Ethnography and Prehistoric Archaeology in Australia PDF

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JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 15, 137159 (1996)

ARTICLE NO. 0005
Ethnography and Prehistoric Archaeology in Australia

HARRY ALLEN*
Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019 Auckland, New Zealand
Received November 29, 1994; revision received May 30, 1995; accepted June 23, 1995
After a review of ethnographic approaches to Australian archaeology, this paper discusses food
exchanges as an example of how Aboriginal society organizes production and social reproduction
in gender specific terms. This goes well beyond the orthodoxy that men hunt and women gather.
Evidence that food and other exchanges are reflected in the contemporary archaeological record is
presented together with an outline of a debate between Gould and Binford about this issue. The
structuring of production and exchange along gender lines in Aboriginal society is so pervasive
that some form of patterning along these lines is to be expected. This is the case even in archaeo-
logical sites of long occupation where the original layout of household structures may have been
destroyed. Exchanges at the individual and household level should also be preserved in the form
of reduction sequences, stone raw materials and small refuse items such as chipping debris and
bone fragments. 1996 Academic Press, Inc.
INTRODUCTION tion that the repetition of short term events

responsible for the building up of the ar-
The joining of ethnography with archae- chaeological record are themselves ordered
ology by the use of either direct historical by structures, which like Braudels longue
or general comparative approaches is terri- duree (Sherratt 1992:139140), can take on
tory that has been well worked over by ar- an independent temporal existence that is
chaeologists (Fletcher 1992, Gould and amenable to archaeological analysis.
Watson 1982, Murray and Walker 1988, Fletcher (1989:6872) has suggested that
Smith 1992, Wylie 1982). In order to bring archaeology can make a distinctive contri-
ethnographic and archaeological observa- bution to social theory not by copying theo-
tions into some form of convergence, Smith ries from sister disciplines such as biology,
(1992:26), following an argument devel- history, anthropology, or sociology but
oped by Binford (1981), suggests that we rather by developing its own theoretical ap-
differentiate between ethnographic time, the proach to the relationship between the ac-
observation of contemporary events and tive and material components of human be-
episodes over a short period of time, and haviour and how these find form in the ar-
archaeological time, the study of patterns chaeological record. It was the pursuit of
produced over long intervals (cf., Dunnells this goal that sent archaeologists out to
[1982] space-like and time-like study extant societies in order to make sys-
frames). Fletcher (1992:36) argues that a tematic observations of archaeologically
better understanding of the archaeological relevant variables (Gould 1980, Gould and
past will only emerge when we accept that Watson 1982).
there was a hierarchy of processes operat- Archaeologists studying the long time
ing at differing scales and rates over differ- period of Australian archaeology and those
ent magnitudes of time. Similarly, struc- involved in ethnoarchaeological studies of
tural archaeologists work on the assump- settlements, technology, and subsistence
have seen their respective approaches as
being either in conflict or competition (His-
* E-mail: h.allen@auckland.ac.nz cock 1983). While Smith (1992) and Fletcher
137
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Copyright 1996 by Academic Press, Inc.
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
138 HARRY ALLEN
(1992) suggest that archaeological and eth- els of behaviour before they can assist ar-
noarchaeological studies should be seen as chaeological interpretation.
complementary parts of an analytic hierar- This paper examines ethnographic ap-
chy, others argue that the archaeological proaches to Australian prehistoric archae-
record is the product of an infinitely vari- ology. Observations of Aboriginal food ex-
able set of ecological, behavioral, deposi- changes are discussed and compared with
tional, and erosional processes. Conse- the archaeological analysis of contempo-
quently, they claim the record is not ame- rary Aboriginal camp sites. A degree of cor-
nable to interpretive theories based on relation between gender-based exchanges
short term observations of individuals, or and the location and contents of household
their interactions with one another and camps is demonstrated. While it is gener-
with the ecological systems of which they ally acknowledged that the archaeological
are a part (Murray 1987, Stern 1994:102). record will reflect both technological and
Stern (1994:101), following Walker and gender considerations, it is concluded that
Bambach (1971), suggests that the accumu- this is also true of exchange relationships.
lation of sediments and cultural remains at
archaeological sites produces time aver- ETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACHES TO
aged assemblages or composites which AUSTRALIAN ARCHAEOLOGY
span long periods of time. Neither the
Ethnographic approaches to prehistoric
original community structure nor short
archaeology in Australia have a long his-
term relationships between community
tory. In a formal sense they began in the
structure and ecological fluctuations can be
1920s with Norman Tindales exemplary
discerned from this record, but only persis-
ethnographic work (1925), and that of oth-
tent, long term trends. While Stern is talk-
ers sponsored by the Anthropological
ing about the interpretations of the Middle
Board of South Australia. To these can be
Pleistocene archaeological record in Africa,
added D. F. Thomsons (1939) work in
she (1994:96) makes it clear that her com-
northern Australia, some of which tried to
ments apply to any part of the archaeologi-
relate seasonal movements with changes in
cal record that involves behavioural or eco-
material culture. In 1965, Tindale (p. 162)
logical processes preserved over periods of
argued that continued excavation in rock-
1000 to 10,000 years. Her strictures are
shelters would provide only an incomplete
equally applicable to the Australian past
picture of the Aboriginal past.
