Australian prehistoric archaeology: the last few years

Richard Fullagar
Department of Archaeology, A22, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
richard.fullagar@archaeology.usyd.edu.au

Keywords: Australian prehistory, Aboriginal colonisation, megafaunal extinctions

Abstract

Australian prehistory has been preoccupied with questions about the origin and diversity of Aboriginal populations; dating the initial colonisation; megafaunal extinctions; the antiquity of the ethnographic present; and interpreting apparent Holocene change and Pleistocene stability. Discerning both natural (eg, climatic) impacts on behaviour, and human impacts on the Australian environment has been a theme that links these and related issues. This paper describes recent evidence of new dating methods, improved climatic data and more detailed archaeological evidence that complicates the issues rather than provide definitive answers to the old questions. The challenge remains to develop theories that accommodate archaeological indicators of behaviour with more detailed environmental records.

ref: Before Farming 2004/2 article 2

Indigenous knowledge systems and protection of San intellectual property: media and research contracts

Joram /Useb
Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA)
PO Box 80733, Windhoek, Namibia
wimsareg@iafrica.com.na

Roger Chennells
Chennells Albertyn, 44 Alexander Street, Stellenbosch, 7599, South Africa
scarlin@iafrica.com

Reactions to this article and the contract in the Appendix on page 7 from Megan Biesele, Polly Wiessner and Robert K Hitchcock, follow the article on page 11.

Keywords: San intellectual property, indigenous peoples, WIMSA, San heritage, research contract

Abstract

Academic freedom with regard to research on indigenous peoples may increasingly become a contractual, or negotiated, rather than an absolute right. The San, in common with many other indigenous communities, have for centuries allowed researchers and other information-gatherers access to all aspects of their lives, cultures and past, often with no remuneration or even formal acknowledgement. Archaeological or sociological research, carried out without permission, accountability or even benefit to the researched community, has resulted in the San peoples of southern Africa taking active steps to regain control over this aspect of their heritage, ensuring that intellectual property acknowledgement and, where appropriate, financial benefits accompany their negotiated cooperation in research or media projects. Whilst many have expressed outrage at the curbing of their prior freedom to engage virtually at will with indigenous peoples, others have recognised the additional benefits attainable in a more equitable dialogue between the knowledge systems of the academic and indigenous worlds. This paper argues that the San are custodians of all aspects of their culture, and that all future research should be negotiated with the San organisations.

The combined perspective provided in this paper is that of San activist Joram /Useb, member of the Hei//om San of northern Namibia and deputy coordinator of the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA) and of lawyer Roger Chennells, legal adviser to WIMSA and the South African San Institute. The paper was originally given at the 20th biennial conference of the Southern African Association of Archaeologists in Kimberley, South Africa, 4- 8 April 2004.

ref: Before Farming 2004/2 article 3

Before and after the hiatus: lithic technology in Cerro de los Indios 1 rockshelter (Posadas - Pueyrredon lakes basin, south Patagonia, Argentina)

Ana Gabriela Guráieb
Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano, Buenos Aires, Argentina gguraieb@yahoo.com

Keywords: Hunter-gatherer, mobility, occupational hiatus, lithic technology

Abstract

Cerro de los Indios 1 rockshelter is located in the Posadas-Pueyrredón lakes basin, in the north west part of Santa Cruz province, Argentina. Two chronological Blocks (Initial and Recent) were identified, separated by a 1000 year hiatus. Taking this feature into account, this paper seeks to examine technological change through time. The typological and technological structure of each assemblage is analysed, and other properties are considered (richness and homogeneity) in an effort to distinguish patterns of production between Blocks. The most revealing differences are found in the ways in which lithic resources were used, but at the same time other measured variables like blank selection, size and length-width modules did not seem to change much over time. The distinctive patterns of raw material use in each Block are attributed to different technological or mobility strategies.

In the Initial Block, a mobility strategy with wider action ranges is postulated. These could have facilitated an easier procurement of exotic lithic resources, also orienting raw material selection to satisfy specific needs imposed by design or by the expected tasks requirements. On the other hand, the use of lithic resources in the Recent Block shows some degree of reduction in group mobility or changes in the annual seasonal round. In sum, mobility reduction or new circulation patterns put some lithic sources out of reach or, at least, caused an increase in the procurement cost for some of them. In concordance with the model of more repeated or long-lived occupations of Cerro de los Indios 1 rockshelter, a shift is seen in the Recent Block towards the greater selection and use of andesite, a local and easily obtained raw material.

ref: Before Farming 2004/2 article 4

The functioning of networks during the Mesolithic in western France: permanent traits and changes in the structure of territories

Estelle Yven
Centre de Recherche Bretonne et Celtique (UMR 6038 du CNRS), Université de Bretagne Occidentale, 20 rue Duquesne, BP 814, 29285 Brest cedex, France
yven.e@club-internet.fr

Keywords: Mesolithic, networks, territories, quarry-sites, lithic technology, lithic raw materials, Brittany

Abstract

The ethnographic record provides archaeologists with a sense of the great variability of economic, technical, and symbolic solutions devised by recent forager groups in response to the problems of managing resources within restricted geographical areas. One such response that may be useful in analysing the formation and structure of territories in the Mesolithic of Brittany is the development of social, economic and symbolic networks, represented by nodes, routes, and permanent places, as well as by unoccupied sectors in a landscape. The recognition and modelling of prehistoric networks requires a spatial approach that involves extensive areal coverage combined with sound chronological controls and an understanding of the linked concepts of territory and networks.

This paper presents the results of many weeks of field-walking together with the analysis of several hundred lithic artefact collections. Fieldwork started with the systematic search for geological deposits of the raw materials suitable for knapping in two sectors of Brittany. The aim was to estimate the resources available in an area and this has resulted in the classification of deposits into three types: unexploited sites; explored sites; and exploited deposits - also called 'quarry-sites'.

Quarry-sites were frequented during the middle and later Mesolithic. They testify to relative continuity between the structures of territories from one period to the other. The location of major sites confirms the hypothesis that the sectors of occupation were spatially restricted.

The technological and typological analysis of the collections of knapped stones shows spatial and temporal variation in the supply of lithic raw materials. In Brittany, flint comes from the coasts, and during the middle Mesolithic, this material was preferred across the whole of western Brittany for the production of bladelets and microliths. Conversely, during the later Mesolithic, inland groups were using almost exclusively local (inland) materials in certain sectors. Methods of débitage were adapted according to the raw materials. This change in the practicalities of procurement and management of the lithic resources suggests a restriction or partition of the territories with time, and this may be linked to the appropriation of space.

© Western Academic & Specialist Press Ltd 2004