Early human occupation of a maritime desert, Barrow Island, North-West Australia

QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS

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Article

Veth, Peter¹  Ward, Ingrid¹  Manne, Tfina²  Ulm, Sean^3,4  Ditchfield, Kane¹  Dortch, Joe¹  Hook, Fiona¹  Petchey, Fiona⁵  Questiaux, Daniele⁶  Demuro, Martina⁶  Arnold, Lee⁷  Spooner, Nigel⁶  Levchenko, Vladimir⁸  Skippington, Jane¹  Byrne, Chae¹  Basgall, Mark⁹  Zeanah, David¹⁰  Belton, David¹¹  Helmholz, Petra¹¹  Bajkan, Szilvia¹²  Bailey, Richard¹²  Placzek, Christa^13,14  Kendrick, Peter¹⁵ 

[1] Univ Western Australia, Archaeol, Sch Social Sci, M257, Perth, WA 6009, Australia

[2] Univ Queensland, Sch Social Sci, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia

[3] James Cook Univ, ARC Ctr Excellence Australian Biodivers & Heritag, POB 6811, Cairns, Qld 4870, Australia

[4] James Cook Univ, Coll Arts Soc & Educ, POB 6811, Cairns, Qld 4870, Australia

[5] Univ Waikato, Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Lab, Hillcrest Rd, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand

[6] Univ Adelaide, Sch Phys Sci, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia

[7] Univ Adelaide, Sch Earth Sci, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia

[8] Australian Nucl Sci & Technol Org, Ctr Accelerator Sci, Locked Bag 2001, Kirrawee Dc, NSW 2232, Australia

[9] Calif State Univ Sacramento, Archaeol Res Ctr, Dept Anthropol, Sacramento, CA 95819 USA

[10] Sacramento State, Dept Anthropol, 6000 J St, Sacramento, CA 95819 USA

[11] Curtin Univ, Dept Spatial Sci, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia

[12] Univ Oxford, Oxford Luminescence Dating Lab, Sch Geog & Environm, South Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3QY, England

[13] James Cook Univ, Ctr Trop Environm & Sustainabil Sci, Cairns, Qld 4870, Australia

[14] James Cook Univ, Coll Sci & Engn, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia

[15] Dept Pk & Wildlife, Locked Bag 104, Bentley, WA 6983, Australia

关键词: North-West Shelf of Australia;    Colonisation;    Coastal deserts;    Maritime deserts;    Marine resources;    Island Archaeology;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.05.002

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Archaeological deposits from Boodie Cave on Barrow Island, northwest Australia, reveal some of the oldest evidence for Aboriginal occupation of Australia, as well as illustrating the early use of marine resources by modern peoples outside of Africa. Barrow Island is a large (202 km(2)) limestone continental island located on the North-West Shelf of Australia, optimally located to sample past use of both the Pleistocene coastline and extensive arid coastal plains. An interdisciplinary team forming the Barrow Island Archaeology Project (BIAP) has addressed questions focusing on the antiquity of occupation of coastal deserts by hunter-gatherers; the use and distribution of marine resources from the coast to the interior; and the productivity of the marine zone with changing sea levels. Boodie Cave is the largest of 20 stratified deposits identified on Barrow Island with 20 m(3) of cultural deposits excavated between 2013 and 2015. In this first major synthesis we focus on the dating and sedimentology of Boodie Cave to establish the framework for ongoing analysis of cultural materials. We present new data on these cultural assemblages including charcoal, faunal remains and lithics - integrated with micromorphology, sedimentary history and dating by four independent laboratories. First occupation occurs between 51.1 and 46.2 ka, overlapping with the earliest dates for occupation of Australia. Marine resources are incorporated into dietary assemblages by 42.5 ka and continue to be transported to the cave through all periods of occupation, despite fluctuating sea levels and dramatic extensions of the coastal plain. The changing quantities of marine fauna through time reflect the varying distance of the cave from the contemporaneous shoreline. The dietary breadth of both arid zone terrestrial fauna and marine species increases after the Last Glacial Maximum and significantly so by the mid-Holocene. The cave is abandoned by 6.8 ka when the island becomes increasingly distant from the mainland coast. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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