshop. The Marine Flora and Fauna of Darwin Harbour, Northern Territory, Australia, pp. 445-449. Darwin: Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory and the Australian Marine Sciences Association.
Abstract
Chronological change in the coastal environment of Darwin Harbour, Northern Territory, is documented by archaeological sites. Molluscs gathered by prehistoric people for food between 1,400 and about 900 years ago reveal that humans were foraging along largely open beaches. The dense and continuous mangrove forests found in the harbour today have formed in the last 1,000 years. KEYWORDS: Archaeology, prehistory, middens, shell mound, Darwin Harbour, palaeoenvironments.
MARY BOURKE 1997 "The Age of Two Human Occupation Sites in the Eastern MacDonnell Ranges, Central Australia". Australian Archaeology (December) 45: 55-57. ISSN 0312-2417.
The paper reports on radiocarbon dates for two occupation sites discovered during a geomorphic investigation of the Todd River catchment in central Australia. The two sites are the only dated occupation sites in the eastern MacDonnell Ranges.
Mary Bourke is a student in the Quaternary and Regolith Studies Graduate Program, based in ANH, RSPAS.
MARIE COLVILL 1997 "Thesis Abstract: Off the Shelf - Out of the Museum: the Retrieval of Plant Material from the Australian Archaeological Record". Australian Archaeology (December) 45: 64.
The abstract reads in part:
"This thesis reviews techniques currently available for the study of archaeobotanical remains, details current archaeological methods and assesses their potential for retrieval of plant remains. Excavation and curation methodologies frequently ignore the potential of macroscopic plant remains or contribute to its loss. By investigation of material available from two past excavations, Botobolar 5 rockshelter, NSW (Pearson 1981) and the Seton Site, Kangaroo Island, SA (Lampert 1981) it was possible to characterise the nature and extent of this loss and identify potential sources of more site information."
Marie Colvill, whose tragic death we report above, was a former student and casual research assistant in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology.
GRAHAM E. CONNAH 1997 "Professorial Inaugural Address: The Purposes of Archaeology". Australian Archaeology (December) 45: 48-53. ISSN 0312-2417.
Professor Connah's Inaugural Address upon his appointment as Professor of Archaeology at the University of New England in Armidale. The address was given on 13 October 1986 and originally published in 1987 by the University of New England.
Emeritus Professor Connah is a Departmental Visitor in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, ANU.
KATHLEEN MCCONNELL and SUE O'CONNOR 1997 "40,000 Year Record of Food Plants in the Southern Kimberley Ranges, Western Australia". Australian Archaeology (December) 45: 20-31. ISSN 0312-2417.
From the conclusion:
"The Carpenter's Gap site provides botanical evidence for a continuous cultural presence in the southern Kimberley for the past 40,000 years. Some indications of long-term shifts in flora can be extrapolated from the archaeological record. The evidence in the rockshelter of shifts in environment suggest that alternate plant food procuring strategies occurred as a response to environmental changes. The record suggests that the Aboriginal inhabitants did not abandon this region during the Last Glacial Maximum, but adapted their survival strategies to cope with a changing environment."
Kathleen McConnell completed an M.Sc degree in ANH, RSPAS in 1996.
GRAHAM CONNAH (ed.) 1997 The Archaeology of Lake Innes House: Investigating the Visible Evidence, 1993-5. Connah, Canberra for the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Emeritus Professor Graham Connah is a Departmental Visitor in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Faculty of Arts.
AUBREY PARKE 1997 "The Waimaro Carved Human Figures". Journal of Pacific History 32(2): 209-216
The article discusses two carved cachalot whale teeth figures held in a traditional Fijian context in the villages of Taulevu and Nadakuni, Naitasiri Province in the interior of Viti Levu. The article concludes that: "All human figures from Fiji are or were not then of the same singificance. Indeed, their significance may have varied as their cultural context altered in time and space."
Aubrey Parke is a PhD scholar in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Faculty of Arts.
You are visitor to this page.
Author: Peter Hiscock, Dept. Archaeology and Anthropology
Feedback: peter.hiscock@anu.edu.au .
Date Last Modified: 21-January-98
URL: http://artalpha.anu.edu.au/web/arc/aboutus/abuspubs.htm
