Flaked Glass Artifacts from Nineteenth–Century Native Mounted Police Camps in Queensland, Australia

Abstract

The invasion of the Australian continent by Europeans caused massive disruptions to Indigenous cultures and ways of life. The adoption of new raw materials, often for the production of "traditional" artifact forms, is one archaeological indicator of the changes wrought by "colonization." Two camp sites associated with the Queensland Native Mounted Police (NMP), a punitive paramilitary government force that operated through the latter half of the nineteenth century in the northeastern part of the continent, contain abundant flaked glass artifacts. These were undoubtedly manufactured by the Aboriginal men who were employed as troopers in the NMP, and/or their wives and children. Produced using traditional stone working techniques applied to a novel raw material, these artifacts are a tangible demonstration of the messy entanglements experienced by people living and working in this particularand in some ways unique -cross-cultural context. For the Aboriginal troopers stationed in alien landscapes, the easy accessibility of glass afforded a means by which they could maintain cultural practices and exert independence from their employers, unencumbered by traditional normative behaviors.

When the Foreign Becomes Familiar: The Glass Bead Assemblage from Madjedbebe, Northern Australia

“…Taussig (1993) addressed the 'colonial encounter' in his seminal exploration of 'mimesis' (imitation) and 'alterity' (difference). The role of glass flaked artefacts in colonial Australia has been discussed as a means to 'bend reality and subvert the system in which it is also apparently complicit' (Harrison 2003, 316; see also Perston et al 2021). Glass beads might have been similarly incorporated into traditional objects in Indigenous places away from 'interspaces' such as missions, highlighting the significance of Indigenous agency in the use of these introduced materials.…”

“…By exploring the Indigenous consumption of introduced commodities, archaeologists are well positioned to explore questions of the colonial encounter, especially those which concern Indigenous agency, consumer choice, regimes of value and how foreign materials become localized (Cipolla 2017, 12;Mullins 2011;Panich 2014;Silliman 2015;Silliman & Witt 2010;Thomas 1991). The investigation of these questions is inherently political, as findings can challenge oversimplified Eurocentric narratives that silence the 'subaltern' (Äikäs & Salmi 2023, 8;Bhahba 1994;Birmingham & Wilson 2010;Cipolla 2017, 6;Flexner 2014;Harrison 2003;Lydon & Rizvi 2010, 21;Ojala 2019;Perston et al 2021;Torrence & Clarke 2000;Wesley & Litster 2015a). This is true for the colonial archives concerning the distribution of glass beads into Indigenous Australia, which are often reductive and emphasize a fetishism or enchantment with introduced 'exotic' objects on the part of the colonized (Forrest 1995;Plomley 1983).…”

“…In Australian archaeology, the materiality of colonial encounters has largely focused on syncretic modifications and forms, such as the production of glass artefacts through traditional stone tool working techniques (e.g. Allen 1969;Harrison 2000;Munt & Owen 2022;Perston et al 2021;Ulm et al 2009;Wolski & Loy 1999; see also Harrison 2002 for metal and Munt & Owen 2022 for ceramics). Perhaps the most emblematic of the colonial encounter are the striking glass Kimberley points of the northwestern Australian coastline.…”

After the Revolution: A Review of 3D Modelling as a Tool for Stone Artefact Analysis

“…Studies that incorporated flaked glass were also added (e.g. Dogandžić et al 2020;Perston et al 2022). The dataset includes both archaeological and experimental studies.…”

“…More commonly, models have also been used for illustrative purposes, replacing or supplementing scientific illustrations or photographs of stone artefacts (e.g. Hayes et al 2021;Perston et al 2022;Sano et al 2020;Schmid et al 2019, see also Barone et al 2018;Felicísimo, Polo and Peris 2013;Magnani 2014 for discussion on 3D models as an alternative to illustration and photography).…”