Early human occupation of a maritime desert, Barrow Island, north-west Australia

Veth, Peter, Ward, Ingrid, Manne, Tiina, Ulm, Sean, Ditchfield, Kane, Dortch, Joe, Hook, Fiona, Petchey, Fiona, Hogg, Alan, Questiaux, Daniele, Demuro, Martina, Arnold, Lee, Spooner, Nigel, Levchenko, Vladimir, Skippington, Jane, Byrne, Chae, Basgall, Mark, Zeanah, David, Belton, David, Helmholz, Petra, Bajkan, Szilvia, Bailey, Richard, Placzek, Christa, and Kendrick, Peter (2017) Early human occupation of a maritime desert, Barrow Island, north-west Australia. Quaternary Science Reviews, 168. pp. 19-29.

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Abstract

Archaeological deposits from Boodie Cave on Barrow Island, northwest Australia, reveal some of the oldest evidence for Aboriginal occupation of Australia, as well as illustrating the early use of marine resources by modern peoples outside of Africa. Barrow Island is a large (202km2) limestone continental island located on the North-West Shelf of Australia, optimally located to sample past use of both the Pleistocene coastline and extensive arid coastal plains. An interdisciplinary team forming the Barrow Island Archaeology Project (BIAP) has addressed questions focusing on the antiquity of occupation of coastal deserts by hunter-gatherers; the use and distribution of marine resources from the coast to the interior; and the productivity of the marine zone with changing sea levels. Boodie Cave is the largest of 20 stratified deposits identified on Barrow Island with 20m3 of cultural deposits excavated between 2013 and 2015. In this first major synthesis we focus on the dating and sedimentology of Boodie Cave to establish the framework for ongoing analysis of cultural materials. We present new data on these cultural assemblages – including charcoal, faunal remains and lithics – integrated with micromorphology, sedimentary history and dating by four independent laboratories. First occupation occurs between 51.1 and 46.2ka, overlapping with the earliest dates for occupation of Australia. Marine resources are incorporated into dietary assemblages by 42.5ka and continue to be transported to the cave through all periods of occupation, despite fluctuating sea levels and dramatic extensions of the coastal plain. The changing quantities of marine fauna through time reflect the varying distance of the cave from the contemporaneous shoreline. The dietary breadth of both arid zone terrestrial fauna and marine species increases after the Last Glacial Maximum and significantly so by the mid-Holocene. The cave is abandoned by 6.8ka when the island becomes increasingly distant from the mainland coast.

Item ID: 48958
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1873-457X
Keywords: north-west Shelf of Australia; colonisation; coastal deserts; maritime deserts; marine resources; island archaeology
Copyright Information: © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. The Author Accepted Manuscript of this article is available Open Access from ResearchOnline@JCU under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial No Derivative works license.
Funders: Australian Research Council (ARC)
Projects and Grants: ARC Discovery Project (DP130100802), ARC Future Fellowship (FT120100656), ARC Future Fellowship (FT130100195), ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE150101597), ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE160100743)
Date Deposited: 22 May 2017 23:46
FoR Codes: 45 INDIGENOUS STUDIES > 4501 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, language and history > 450101 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander archaeology @ 50%
43 HISTORY, HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 4301 Archaeology > 430101 Archaeological science @ 50%
SEO Codes: 95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9505 Understanding Past Societies > 950503 Understanding Australias Past @ 100%
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