Dorcas Vannieuwenhuyse

Towards an accurate and precise chronology for the colonization of Australia: The example of Riwi, Kimberley, Western Australia

An extensive series of 44 radiocarbon (14C) and 37 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages have been obtained from the site of Riwi, south central Kimberley (NW Australia). As one of the earliest known Pleistocene sites in Australia, with archaeologically sterile sediment beneath deposits containing occupation, the chronology of the site is important in renewed debates surrounding the colonization of Sahul. Charcoal is preserved throughout the sequence and within multiple discrete hearth features. Prior to 14C dating, charcoal has been pretreated with both acid-base-acid (ABA) and acid base oxidation-stepped combustion (ABOx-SC) methods at multiple laboratories. Ages are consistent between laboratories and also between the two pretreatment methods, suggesting that contamination is easily removed from charcoal at Riwi and the Pleistocene ages are likely to be accurate. Whilst some charcoal samples recovered from outside hearth features are identified as outliers within a Bayesian model, all ages on charcoal within hearth features are consistent with stratigraphy. OSL dating has been undertaken using single quartz grains from the sandy matrix. The majority of samples show De distributions that are well-bleached but that also include evidence for mixing as a result of post-depositional bioturbation of the sediment. The results of the two techniques are compared and evaluated within a Bayesian model. Consistency between the two methods is good, and we demonstrate human occupation at this site from 46.4–44.6 cal kBP (95.4% probability range). Importantly, the lowest archaeological horizon at Riwi is underlain by sterile sediments which have been dated by OSL making it possible to demonstrate the absence of human occupation for between 0.9–5.2 ka (68.2% probability range) prior to occupation.

Occupation at carpenters gap 3, windjana gorge, kimberley, Western Australia

Abstract Carpenters Gap 3 (CG3), a limestone cave and shelter complex in the Napier Range, Western Australia, was occupied by Aboriginal people intermittently from over 30,000 years ago through to the historic period. Excavations at CG3 provide only slight evidence for occupation following first settlement in the late Pleistocene. Analysis of the radiocarbon dates indicates that following this there was a hiatus in occupation during the Last Glacial Maximum. In common with most Australian sites, the evidence for occupation increases sharply from the mid-Holocene. Faunal remains, interpreted predominantly as the remains of people’s meals, all suggest foraging of the immediate surroundings throughout the entire period of occupation. Fragments of baler shell and scaphopod beads are present from the early Holocene, suggesting movement of high value goods from the coast (over 200 km distant). Flakes from edge-ground axes recovered from occupation units dated to approximately 33,000 cal. BP, when overall artefact numbers are low, suggest that these tools formed an important component of the lithic repertoire at this time.

Karnatukul (Serpent’s glen): A new chronology for the oldest site in Australia’s Western Desert

The re-excavation of Karnatukul (Serpent’s Glen) has provided evidence for the human occupation of the Australian Western Desert to before 47,830 cal. BP (modelled median age). This new sequence is 20,000 years older than the previous known age for occupation at this site. Re-excavation of Karnatukul aimed to contextualise the site’s painted art assemblage. We report on analyses of assemblages of stone artefacts and pigment art, pigment fragments, anthracology, new radiocarbon dates and detailed sediment analyses. Combined these add significantly to our understanding of this earliest occupation of Australia’s Western Desert. The large lithic assemblage of over 25,000 artefacts includes a symmetrical geometric backed artefact dated to 45,570–41,650 cal. BP. The assemblage includes other evidence for hafting technology in its earliest phase of occupation. This research recalibrates the earliest Pleistocene occupation of Australia’s desert core and confirms that people remained in this part of the arid zone during the Last Glacial Maximum. Changes in occupation intensity are demonstrated throughout the sequence: at the late Pleistocene/Holocene transition, the mid-Holocene and then during the last millennium. Karnatukul documents intensive site use with a range of occupation activities and different signalling behaviours during the last 1,000 years. This correlation of rock art and occupation evidence refines our understanding of how Western Desert peoples have inscribed their landscapes in the recent past, while the newly described occupation sequence highlights the dynamic adaptive culture of the first Australians, supporting arguments for their rapid very early migration from the coasts and northern tropics throughout the arid interior of the continent.

The curious case of Proteaceae: macrobotanical investigations at Mount Behn rockshelter, Bunuba country, Western Australia

Abstract Macrobotanical analyses, which offer important information about human-environment interactions of the past, are underdeveloped in Australia due to limited reference materials, poor preservation of organic remains and inadequate field sampling strategies. Wood, seeds, fibres and resin provide invaluable information on diet, technology and human-environment interaction. When excavated from stratified archaeological deposits, macrobotanical remains enable analysis at a scale that is spatio-temporally linked with human occupation, unlike broad-scale palaeo-environmental records, which defy correlation with short-time human responses. Identification and analyses of wood charcoal and seeds from Mount Behn rockshelter, Bunuba country, in the southern Kimberley region of Western Australia, where the largest stone point assemblage for the region was excavated. Neither the anthracological nor carpological records reflect the taxon richness of vegetation communities of the modern vegetation, precluding both palaeo-environmental reconstruction and in-depth exploration of resource management and use. Certain taxa are over-represented in the anthracological and carpological records, in particular, Proteaceae wood charcoal and Celtis spp. endocarps, and we explore how anthracological and carpological spectra are artefacts of preservation, with particular reference to other macrobotanical research that has been conducted in the Kimberley region and Western Australia.

Re-excavation of Djuru, a Holocene rockshelter in the Southern Kimberley, North Western Australia

Abstract Re-excavation of a shelter in Windjana Gorge National Park, Southern Kimberley has extended the known occupation sequence of the site from the mid Holocene to the terminal Pleistocene. The site was previously excavated in 1994 and a non-basal date of ∼7,000 cal. BP was recorded. Significantly, the chronostratigraphic sequence represented in the earlier excavation is substantially different to the recent excavation demonstrating stratigraphic variation within a relatively small rock shelter and the need for extensive inter- and intersite and intrasite sampling prior to modeling regional occupation patterning.