RETRACTED: Applying geoarchaeological principles to marine archaeology: A reappraisal of the “first marine” and “in situ” lithic scatters in the Dampier Archipelago, NW Australia

Abstract

The absence of known prehistoric underwater cultural heritage (UCH) sites on the Australian inner shelf stands in stark contrast to the thousands of sites revealed elsewhere in the world. Two recent claims—Dortch et al. (D2019) and Benjamin et al. (B2020)—put forward the first in situ (i.e., primary context) UCH sites in the shallow waters of the Dampier Archipelago, North West Australia, each arguing that the stone artefact scatters are at least 7000 years old and are now submerged because of postglacial sea‐level rise. We present new hydrodynamic modelling and data on coastal erosion and bathymetry, and reassess each site's sedimentary setting and archaeological site‐formation history. D2019 and B2020 clearly present lithic cultural artefacts, but the arguments for their sites being of primary context and reflecting early Holocene land surfaces are mistaken. Rather, these sites occur in the intertidal zone, and many or all artefacts are likely to have been reworked. Sites of secondary context, if treated appropriately, can inform our understanding of site‐formation process and change, and may support more powerful contributions to submerged archaeology than attempts to seek the first or the oldest.

Contemporary marine science, its utility and influence on regulation and government policy

“…Benjamin et al, 2020;Wiseman et al, 2021) that directed scientists to the submerged stone features in the Cape Bruguieres channel in the Dampier Archipelago (CRARM, 2020) (Figure 1). Claims that the Cape Bruguieres site represents the first in situ submerged archaeological site in Australia (Benjamin et al, 2020) have unfortunately not stood up to scientific scrutiny, with the site almost certainly representing a secondary (i.e., reworked) and ponded artefact scatter, i.e., artefacts accumulated in ponded water above lowest tide level (Ward et al, 2022b). This reanalysis emphasizes the importance of understanding the evolution of the physical seascape and of past and present physical processes to interpreting site formation (Ward et al, 2014;Ward et al, 2015;Larcombe et al 2018) and not emphasizing the significance of a site for merely being under water (Lemke 2020).…”

Bathymetric LiDAR and Semi‐Automated Feature Extraction Assist Underwater Archaeological Surveys

“…Depending on marine conditions (depths above or below wave base or storm wave base, sedimentation rates, tectonic effects, etc. ), such sites may or may not be stable-a topic of current debate (Benjamin et al 2022;Cook Hale et al 2022;Ward et al 2022).…”

Correction: Aboriginal artefacts on the continental shelf reveal ancient drowned cultural landscapes in northwest Australia

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In 2019, the Deep History of Sea Country (DHSC) Project team found and published two submerged archaeological sites in Murujuga (Dampier Archipelago) Western Australia [1]. Following publication in 2020, a further discussion has ensued and was published in the journal Geoarchaeology by Ward et al [2], with a subsequent response to their critique published by Benjamin et al [3]. This coincided with the project team returning to Murujuga in 2022 to collect further field data and to confirm the nature and context of the two underwater archaeological sites located in the shallow coastal waters of the continental shelf ([4] in press).

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