What happened after the Last Glacial Maximum? Transitions in site use on an arid inland island in north‐western Australia

Abstract

The presence of Aboriginal people in interior refuges as climate conditions deteriorated with the onset of glacial aridity is now well documented in the Australian arid zone. Further excavation at Yurlu Kankala, a large rock shelter located on an island of high land in the inland Pilbara, demonstrates repeated human occupation from at least 47-43 cal ka BP through the Last Glacial Maximum to the mid-Holocene. Despite the continued presence of bone representing human food remains and an increased occurrence of hearths, after 18-17 cal ka BP there is a dramatic reduction in stone artefact numbers, suggesting that use of the site changed markedly. In exploring the drivers behind this change, we investigate the role of rock shelters in Aboriginal land-use systems in the Pleistocene Pilbara. Yurlu Kankala makes a substantive contribution to answering questions on changing rock shelter and landscape use during the post-LGM movement of people into the wider Pilbara uplands. RÉSUMÉ La présence de population de chasseurs-cueilleurs dans les zones refuges de la zone aride australienne au coeur du dernier maximum glaciaire est aujourd'hui bien documentée. La séquence de Yurlu Kankala, un grand abri sous roche dans les terres intérieures du Pilbara, a révélé une occupation humaine débutantà 47-43 cal BP et persistantà travers le dernier maximum glacière jusqu'au milieu de l'Holocène. Les restes de faune retrouvées et un nombre important de foyers suggèrent des occupations brèves mais répétées au cours du Pléistocène. Cependant, après 18-17 cal BP, une réduction importante de l'industrie lithique suggère un changement d'utilisation du site. En explorant les différents facteurs possiblesà l'origine de ce changement, nous essayons de mieux comprendre le rôle des abris sous roche dans les systèmes d'occupation du territoire dans le Pilbara au Pléistocène. Yurlu Kankala apporte ainsi une contribution importante aux problématiques archéologiques régionales tels que les changements de type d'occupation des abris sous roche au cours du temps mais aussi l'occupation et l'utilisation du territoire dans le Pilbaraà la suite du dernier maximum glaciaire.

Long‐term occupation on the edge of the desert: Riwi Cave in the southern Kimberley, Western Australia

“…) and Yurlu Kankala (Reynen et al . ), have been argued to be LGM refuges because of their location near water, making them more productive than lowland areas. It seems that at Riwi there were also times when sufficient water was available for it to be occupied during an otherwise arid phase.…”

Sedimentary unknowns constrain the current use of frequency analysis of radiocarbon data sets in forming regional models of demographic change

“…Indeed Veth (2014) suggested that “such datasets…are being used as a mainstream proxy to explore archaeological trends and specifically demographic fluctuations” for some regions of Australia. Hence, the purpose and some of the key limitations of such modelling have been overlooked, with the end effect that the results may be uncritically treated as fact (e.g., Brockwell et al, 2017; Cook, 2019; Kusaka et al, 2018; Lancelotti et al, 2016; Lopez et al, 2019; McDonald, 2016; McDonald et al, 2018; Reynen et al, 2018; Tibby et al, 2018; Zeanah et al, 2017) and even used as foundational premises of further demographic frequency analysis. We explore some of these radiocarbon age‐based studies and some of their underlying premises below.…”

“…It is proposed that at times of climatic or resource stress, people tended to migrate to isolated locations, termed refugia, where water and other resources were more reliable (Langley, 2014; Smith, 2013; P. M. Veth, 1993; see also Reynen et al, 2018 and references therein). Upland ranges, lowland riverine and gorge systems, separated from sand‐ridge deserts, are argued to have been particularly important refugia for human survival during the LGM.…”

“…At cave sites in the Kimberley and Southeast Asia, archaeological work has arrived at notions whereby human occupation has the capacity to increase in situ weathering and natural sedimentation processes for multiple millennia (e.g., Louys et al, 2017; O'Connor et al, 2017) or alternatively to limit or even pause them (e.g., Reynen et al, 2018). Again, it is difficult to see how these assumptions are tenable without sedimentary justification.…”

Development of discipline creates polarities in practice and views

“…Whilst most of these in-house operations are now essentially shut down, many academics have hybridised their working modelsundertaking CHM projects that align with research interests, often connected by region, Traditional Owner group, or client, and CHM data is increasingly being used in academic archaeological research (e.g. Reynen et al 2018;Slack et al 2020). The development of genuine relationships with communities then remains a complex one faced by all archaeologists, and without active projects in a given region, the short duration of a funded project cannot be denied.…”