whether distant or recent. This is grist to
the mill of Australian archaeologists who . . . it is high time that at least a few archaeolo-
are suspicious of ethnographic explana- gists should . . . emerge from their cave holes to
study at first hand the data provided by living
tions and rarely use ethnographic informa-
peoples.
tion to create hypotheses against which
their data might be interpreted. There was a call for research on the open
Murray and Walker (1988:249) argue that sites Aborigines used as campsites and for
the production of archaeological knowl- the incorporation of a sense of ethno-
edge cannot exist without the use of some graphic reality into archaeological expla-
form of analogical reasoning. They differ nations (Gould 1982, Peterson 1968, 1971,
from many archaeologists in that they be- Thomson 1939). It was not until the period
lieve the interpretation of the archaeologi- 19601973 that using ethnohistorical or eth-
cal record cannot be based on so-called nographic accounts to flesh out and under-
commonsense. Similarly, Binford (1991: stand the archaeological record became
277) stresses that ethnoarchaeological ob- more common. In general, the early at-
servations must be transformed into mod- tempts (Allen 1968, 1972, Hiatt 1965, Peter-
ETHNOGRAPHY IN AUSTRALIA 139
son 1971, 1973, White 1967a, 1967b, White haps inevitable that much of the emphasis
and Peterson 1971) concentrated on re- on processes and variability in the Austra-
gional or seasonal differences in diet, camp- lian archaeological record would concen-
site location and material culture and stone trate on the manufacture and use of stone
tool-use and manufacture. The archaeologi- tools, use-wear analysis, and the rationing
cal correlates of observed ethnographic be- of raw-materials (Hayden 1979, Hiscock
haviours remained poorly developed in 1986, Kamminga 1982).
these works though Allen (1972) developed Useful information about Aboriginal ma-
models of optimising gathering strategies terial culture was assembled by D. S.
and camp-site location for the Darling Davidson between 1929 and 1951 (e.g.,
River Valley with which the archaeological Davidson 1934). Anderson (1988:129132)
data from a regional survey was compared. notes that studies of Australian Aboriginal
Hayden as part of his ethnoarchaeological economy between the 1920s and 1960s
study (1979) included the mapping and ex- largely took an atheoretical attitude and
cavation of Western Desert camp sites for confined their comments to descriptions of
which he had observational and informant material culture and food getting tech-
data and thus directly brought ethno- niques. After this time, however, with the
graphic and archaeological analysis to- demise of museum approaches to material
gether. The emphasis on the ethnographic culture and technology, even such narrowly
study of diet, seasonal changes in camp site focussed studies were rarely carried out.
locality and collecting behavior, and group This has left a marked gap in our knowl-
size as an aid to archaeology has continued edge of the interaction between social, ma-
through to the present (Cane 1984, Gould terial and technical factors, though these
1980, Peterson and Long 1986) though few have begun to be addressed again more re-
works have matched the duration and com- cently (Cundy 1989, Morwood 1987).
prehensiveness of Meehans (1982) study of There have been a number of ethno-
Gidjingali diet and behaviour. The ethnographic studies of open campsites and
graphic team of Betty Meehan and Rhys settlement patterns. This has proved to be a
Jones had the advantage of being able to more straightforward task than the ar-
study both womens and mens activities chaeological study of open sites though
simultaneously. While the analysis of the these too are new being regularly studied
sexual differentiation of social roles and the in semi-arid and arid Australia and in parts
division of labor and equipment has long of Northern Australia (H. Allen 1989, 1990,
been a focus of Australian anthropology, Gould 1982, Smith 1986). There has also
until recently, few detailed studies of the been an attempt to define the range of
social relations of production have been camps used by Aboriginal foragers, such as
carried out (see du Cros and Smith 1993). the dinnertime camps defined by Mee-
Petersons (1968) emphasis on womens use han (1988) as locations close to food source
of mortars and pestles and their association where foraging parties might consume up
with individual households at semiperma- to 75% of food collected before they re-
nent wet season camps in northern Austra- turned to the home base with what was left.
lia, and Hamiltons (19801981) study of Meehan (1988:179) sets out the characteris-
dual social systems, technologies, and ritu- tics of both home bases and dinnertime
als in the Western Desert are notable excep- camps. She notes in addition the existence
tions. of overnight camps and processing sites.
