Pleistocene shell tools from Lake Mungo lunette, Australia: Identification and interpretation drawing on experimental archaeology

Weston, Erica; Szabó, Katherine; Stern, Nicola

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.048

Cited by 18 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…In addition, information was recorded about the types of hearths encountered, including any associated food remains or tools (Stern, 2015). This was followed by more detailed studies of particular activity traces, with an initial focus on chipped stone artefacts (Spry, 2014), grindstones (Fullagar et al, 2015a) and shell tools (Weston et al, 2017).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The nature of human occupation in the Willandra following final lake retreat has likewise received limited attention compared with the late Pleistocene (Barbetti and Allen, 1972; Barbetti and McElhinny, 1972; Bell, 1991; Bowler and Price, 1998; Bowler et al, 1970, 2003; Long et al, 2014, 2018; Olley et al, 2006; Shawcross, 1998; Shawcross and Kaye, 1980; Stern, 2015; Stern et al, 2013; Webb et al, 2006; Westaway et al, 2013, 2017). Traces of human activity post-15 ka have been observed on the Lake Mungo lunette, and elsewhere in the Willandra system, including hearths, chipped stone artefacts, faunal remains and grinding stones (Allen, 1972; Anderson et al, 1984; Dare-Edwards, 1979; Fitzsimmons et al, 2014; Fullagar et al, 2015a, 2015b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Holocene and recent aeolian reactivation of the Willandra Lakes lunettes, semi-arid southeastern Australia

2019

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The Willandra Lakes in semi-arid southeastern Australia provide some of the most continuous combined palaeoenvironmental and archaeological records on the continent. These are best preserved within the transverse shoreline (lunette) dunes on their downwind margins. Following final lake retreat c. 15 ka avulsion of the dominant fluvial inflow eastwards, the Willandra lunettes periodically reactivated, experiencing erosion, aeolian redeposition and alluvial sheetwash. These reworked sedimentary archives reflect regional climatic conditions rather than those of the entire catchment. Yet the focus of most study in the region to date has remained on the late Pleistocene. The general paucity of Holocene data has contributed to a perception that people largely abandoned the area in favour of the perennial Murray and Darling Rivers to the south and west. Our study reconstructs past geomorphological conditions and patterns of human mobility in adjacent Lakes Mungo and Durthong over the last c. 15 ka subsequent to final lake retreat, including the most recent 150 years since Europeans established pastoralism in the region. Our data show that Indigenous people did not abandon the area as previously assumed, but developed effective strategies for responding to the changed environmental conditions. Final lake retreat transitioned into a phase of aeolian accumulation c. 15-12 ka, indicating locally dry conditions. Subsequent aeolian reactivation peaked during arid phases experiencing less rainfall in the early Holocene and twice in the most recent 1000 years prior to European settlement in the area. Alluvial sheetwash was deposited onto lake floors during the mid-Holocene, and again in the early decades of European settlement. Aeolian reactivation, likely driven by European pastoral activities, increases in the most recent 150 years. Our study underscores the necessity of integrating geomorphological and archaeological investigations over landscape scales in order to optimise our understanding of interactions between people and their environment through time.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holocene and recent aeolian reactivation of the Willandra Lakes lunettes, semi-arid southeastern Australia

2019

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“…This cascading chain of lakes, formed along an ancient channel belt of the Lachlan River, contains evidence for lake levels and fauna extending over more than 140,000 yr (Bowler and Price, 1998;Bowler et al, 2012;Long et al, 2014;Fitzsimmons et al, 2014Fitzsimmons et al, , 2015Westaway et al, 2017). The area is listed as a World Heritage Site, and preserves some of Australia's most significant archaeological sites, including the world's oldest recognised ritual burial, and Australia's earliest human fossils at Lake Mungo (Thorne et al, 1999;Bowler et al, 2003;Olley et al, 2006), together with a long record of human resource use based on grinding stones, hearths, middens, shell tools, and fish otoliths (Bowler, 1998;Stern et al, 2013Stern et al, , 2015Long et al, 2014;Fullagar et al, 2015aFullagar et al, , 2015bWeston et al, 2015). These are key sites in the Australian archaeological record, although river marginal dunes formed by deflation of river bed sands are also beginning to reveal an ancient archaeological record (e.g.…”

Section: Past Studies In the Riverine Plainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lacustrine-fluvial interactions in Australia's Riverine Plains

