Worn to the bone: use-wear of bone points from the Madjedbebe rockshelter, Arnhem Land

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

“…These most recent studies revealed a stone assemblage including late Pleistocene-aged grindstones, ground edge axes and ground ochres (Clarkson et al 2017). Subsequent detailed studies have included the analyses of the mid-Holocene shell midden layer (Woo 2020), magnetic susceptibility of the sediments (Lowe 2014), burial patterns (Lowe et al 2014), the archaeobotanics (Carah 2017;Florin et al 2022), Holocene-aged ochres (Cox 2013;Crough-Heaton 2021), flaked stone artefacts (McNeil 2016), ground stone assemblage (Hayes 2015) and bone points (Basiaco 2018;Langley et al 2023).…”

Fishhooks, fishing spears, and weaving: The bone technology of Madjedbebe, Northern Australia

“…“Bone points” were reported for Madjedbebe from the 1972 (Kamminga & Allen, 1973) and 1989 (Roberts et al, 1990a) excavations, as well as the most recent excavations. Studies thereof have been lacking until now, with the single exception of a doctoral thesis by Basiaco (2018, p. 130), who analyzed “44 bone tools from the site, including 31 bone points … comprising 8 unipoints, 12 bipoints, 11 spatulate‐points, and 13 likely spatulate sections,” 35 from the 2012 excavation (the total available at the time of her study) and 9 deriving from earlier excavations. Her analysis resulted in 12 bone artifacts being suggested to have been used in plant‐working, four as “spear tips,” three in “piercing,” and the last 21 as having an “inconclusive” function (Basiaco, 2018, pp.…”

“…225–230). The 35 artifacts from the 2012 excavation examined by Basiaco (2018) were re‐analyzed in the current study, though the other nine from the earlier excavations were not included. Based on information held in the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation (the organization that represents the Mirarr traditional owners of the site; GAC) cultural heritage database, artifacts recovered from the earlier excavations comprised a further 10 pieces, including two small bipoints, two spatulate‐tipped distal extremity fragments consistent with those identified as plant‐ or skin‐working tools here, and five mesial fragments of larger tools.…”

“…225-230). The 35 artifacts from the 2012 excavation examined by Basiaco (2018) were re-analyzed in the current study, though the other nine from the earlier excavations were not included.…”