Ellwood, William J., Campbell, John B., and Susino, George J. (2009) Agricultural hunter-gatherers: food-getting, domestication and farming in pre-colonial Australia. In: Burdukiewicz, Jan Michal, Cyrek, Krzysztof, Dyczek, Piotr, and Szymczak, Karol, (eds.) Understanding the Past: papers offered to Stefan K. Kozlowski. University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland, pp. 115-122.

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Abstract

[Extract] Elkin (1974: 51) asserted, "We apparently agree with the Aborigines that Australia was in their time only suitable for a food-gathering and hunting economy... The food-gathering life is parasitical; the Aborigines are absolutely dependent on what nature produces without any practical assistance on their part." Statements such as these are highly subjective and unlikely to lead to any in-depth investigations of Aboriginal plant uses and management styles. This paper will show that his position was and is preposterous. It unfortunately led to many years of serious neglect of what actually happened in pre-colonial Australia both in anthropology and archaeology. The few who managed to get close to some of what really happened include Tindale (1974, 1977) and Lourandos (1980, 1983, 1985, 1997, 2008), among others.

Item ID:	27882
Item Type:	Book Chapter (Research - B1)
ISBN:	978-83-928330-4-8
Additional Information:	Copyright for the particular papers by the authors.
Date Deposited:	05 Aug 2013 05:36
FoR Codes:	21 HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 2101 Archaeology > 210101 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Archaeology @ 100%
SEO Codes:	95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9505 Understanding Past Societies > 950503 Understanding Australias Past @ 100%
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