A shell midden excavation at Pambula Lake on the far south coast of New South Wales

Archaeological evidence for population change in the middle to late Holocene in southeastern Australia

“…For open sites it is more difficult to be precise about archaeological visibility. For the New South Wales south coast Hughes and Lampert (1982) and Sullivan (1984) have argued that the number and intensity of archaeological surveys make the invisibility of an entire class of sites unlikely. Furthermore, the fact that a very great number of sites is known for a large variety of coastal and hinterland microenvironments makes the likelihood of significant numbers of early sites having been missed extremely small.…”

Quantifying shell weight loss in archaeological deposits

“…these taphonomic and experimental studies provide archaeomalacologists with a framework that enables an understanding of how the process works, as well as providing some indications of whether there may have been a significant impact on the site (e.g. Coutts 1969;Hughes 1977Hughes , 1983Hughes and Lampert 1977;Sullivan 1993;Sullivan 1984). In an early example of experimental research into this issue, Hughes (1977:207-210) found that shell decay was linked to groundwater percolating through a deposit, with the rate of dissolution being influenced by the amount of water and the deposit permeability (see also Muckle 1985:90).…”

“…Most archaeologists who discuss shell weathering or degradation generally emphasise the importance of knowing whether it has occurred. Analyses of deposit composition, particularly grain size distribution, pH and organic matter content, have been used successfully to identify postdepositional changes in shell deposits (Stein 1992b;Sullivan 1993;Sullivan 1984). the main reason for this, and as noted above, is that there are clear implications for the validity of analyses aimed at reconstructing past human activity and subsistence patterns (Sullivan 1993:31-32).…”

The recent prehistoric exploitation of edible mussel in Aboriginal shell middens in southern New South Wales

“…3. Ascertaining the nature and timing of the changeover at two additional sites: Nundera Point and Batemans Bay North Head, to determine whether such sites on the far south coast demonstrate, like the Pambula Lake site (Sullivan 1982(Sullivan , 1984, a changeover at a similar time to those archaeological sites previously excavated from further north.…”