Explaining point variability in the eastern Victoria River Region, Northern Territory

Abstract

This paper constructs a reduction sequence model for north Australian points from the eastern Victoria River region, and identifies a single continuum linking unifacial and bifacial point forms, with some divergence from this single reduction trajectory dependent upon artefact size. Chronological changes in reduction intensity between 5,000BP and the present are found to coincide with typological variation in points as well as changing emphasis on the extendibility of point reduction. It is suggested that changes in the extendibility of point reduction can be linked to intensified ENSO‐driven climatic variability in the late Holocene that likely increased economic risk and warranted a substantial technological response, including the use of retouched toolkits with potential for longer use‐lives.

Reduction, Recycling, and Raw Material Procurement in Western Arnhem Land, Australia

“…The notion that different "types" of retouched flakes were the carefully crafted, finished form of distinctly different production activities has given way to consideration of different implements as mutable objects that can be transformed from one morphology to another, and the hypothesis that variation between "types" as well as within them may represent differences in the extent to which specimens were retouched rather than differences in design (e.g., Hiscock and Veth 1991;Hiscock 1994aHiscock , 2006Hiscock and Allen 2000;Clarkson 2002aClarkson ,b, 2004Clarkson , 2005Clarkson , 2006Hiscock and Attenbrow 2002, 2005a. The notion that each type was functionally distinct has also been questioned, the alternative being that tools were often flexible and multifunctional (Hiscock 2006), and it has been pointed out that if a single specimen was morphologically transformed this would have functional implications (Hiscock and Attenbrow 2005b).…”

“…The notion that each type was functionally distinct has also been questioned, the alternative being that tools were often flexible and multifunctional (Hiscock 2006), and it has been pointed out that if a single specimen was morphologically transformed this would have functional implications (Hiscock and Attenbrow 2005b). In combination these propositions have facilitated studies of the relationships between economic/environmental contexts and the technological responses of ancient foragers, helping to re-express assemblage differences in terms of variation in the "intensity of reduction" and to thereby identify connections between procurement economics, mobility, and technology (e.g., McNiven 1994McNiven , 2000Hiscock 1996Hiscock , 2006Clarkson 2002aClarkson , 2006MacKay 2005). This perspective has proved to be a powerful way of understanding the dynamics of lithic variation, and its value is revealed by reinterpretations of typological variation in terms of intensity of reduction and recycling.…”

“…This sequence was not inevitable and alternatives are known, but Hiscock's (1994a) study of scar superimpositions on quartzite points from Jimede II indicates that more than nine out of ten bifacial points followed this one sequence. Studies of points in adjacent regions have also yielded evidence that unifacial and bifacial forms often represent specimens manufactured in the same way but reduced to different extents (e.g., Roddam 1997;Clarkson 2006).…”

“…In many Australian regions stone working technology was reorganized at times of climatic and economic shifts in response to increased foraging risks and procurement costs (e.g., Cundy 1990;Hiscock 1994bHiscock , 1996Hiscock , 1999Hiscock , 2002Hiscock , 2006McNiven 1994McNiven , 2000Clarkson 2002aClarkson , 2004Clarkson , 2005Clarkson , 2006Attenbrow 2003;Hiscock and Attenbrow 2005a,b;Law 2005;MacKay 2005). This proposition constitutes a powerful explanatory model that is increasingly being applied to explicate variability in Paleolithic Australia, and in this chapter such factors are explored to make sense of the lithic assemblages in western Arnhem Land.…”

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

“…6.3). Hiscock (1999; claims point production is a risk minimizing behaviour similar to that proposed by Clarkson (2006) in relation to ENSO intensification. Therefore, the appearance of points during the mid-Holocene in the Alligator Rivers region was owing to the environmental instability of the time (Hiscock 1999:99).…”