Kemp

Pietsch

Gontz

et al. 2017

Quaternary Science Reviews

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Climatic forcing of fluvial systems has been a preoccupation of geomorphological studies in Australia since the 1940s. In the Riverine Plain, southeastern Australia, the stable tectonic setting and absence of glaciation have combined to produce sediment loads that are amongst the lowest in the world. Surficial sediments and landforms exceed 140,000 yr in age, and geomorphological change recorded in the fluvial, fluvio-lacustrine and aeolian features have provided a well-studied record of Quaternary environmental change over the last glacial cycle. The region includes the Willandra Lakes, whose distinctive lunette lakes preserve a history of water-level variations and ecological change that is the cornerstone of Australian Quaternary chronostratigraphy. The lunette sediments also contain an ancient record of human occupation that includes the earliest human fossils yet found on the Australian continent. To date, the lake-level and palaeochannel records in the Lachlan-Willandra system have not been fully integrated, making it difficult to establish the regional significance of hydrological change. Here, we compare the Willandra Lakes environmental record with the morphology and location of fluvial systems in the lower Lachlan. An ancient channel belt of the Lachlan, Willandra Creek, acted as the main feeder channel to Willandra Lakes before channel avulsion caused the lakes to dry out in the late Pleistocene. Electromagnetic surveys, geomorphological and sedimentary evidence are used to reconstruct the evolution of the first new channel belt following the avulsion. Single grain optical dating of floodplain sediments indicates that sedimentation in the new Middle Billabong Palaeochannel had commenced before 18.4 ± 1.1 ka. A second avulsion shifted its upper reaches to the location of the present Lachlan River by 16.2 ± 0.9 ka. The timing of these events is consistent with palaeohydrological records reconstructed from Willandra Lakes and with the record of palaeochannels on the Lachlan River upstream. Willandra Lakes shows high inflows during the Last Glacial Maximum (∼22 ka), but their subsequent drying between 20.5 ka and 19 ka was caused by river avulsion rather than regional aridity. This case study highlights the benefits of combining fluvial with lacustrine archives to build complementary records of hydrological change in lowland riverine plains.

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“…The Aboriginal use of shell as tools, for ornamentation and other cultural activities is well‐represented in the Australian ethnohistorical record (e.g., Balme & O'Connor, 2019, p. 178; McCarthy, 1957; Mulvaney, 1961), and there are a wealth of international studies focusing on the use, manufacture and social utility of shell artefacts (e.g., Bar‐Yosef Mayer, Bonsall, & Choyke, 2017). Despite this ubiquity, shell technology has received far less attention than other forms of archaeological data in Australian studies (Przywolnik, 2003, p. 12), and there remain significant gaps in the “criteria that can be used to identify and interpret shells across a wide range of taxa that have been modified for and through use” (Weston, Szabo, & Stern, 2017, p. 229).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the basis of an experimental usewear study, Weston et al. (2017, p. 229, 236) identified three definite and one possible hyriid shell tool/s on the Lake Mungo lunette. All were recovered from Pleistocene contexts which, based on their stratigraphic associations, suggested a possible age range of between 40 and 30 ka (Unit C) and 50−40 ka (base of Unit B).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aboriginal serrated and perforated shell artefacts from the Murray River, South Australia

Roberts

Westell

Wilson

et al. 2021

Archaeology in Oceania

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This article describes three freshwater mussel shell artefacts recently documented for the Murray River in South Australia. These finds more than double the known examples of such artefacts from this region. Two of the modified shells are perforated, with the other serrated. The finely serrated item is a rare artefact and we have not located any similar published examples in Australia, although international correlates exist. The function/s and cultural significance of the objects are also considered in this paper. Hypotheses for the perforated finds include ornamentation, tool stringing and fibre scraping. Ornamentation, idle tinkering and food utensil use are considered as possible intended functions for the serrated artefact. Given the age range of the objects reported here (c. 6181-517 cal BP), together with other finds in the Murray Darling Basin, we tentatively suggest that shells have been a material resource used continually in this region for a range of purposes. However, as argued by other researchers, we concur that there has probably been infrequent identification and reporting of such shell artefacts. This is considered particularly likely given that our finds were recovered from relatively small scale excavation/coring and surface sampling efforts. As such, this paper attempts to raise awareness of this form of material culture in archaeological sequences.

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Pleistocene shell tools from Lake Mungo lunette, Australia: Identification and interpretation drawing on experimental archaeology

Cited by 18 publications

References 42 publications

Holocene and recent aeolian reactivation of the Willandra Lakes lunettes, semi-arid southeastern Australia

Holocene and recent aeolian reactivation of the Willandra Lakes lunettes, semi-arid southeastern Australia

Lacustrine-fluvial interactions in Australia's Riverine Plains

Aboriginal serrated and perforated shell artefacts from the Murray River, South Australia

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