Island survival: The anthracological and archaeofaunal evidence for colonial‐era events on Barrow Island, north‐west Australia

Abstract

The establishment of north-west Australia's nineteenth-century pearlshell fisheries led to the first occupation of many arid offshore islands since the early mid-Holocene. The nature of this occupation, and how crews subsisted on such remote landscapes, remains poorly understood. We investigate a rare instance of an archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological record for this colonial-era activity at Bandicoot Bay, Barrow Island. Varied taxonomic representation suggests an atypical subsistence strategy for a maritime industry, involving broad exploitation of resources over several local landscapes and an absence of remains of provisioned food. Identified plant taxa largely conform to resources known ethnographically to have been exploited by north-west Aboriginal communities, and many relate to traditional food practices. The spatial patterning of charred wood and bone suggests multiple burning activities and areas of specific use. Conditions of wood fuel on the island may have prompted the augmentation of fuel, indicated by the presence of non-local wood charcoal and high proportions of calcined bone. These findings (i) are consistent with the hypothesis that the site's occupants originated from the north-west as part of coerced pearling labour and (ii) provide unique insight into the role offshore islands may have occupied in the management of this industry's labour forces. RÉSUMÉAu 19 e siècle, le développement d'une industrie de pêche des huitres perlières dans le nord-ouest de l'Australie entraina la première réoccupation de nombreusesîles arides de cette région, après celles datant du milieu de l'Holocène. La nature de ces occupations et la façon dont leséquipages purent subsister au sein de milieux si isolés demeurent mal comprises. Nous examinons ici un exemple rare d'assemblages archéozoologiques et archéobotaniques pour ce type d'activités de la période coloniale, dans la baie de Bandicoot, Barrow Island. La diversité des représentations taxonomiques de faune suggère une stratégie de subsistance atypique pour une industrie maritime, incluant un mode d'exploitation extensif des ressources issues de plusieurs environnements locaux, ainsi qu'une absence de restes provenant de nourriture approvisionnée. Les taxons botaniques identifiés correspondentà ceux exploités par les communautés aborigènes du nord-ouest du continent, selon les données ethnographiques, et beaucoup sont associés aux pratiques de subsistance traditionnelles. La répartition spatiale des restes anthracologiques et de faune suggère l'existence de plusieurs types de combustion et zones d'activités spécialisées. La disponibilité du bois de feu sur l'île a pu motiver la recherche de solutions pour augmenter les ressources en combustible, comme semble l'indiquer la présence de charbons de bois d'essence non locale et les proportions importantes d'os calcinés. Ces résultats (i) supportent l'hypothèse selon laquelle les occupants de ce siteétaient originaires du nord-ouest du continent et furent déplacés par le biais du système de travail forcé imposé ...

Power in Food on the Maritime Frontier: A Zooarchaeology of Enslaved Pearl Divers on Barrow Island, Western Australia

“…The site contained a large assemblage of glass artefacts that indicate a substantial amount of 'Kimberley Points' were manufactured there. This distinctive regional artefact type is produced by bifacial reduction/pressure flaking on stone and glass (Maloney 2015) and both provide direct evidence that Aboriginal people from the Kimberly had been brought to Barrow Island, consistent with accounts of 'blackbirding' (Paterson and Veth 2020), and offer a unique insight into the survival of these people while there (Byrne et al 2020). The points not only served functional uses as projectile points, but also occupied a significant cultural role for men and for engagement with masculinity (Akerman et al 2002;Harrison 2004a;Harrison 2006).…”

“…Research under the Barrow Island Archaeological Project (BIAP) has explored how, as part of a larger program throughout Britain antipodean colonies (see Furphy and Nettlebeck 2019), legislation purportedly introduced for the protection of Indigenous and non-European people served simultaneously to exploit them (Byrne et al 2020;Paterson 2017Paterson , 2018bPaterson and Veth 2020).…”

Species identification of Australian marsupials using collagen fingerprinting

“…Using previously published peptide markers [ 66 ], two specimens were identified as Chelonia mydas (green sea turtle). While the presence of sea turtles at Bandicoot Bay was known from zooarchaeological investigations [ 15 , 54 ], the exact species was unknown. In addition, one Bandicoot Bay specimen was identified as Bovidae/Cervidae, fauna that are not present in the wild on Barrow Island.…”

“…Chelonioidae (sea turtle), microfauna, bird, fish, crab and shark specimens were also identified [ 54 ]. Domesticated animals appear to be absent from the bone assemblage [ 15 , 54 ]. For the present study, 134 morphologically unidentifiable bone fragments from the Bandicoot Bay assemblage were sampled for ZooMS analysis.…”

Evaluating human responses to ENSO driven climate change during the Holocene in northwest Australia through macrobotanical analyses

“…Working with Gooniyandi Traditional Owners Dilkes-Hall learned that Vitex glabrata calyces and endocarps were discarded by placing them in a pile next to the hearth rather than into the fire itself (Dilkes-Hall et al, 2019b). Cultural aversion to burning particular taxa and specific plant parts in campfires is not uncommon and has been documented elsewhere in relation to plants used for fuel (Byrne et al, 2013(Byrne et al, , 2019Whitau et al, 2017) and bone disposal (Gould, 1967;Walters, 1988). Oral traditions and historical documentation of Aboriginal use/s of species represented archaeologically assists interpretations of cultural use (e.g.…”