We describe an experimental test and archaeological application of the solid geometry method for the interpretation of cortical surface area in lithic assemblages proposed by Dibble et al. (2005). Experimental results support the method's accuracy while archaeological application to assemblages from western New South Wales, Australia suggests a repeated pattern of the selective removal of artifacts away from their location of manufacture. These findings shed light on the role curation and mobility play in the use and eventual discard of those artifact classes for which conventional measures of curation are not applicable. The results raise new questions about Aboriginal technological organization and land use, while simultaneously highlighting the complex relationship between past human behavior and archaeological assemblage content.

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Abstract

An analysis of surface scatters of stone artifacts from late Holocene contexts at Stud Creek, Sturt National Park in the northwest of New South Wales, Australia, is reported. A sedimentological and archaeological chronology for Stud Creek shows archaeological remains are no older than 2000 years and Stud Creek saw repeated occupation during the last two millennia. Methods are proposed whereby conflated stone artifact assemblages from different locations within the Stud Creek catchment can be analyzed to understand how use of the catchment differed from place to place. We propose "place use history," as a more useful concept than "settlement system" for understanding surface artifact assemblages.

The environmental history of Big Willum (Waandriipayn) Swamp and the surrounding landscape is reconstructed for the last 8000 years through the analysis of pollen, charcoal and mineral magnetics. The data provide a Holocene record of vegetation and fire in an area where few records exist. Swamp initiation at Big Willum began prior to 8000 cal. BP, with swamp-like conditions maintained until 2200 cal. BP, after which it became a permanent deep water body, reaching its present day extent between 600-400 cal. BP. From 7000-1200 cal. BP the surrounding woodland was essentially stable. Fire is present throughout the record, with only one period of pronounced burning outside of the historic period, at around 1000 cal. BP, leading to a slightly more open understorey/woodland. The hydrological change at 2200 cal. BP that led to Big Willum becoming a more permanent water body overlaps with the end of the most intensive period of shell mound formation and the commencement of earth mound building at nearby Wathayn. This is suggestive that change in, or diversification of, mound types may in part be linked to environmental transformations in the late Holocene. One possibility is that greater water security allowed for increasing and more permanent exploitation of inland locations.