Despite the prevalence of an ethic of generosity among foragers, much sharing is by demand rather than by unsolicited giving. Although a behavioristic model of demand sharing can be seen as matching sociobiological expectations, the emphasis here is on the social and symbolic significance of the practice. It is argued that demand sharing involves testing, assertive, and/or substantiating behavior and is important in the constitution of social relations in egalitarian societies.

Some pre‐circumcision candidates in the Western Desert culture area are taken on a journey to gather people for the final ceremony. Since Aboriginal people started to own cars in the 1960s, these journeys have expanded to such an extent that the outward journey discussed here covered 2250 km. The question of why it is the initiation ceremony, rather than some other ceremonial form, that is becoming the basis for the integration of this expanding Aboriginal domain is addressed and the fragmentary evidence on the historical growth of the journeys presented. Three kinds of ceremonial integration are distinguished and a suggestion made as to why it is the initiation form that is the focus of this expansion.

The question of whether Australian hunter-gatherer territoriality is natuml or conventional is considered. The definition and function o f territorial behavior is discussed and its consequences for population control emphasized. A functional analogy is drawn between Aboriginal greeting ceremonies and non-human boundary maintenance, and it is concluded that even without an innate component in territorial aggression, spacing is basic to A boriginal society survival and therefore o f biological significance.IN THE SENSE THAT all human societies have notions of property in land, man can'be said to be territorial. But the question of whether such notions are natural or conventional has been argued since the days of classical Greece. Through all the arguments, whether among political philosophers, legal historians, or ethologists, man in the state of nature, the hunter-gatherer, has been a central figure. If man has an "instinct" for territory, then, so they have argued, it should be evident in this way of life.The paper is in three sections: the problem of definition of territoriality, the functions of territoriality, and the spatial organization of hunter-gatherer society. THE PROBLEM OF DEFINITIONUntil recently, concepts of animal territoriality have been derived almost exclusively from studies of birds. Two thousand three hundred years ago Aristotle wrote (Thompson 1910:619a) "a pair of eagles demands an extensive space for its maintenance, and consequently cannot allow other [eagles] t o quarter themselves in close neighbourhood."

terra australis 28 Terra Australis reports the results of archaeological and related research within the south and east of Asia, though mainly Australia, New Guinea and island Melanesia-lands that remained terra australis incognita to generations of prehistorians. Its subject is the settlement of the diverse environments in this isolated quarter of the globe by peoples who have maintained their discrete and traditional ways of life into the recent recorded or remembered past and at times into the observable present. Since the beginning of the series, the basic colour on the spine and cover has distinguished the regional distribution of topics as follows: ochre for Australia, green for New Guinea, red for SouthEast Asia and blue for the Pacific Islands. From 2001, issues with a gold spine will include conference proceedings, edited papers and monographs which in topic or desired format do not fit easily within the original arrangements. All volumes are numbered within the same series.

This article addresses the persistence of sharing in Indigenous Australian domestic moral economies well after hunting and gathering has stopped being the basis of livelihood, by examining the relationship of demand sharing with the more formalised asymmetrical reciprocity found in both pre and post contact life. Understanding the significance of the more formalized asymmetry in the pre-contact situation helps shed light on what happens in the post contact situation, and the independence of sharing from the impact of market forces and utilitarian need.