Duncan Wright

Human Colonization of the Palau Islands, Western Micronesia

ABSTRACT Adaptation to new environments is an important issue in colonization research with implications for accurately establishing the timing of human arrival and interpreting the dispersal pattern from the distribution of early archaeological sites. Island groups frequently contain a diverse range of landscapes and geographic variation in their colonization records that might reflect the environmental preference of prehistoric migrants. In the Palau Islands the large island of Babeldaob may have been colonized by 4300 cal BP on palaeoenvironmental evidence, while the oldest archaeological deposits in the small limestone islands of southern Palau date to ∼ca. 3000 cal BP. Does the discrepancy in colonization ages represent a predilection for the large volcanic island relative to small limestone islands? To examine the timing of human arrival in southern Palau an early site on Ulong Island was re-excavated, along with ancillary investigations to calculate a local reservoir value (ΔR) to apply to new marine shell 14C ages and investigation of a buried sea-notch to estimate the impact of sea-level change and tectonic movement. Human arrival in southern Palau is dated to no earlier than 3100–2900 cal BP. Neolithic dispersal in other island environments in the Pacific is reviewed to see whether colonization of large islands tended to precede use of small islands. The general pattern is for the oldest sites to be located on large islands, with human activity archaeologically visible throughout an archipelago within 100–300 years. A similar interval applied to Palau would put colonization at 3400–3100 cal BP, but this needs to be confirmed by palaeoenvironmental and archaeological investigations in coastal Babeldaob.

An Early Upper Palaeolithic decorated bone tubular rod from Pod Hradem Cave, Czech Republic

Personal ornaments are a notable feature of the Early Upper Palaeolithic in Europe and an important expression of modern human identity. The tubular bone rod from Pod Hradem Cave in the Czech Republic is the first example of its kind from Central Europe. Laboratory examination reveals the techniques used in its manufacture and underlines the skill of its maker. AMS dates and Bayesian modelling suggest a cultural association with the Early Aurignacian period. It illustrates the cultural links across large areas of Europe at this time, although it is unique in its specific combination of size, raw material and decorative features.

Birriwilk rockshelter: a mid- to late Holocene site in Manilikarr Country, southwest Arnhem Land, Northern Territory

Abstract Recent excavations at the Birriwilk rockshelter in Mikinj Valley, southwest Arnhem Land, have revealed evidence for mid- to late Holocene settlement, including a major period of site use in the last millennium. The site is important to the traditional owners, with a rich oral tradition associated with ‘Birriwilk’, an ancestor of the Urningangk tribe, who is depicted in rock art at the site. Oral traditions link Birriwilk with an adjacent lagoon, as well as a number of other rock art sites and features in the landscape, including the renowned Ubirr complex. The Birriwilk site and vicinity are significant places to the Nayinggul family, traditional owners for the Manilikarr estate. This post-fieldwork report summarises key archaeological findings at Birriwilk, using frequencies of stone artefacts and faunal remains as proxies of occupation from ca 5000 years ago. The most intense occupation occurred within the last 700 years, a period characterised by foraging and hunting in adjacent wetland habitats, changing technological emphasis to the manufacture of bifacial quartzite points, increased artefact discard rates and increased ochre grinding. The site has little archaeological evidence of use during the last 200 years, although oral histories indicate it was visited regularly until the mid-twentieth century. The rockshelter remains an important story site today.

Further radiocarbon dates from Dabangay, a mid- to late Holocene settlement site in western Torres Strait

Abstract Dabangay , on the island of Mabuyag, is one of only two known mid-Holocene sites in Torres Strait. Eleven new radiocarbon dates, combined with nine previous determinations, clarify its site formation processes and settlement history. The sequence shows two sustained settlement periods between 7239–3211 cal. BP and 1815 cal. BP–present, with little evidence for use during the intervening period. This differs from Badu 15, approximately 15 km south of Mabuyag, where human activity became sporadic after 6500 cal. BP. There is no evidence for a settlement expansion at 2500 BP as observed at other sites in the western Torres Strait. These differences suggest varied human responses to post-glacial marine transgression and the subsequent sea-level high stand in western Torres Strait.

Painted shark vertebrae beads from the Djawumbu–Madjawarrnja complex, western Arnhem Land

Abstract In Europe and Africa, fine grained use wear and residue analyses of various organic bead technologies have provided remarkable information about specialist artisans and their affiliate communities. Ethnographic research suggests that personal ornaments represent one of the best ways to explore past human interactions and ethno-linguistic diversity. The study of material culture featured in rock art is now well established in Australia, but few detailed analyses have concentrated on personal ornaments recovered from the archaeological record. Fewer still have assessed the potential of this medium for assessing regional variations, despite rich ethnographic histories which point to the significance of these objects for self-differentiating communities and/or clans. This paper examines a collection of painted shark vertebrae beads recently discovered during archaeological survey in Arnhem Land. Detailed morphometric and use wear analysis is presented for these ornaments, alongside Aboriginal oral traditions, and assessment of similar artefacts held in museum collections across Australia. The potential of this combined approach within the Australian context is discussed, including how these studies add to our understanding of group signifying behaviour.

