Marra philosophies of stone, and the stone artefacts of Walanjiwurru 1 rockshelter, Marra Country, northern Australia

Ash, Jeremy, Bradley, John J., Mialanes, Jerome, Brady, Liam M., Evans, Shaun, Barrett, David, David, Bruno, Wesley, Daryl, Dotte-Sarout, Emilie, Rowe, Cassandra, Urwin, Chris, and Manne, Tiina (2022) Marra philosophies of stone, and the stone artefacts of Walanjiwurru 1 rockshelter, Marra Country, northern Australia. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 68. 101456.

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Abstract

In archaeology, investigations into the social and cultural contexts of stone artefacts have largely focused on their typological styles, manufacturing technologies, functions, geographic distributions and the significance of the quarries they come from. Yet what is oftentimes overlooked is the deeper contemporary understandings by Indigenous groups of the stone artefacts recovered from excavations. In this paper, we analyse an assemblage of 9,642 excavated stone artefacts from the rockshelter site of Walanjiwurru 1 in Marra Country in northern Australia, in light of the cosmological significance of regional stone sources to local Aboriginal groups. Each recovered stone artefact, and the quarries of their raw materials, is laden with meanings that help reveal how Marra Aboriginal people socially and cosmologically engaged with their landscape. By combining archaeological and Marra cultural perspectives, we argue that subtle variations in the range of stones and their relational characteristics signal changing political engagements with ancestral places over the past 2300 years.

Item ID: 76729
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1090-2686
Keywords: Aboriginal archaeology; Chert; Ethnoarchaeology; Ontology; Quarries; Quartzite; Relationality; Stone artefacts
Copyright Information: Crown Copyright © 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Funders: Australian Research Council (ARC), ARC Centre of Excellence for Biodiversity and Heritage (ARC)
Projects and Grants: ARC DP170101083, ARC DE170101447, ARC FT180100038, ARC CE170100015
Date Deposited: 08 Nov 2022 01:24
FoR Codes: 45 INDIGENOUS STUDIES > 4501 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, language and history > 450101 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander archaeology @ 50%
45 INDIGENOUS STUDIES > 4501 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, language and history > 450112 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander philosophy @ 30%
45 INDIGENOUS STUDIES > 4503 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander environmental knowledges and management > 450304 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander environmental knowledges @ 20%
SEO Codes: 21 INDIGENOUS > 2104 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and culture > 210405 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander places of significance @ 40%
21 INDIGENOUS > 2104 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and culture > 210401 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artefacts @ 40%
21 INDIGENOUS > 2104 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and culture > 210402 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander connection to land and environment @ 20%
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