Fiona Hook

Maritime deserts of the Australian northwest

Abstract This paper reports on the first season of work on the Barrow Island Archaeology Project. It contextualises new findings within a review of what is now known of the archaeology of the Carnarvon bioregion. A reliance on coastal resources for over 42,000 years is indicated from excavations and open sites from Cape Range, the Montebello Islands, the Onslow coastline and Barrow Island. The continuous use of marine resources, blended with largely arid zone terrestrial assemblages, from 17,000 cal. BP until the modern era, attests to a deep chronology for hybrid maritime desert societies in the Australian northwest.

A note on radiocarbon dates from the Paraburdoo, Mount Brockman and Yandicoogina areas of the Hamersley Plateau, Pilbara, Western Australia

Excavations have been carried out at a number of rockshelters in the Pilbara region of Western Australia as part of mitigative salvage work and research supported by Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd. The excavations commenced in 1998 and are ongoing. At all times, the work was conducted with participation of and supervision from the relevant Aboriginal people. These people are the Innawonga in the Paraburdoo area, the Gurama in the Mount Brockman area and the Bandjima and Niabarli in the Yandicoogina area. Their contributions to the research are gratefully acknowledged.