Keryn Walshe

Patterns in ritual tooth avulsion at Roonka

Tooth avulsion is the intentional removal of one or more teeth for ritual or aesthetic reasons, or to denote group affiliation. Typically the maxillary incisors are the teeth most often selected for removal. Previous authors have discussed the presence of tooth avulsions in several individuals recovered from Roonka, but those papers did not examine any patterns in those removals that might be present. Analysis of the tooth avulsions at Roonka reveals a change in the practice over time, with the older burials from phase II typically showing removal of both maxillary central incisors with a left side bias when only one tooth is removed, and the more recent phase III burials showing only one incisor avulsed and a right side bias for removal. Frequencies in the practice also changed over time, with avulsions being much more common in the older phase II burials. Historical evidence suggests that any particular regional or social group would have its own particular pattern of tooth avulsion, so these changes in tooth avulsions at Roonka suggest that the site was either used by multiple groups of people for burials, or that there was significant cultural change during the occupation of the site.

Late Pleistocene megafauna site at Black Creek Swamp, Flinders Chase National Park, Kangaroo Island, South Australia

The occurrence of fossil vertebrate remains at Black Creek Swamp at the western end of Kangaroo Island, South Australia, along with reports of ‘primitive’ stone implements in the vicinity has, for more than seventy years, fuelled speculation that this site would reveal a definitive relationship between humans and megafauna. Radiocarbon dating in the 1970s and again in 2004 suggested accumulation at around the last glacial maximum, making it potentially the youngest megafaunal deposit in Australia. Our excavations produced no artefacts and no evidence of butchering. Taphonomic evidence indicates three phases of drought accumulation around an ephemeral water source. These droughts may have been induced by climate, sinkhole drainage, or both. The fauna includes 29 species; one third of the species are extinct. This component is represented by browsing herbivores and their putative predator, Thylacoleo carnifex. The extant species indicate a mosaic of habitats including open sclerophyll forest, grassy patches, areas of shrubby understorey and semi-permanent water sources. The occurrence of two dwarfed species is suggestive of isolation and resource depletion. Multiple dating techniques (OSL, ESR, U-series and C) revealed a complex geochemical history for this site. New age estimates place the fossil accumulation between 110 and 45 ka.

An adze manufactured from a telegraph insulator, Harvey's Return, Kangaroo Island

A small, modified flake tool manufactured from telegraph insulator material was located along the north western coast of Kangaroo Island, at a place known as Harveys Return. The tool was hafted and has been well used during its active life and its working edge is illustrated in Figure I. Residue analysis indicates a thick coating of resin, which cannot be specifically identified although Spinifex and Xanthorrea can be excluded (Loy 2002).

Indigenous archaeological sites and the Black Swamp fossil bed: Rocky River precinct, Flinders Chase National Park, Kangaroo Island, South Australia

Rocky River in the Flinders Chase National Park, Kangaroo Island was first noted in 1908 by C.J. May, then caretaker of the Rocky River Reserve (Tindale et al. 1935). Formal palaeontological investigation of the fossil area was initiated during a visit to the former Flinders Chase Flora and Fauna Reserve by Norman Tindale in late 1934 (Tindale et al. 1935; Tindale 1937a, 1937b). Further interest was not rekindled until the late 1970s (Hope et al. 1977). Since 1995 however, palaeontological investigations have been intensely focused on the Black Swamp fossil site (Wells et al.1997; Thammakhantry 1998; Dalgairns 1999).

Aboriginal Occupation at Hawker Lagoon, Southern Flinders Ranges, South Australia

Abstract Two Indigenous archaeology field schools were conducted by this author and Pauline Coulthard, an Adnyamathanha elder, during 2001 and 2002 for a total of four weeks. The schools were held at Hawker Lagoon, in the southern Flinders Ranges with participation of students from the Department of Archaeology, Flinders University. The archaeology program continued earlier work undertaken by Ron Lampert in the 1980’s at the same site. Excavation revealed a disparity between earlier stratigraphic patterns and dating outcomes. The surface material is subject to significant environmental disturbance. Three surface hearths returned dates ranging from about 1500 to 550 years BP for associated charcoal. The lagoon is discussed within the broader context of occupation, trade and response to the LGM rather than within the narrow context of disturbed archaeological assemblages.

Risk Minimization and a Late Holocene Increase in Mobility at Roonka Flat, South Australia: An Analysis of Lower Limb Bone Diaphyseal Shape.

OBJECTIVES The strengthening of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the mid-Holocene caused significant changes in climate, vegetation, and faunal assemblages in South Australia. The appearance of a light, flexible backed-artifact toolkit ∼4 kya has been interpreted as evidence for changes in foraging behavior in response to this event. Optimal foraging theory supports a risk minimization strategy for South Australian hunter-gatherers in which increased mobility was used to cope with effects of a dryer, unstable environment in the late Holocene. Whether this event caused changes in foraging mobility will be tested by examining lower limb external diaphyseal shape between pre-ENSO and post-ENSO skeletons from Roonka Flat, South Australia. MATERIALS AND METHODS Anteroposterior and mediolateral diameters were used to construct diaphyseal shape indices for Roonka Flat femora and tibiae. If populations living in South Australia became more mobile over time, then post-ENSO skeletons should exhibit higher shape indices. RESULTS The pooled-sex post-ENSO sample has significantly higher femoral shape indices than the pre-ENSO sample. Males do not show significant diaphyseal shape differences over time, but females significantly increase. DISCUSSION These data are consistent with the risk minimization model, indicating that South Australians became more mobile post-ENSO to better exploit a less productive environment by expanding their foraging radii. The temporal shift toward more elliptical diaphyses is more notable in females than males, which is consistent with Aboriginal ethnographies that show both sexes being intensely involved in hunting and capturing game animals. Am J Phys Anthropol 161:94-103, 2016.