Hominid visitation of the Moravian Karst during the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition: New results from Pod Hradem Cave (Czech Republic)

In 1956-1958, excavations of Pod Hradem Cave in Moravia (eastern Czech Republic) revealed evidence for human activity during the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition. This spanned 25,050-44,800 cal BP and contained artefacts attributed to the Aurignacian and Szeletian cultures, including those made from porcelanite (rarely used at Moravian Paleolithic sites). Coarse grained excavation techniques and major inversions in radiocarbon dates meant that site chronology could not be established adequately. This paper documents re-excavation of Pod Hradem in 2011-2012. A comprehensive AMS dating program using ultrafiltration and ABOx-SC pre-treatments provides new insights into human occupation at Pod Hradem Cave. Fine-grained excavation reveals sedimentary units spanning approximately 20,000 years of the Early Upper Paleolithic and late Middle Paleolithic periods, thus making it the first archaeological cave site in the Czech Republic with such a sedimentary and archaeological record. Recent excavation confirms infrequent human visitation, including during the Early Aurignacian by people who brought with them portable art objects that have no parallel in the Czech Republic. Raw material diversity of lithics suggests long-distance imports and ephemeral visits by highly mobile populations throughout the EUP period.

The rock art of Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II)

The western Arnhem Land site of Madjedbebe – a site hitherto erroneously named Malakunanja II in scientific and popular literature but identified as Madjedbebe by senior Mirarr Traditional Owners – is widely recognised as one of Australia’s oldest dated human occupation sites (Roberts et al. 1990a:153, 1998; Allen and O’Connell 2014; Clarkson et al. 2017). Yet little is known of its extensive body of rock art. The comparative lack of interest in rock art by many archaeologists in Australia during the 1960s into the early 1990s meant that rock art was often overlooked or used simply to illustrate the ‘real’ archaeology of, for example, stone artefact studies. As Hays-Gilpen (2004:1) suggests, rock art was viewed as ‘intractable to scientific research, especially under the science-focused “new archaeology” and “processual archaeology” paradigms of the 1960s through the early 1980s’. Today, things have changed somewhat, and it is no longer essential to justify why rock art has relevance to wider archaeological studies. That said, archaeologists continued to struggle to connect the archaeological record above and below ground at sites such as Madjedbebe. For instance, at this site, Roberts et al. (1990a:153) recovered more than 1500 artefacts from the lowest occupation levels, including ‘silcrete flakes, pieces of dolerite and ground haematite, red and yellow ochres, a grindstone and a large number of amorphous artefacts made of quartzite and white quartz’. The presence of ground haematite and ochres in the lowest deposits certainly confirms the use of pigment by the early, Pleistocene inhabitants of this site. However, we know very little about what the materials were used for. Many of the earliest occupation sites in Australia, including Madjedbebe, have revealed finds of ochre with ground facets, sometimes in considerable quantities (Clarkson et al. 2017; Davidson and Noble 1992:139), and it would not be too far-fetched to suggest that the haematite and other ochres were used for cultural ‘business’, such as body art, decoration of objects (spears, dilly bags, etc.), the production of rock art or other such activities. Whatever the case, here we argue that the rock art is an important part of the archaeological story of Madjedbebe, and it deserves particular attention. In this chapter, we focus on the 1068 paintings, stencils and beeswax figures that exist above current ground level at Madjedbebe. Our work draws on environmental, archaeological and ethnographic evidence to place the art and the site in their wider regional contexts.

Exploring ceremony: the archaeology of a men's meeting house ('Kod') on Mabuyag, Western Torres Strait

The materiality of ritual performance is a growing focus for archaeologists. In Europe, collective ritual performance is expected to be highly structured and to leave behind a loud archaeological signature. In Australia and Papua New Guinea, ritual is highly structured; however, material signatures for performance are not always apparent, with ritual frequently bound up in the surrounding natural and cultural landscape. One way of assessing long-term ritual in this context is by using archaeology to historicize ethno-historical and ethnographic accounts. Examples of this in the Torres Strait region, islands between Papua New Guinea and mainland Australia, suggest that ritual activities were materially inscribed at kod sites (ceremonial mens meeting places) through distribution of clan fireplaces, mounds of stone/bone and shell. This paper examines the structure of Torres Strait ritual for a site ethnographically reputed to be the ancestral kod of the Mabuyag Islanders. Intra-site partitioning of ritual performance is interpreted using ethnography, rock art and the divergent distribution of surface and sub-surface materials (including microscopic analysis of dugong bone and lithic material) across the site. Finally, it discusses the materiality of ritual at a boundary zone between mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea and the extent to which archaeology provides evidence for Islander negotiation through ceremony of external incursions.

Ritual pathways and public memory: Archaeology of Waiet zogo in Eastern Torres Strait, far north Australia

The materiality of performative ritual is a growing focus for archaeologists. In Europe, collective ritual performance is expected to be highly structured with ritual often resulting in a loud archaeological signature. In Australia and Papua New Guinea, ritual (and collective ritual movement) is also highly structured; however, materiality and permanence are frequently secondary to intangible and/or impermanent considerations. In this paper, we apply the framework of public memory to places and objects associated with the Waiet cult in Eastern Torres Strait. We explore the extent to which ritual performance spanning multiple islands can survive through archaeology, as well as whether ethno-archaeology and history provide insight into the structured and highly political process by which rituals were remembered, celebrated and forgotten.

Graeme Barker (ed.). Rainforest foraging and farming in Island Southeast Asia . (The archaeology of the Niah Caves, Sarawak 1). xx+410 pages, 279 colour and bw 978-1-902937-54-0 hardback £62.

correlates of rates of cultural innovation and transmission is also widely used elsewhere. Churchill’s treatment, however, provides both an examination of the ecological causes of low population density and an archaeological analysis of its ramifications. As such, it provides one of the more comprehensive groundings of what remains a largely theoretical argument. In this context, it is also pleasing to note Churchill’s contention, supported by increasingly abundant evidence, that Neanderthals were cognitively capable of producing essentially ‘modern’ material culture, but that their population densities prevented them from doing so for long periods of time. The evidence presented for increasing archaeological site densities in the later Mousterian provides a viable explanation as to why the more impressive cultural and symbolic expressions of the Neanderthal adaptation occurred primarily during this period, when our own ancestors were already at the gates of Europe.