Gibbs, Martin, and Veth, Peter (2002) Ritual engines and the archaeology of territorial ascendancy. In: Tempus: Archaeology and Material Culture Studies in Anthropology (7) pp. 11-19. From: Barriers, Borders, Boundaries: Proceedings of the 2001 Australian Archaeological Association Annual Conference, 6-8 December 2001, Hervey Bay, QLD, Australia.

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Abstract

In the early years of the twentieth century, anthropologists recorded evidence for the movement of the circumcision rite into the non-circumcising southwest region of Western Australia. Archaeological and linguistic evidence from central Australia suggests that this may have been a continuation of an expansion of the boundaries of the Western Desert 'cultural group' which began almost 1,500 years ago. This paper considers how the sorts of social mechanisms recorded during the historic period for the push of circumcision into the southwest, what we will characterise here as 'ritual engines', may well inform on much wider processes responsible for the remarkable geographic spread and speed of the transmission of the Western Desert culture group.

Item ID:	14685
Item Type:	Conference Item (Research - E1)
ISBN:	909611483
Keywords:	Aboriginal sites; archaeology; circumcision; southwest Western Australia; Western Desert
Date Deposited:	29 Oct 2017 22:58
FoR Codes:	21 HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 2101 Archaeology > 210199 Archaeology not elsewhere classified @ 100%
SEO Codes:	97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970116 Expanding Knowledge through Studies of Human Society @ 100%
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