Ethnographic Interpretations of the Prehistory of Western Arnhem Land

Abstract

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.

American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land (1948): Its Long-Range Impact

“…Early stone axes -blades and points, flake, ground, knapped and scrapers -were recorded from the sites (White 1967b). Analysis of the excavations were summarised in articles on the prehistory of the Kakadu people (White 1967c(White , 1969.…”

Ethnography & the Production of Anthropological Knowledge. Essays in honour of Nicolas Peterson

“…During these years, Nic Peterson wrote a number of influential papers in the field of ethno-archaeology Thomson 2003;White and Peterson 1969), using what has become known as the direct historical approach to analogical reasoning (Peterson 1971: 240;Stahl 1993: 242-4).…”

Regime change: an anthracological assessment of fuel selection and management at Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II), Mirarr country, Australia

“…Hiscock et al (1992) determined through additional fieldwork in the area that this assertion was a product of sampling method rather than a legitimate feature of the archaeological record (Hiscock et al 1992). Following this Hiscock (1996) reassessed the seasonally based settlement model originally proposed by White and Peterson (1969), which he claimed was maintained by Meehan et al (1985) and Brockwell (1989) in their research. White and Peterson (1969) proposed that people occupied the plains in the dry season utilising mainly bone and wood tipped spears, and the uplands in the wet season where they relied upon stone points for hunting large mammals.…”

“…Following this Hiscock (1996) reassessed the seasonally based settlement model originally proposed by White and Peterson (1969), which he claimed was maintained by Meehan et al (1985) and Brockwell (1989) in their research. White and Peterson (1969) proposed that people occupied the plains in the dry season utilising mainly bone and wood tipped spears, and the uplands in the wet season where they relied upon stone points for hunting large mammals. Hiscock (1996:151) reviewed residential mobility in the region through an examination of bipolar knapping in the lithics assemblage.…”

“…The data that Schrire generated during her PhD research (1964)(1965)(1966)(1967) The second explanation she offered came a few years later (White 1971;White and Peterson 1969). Schrire (1982:250) claims the archaeological record can be explained by the movement of groups between the plains (in the dry season) and the plateau (in the wet season) according to resource availability.…”