Given the large number of stone artifacts Her approach is similar to that of Binford
and their durability through the thousands (1982) who partially adopted Stanner s
of years of Australian prehistory, it is per- (1965) terminology and isolated annual
140 HARRY ALLEN
ranges, residential camps and special use this, she argues that exchange is a part of
areas. In 1986 (p. 37), Peterson suggested this process, one that is motivated by the
that the home range of a band could be disequilibrium created by the division of
approximated by linking the base camps labour. Rather than isolating acts of ex-
used during a single year together with sat- change and looking only at exchanged ob-
ellite overnight camps. Anderson and Rob- jects, it is necessary to widen the context of
ins (1988) have mapped clan estates and analysis by seeing all exchanges as mo-
provide an analysis of traditional (precon- ments in an overarching concept of social
tact) and contemporary camping places for production and reproduction. Exchange is
the Bloomfield River area of northern central to Aboriginal economic and social
Queensland. Apart from Meehan and life and its meaning cannot be reduced to
Jones studies, there have been few serious individual transactions. Allen (1996c) has
attempts at mapping the location and con- attempted to provide a unified explanation
tents of camps used over an entire year. of trade, exchange, and sharing, one that is
Similarly, archaeological surveys have capable of joining domestic, local and long
rarely been informed by ethnographic distance exchanges into a single field of
analysis, thereby missing a process that study without losing sight of the social and
might broaden the concept of minimum historical specificity of any particular form.
archaeological-stratigraphic units (Stern Evolutionary studies of sharing and social
1994:93) in terms of an expected scale of storage complement this approach. Rela-
interacting social units. tionships between production and ex-
Advances in the study of hunter-gatherer change in Aboriginal Australia are further
foraging, diet, and mobility patterns have explored in Allen (1995, 1996a, 1996b).
been made through the study of human Given our present knowledge of Aborigi-
evolutionary ecology, particularly in the nal society, it can be predicted that the so-
application of optimisation theory (Smith cial relations of production will be drawn
and Winterhalder 1992, Kaplan and Hill along the lines of sex and age. The sexual
1992). An area of increasing interest is the division of labor is seen not only in terms of
role of sharing in the interaction between the equipment used and (to a certain ex-
individuals and groups, whether work tent) the foods gathered, but also in the dif-
based, domestic or residential (Hawkes ferent manner in which the proceeds of
1992, Hill and Kaplan 1993). Exchanges of womens and mens labor are treated. The
food and other valuables play a significant small animals, shellfish and vegetable
role in the articulation and objectification of foods gathered by the women are infor-
kin, residential, and hierarchical relation- mally shared while any large game, or any
ships in Aboriginal society. Furthermore, it category of animal food brought in by the
will be shown below that sharing and ex- young men in quantity, is strictly divided
change relationships are encapsulated between in-laws and seniors.
within the archaeological record. Strathern (1985:197), following Wood-
burn (1982) and Collier and Rosaldo (1981),
FOOD EXCHANGES IN sees both womens sharing of food with
ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIA relatives and the mens provision of food to
in-laws as part of an immediate-exchange or
Farjan (1993:3) makes the point that pro- brideservice economy.
duction should be understood as the total
The logic of direct-exchange is that only a
process of constructing the social person woman can be exchanged for a woman. The
and society itself, including material sub- logic of brideservice, concomitantly, is that only
sistence and technology. Following from labor can be exchanged for labor. Asymmetries
come from unequal value being put on the prod- the ritual and secular worlds together and
ucts of labor (mens game and womens gath- begin to take on the appearances of
ered food . . .). . . The services and gifts a groom
tenders to his in-laws only represent his continu-
bridewealth controlled by the seniors (Myers
ing claims in his wifehis labor in performing 1988:58, see also Peterson 1969:31),
or obtaining them cannot be detached from these
affinal relationships. . . . In these band/com- Among the Pintupi, boards are frequently ex-
munal/immediate-return/brideservice systems, changed as a result of bestowals between a man
items do not come to stand for labor and do not and his male in-laws. . A young man must con-
come to stand for persons. sequently rely on elder male relatives to supply
him with sacred objects for marriage so that he
Meggitt (1962:280) documents that a man may begin fulfilling his obligations
must make gifts of food and give support
to his wifes father (often a classificatory Strict controls on ritual knowledge and
mothers brother) and also to his wifes membership of landowning lodges turn
mothers brother, who plays a significant these into property rights for which pay-
role in circumcision and subincision cer- ments of food must be made. Tonkinson
emonies. Shapiro (1979:97) adds, (1988:157) notes, that in the Mardujarra
case, the authority of the older men comes
from their
We thus presumably have a conceptual equiva-
lence, based on equivalence of exchange
amongst a series of objects: gifts = females = hu- . . . monopoly of esoteric knowledge, which will
man lives = boys foreskin = wilyaru initiation . . . be transmitted only if young men conform to the
the agents in this exchange scheme are said to be dictates of the Law, and are willing to hunt meat
matrilineal groups, not ritual lodges, even for in continuing reciprocal payment for the major
sacred activities such as circumcision. secrets that are progressively being revealed to
them
Peterson (1970, 1986), Shapiro (1973:380)
Altman (1984:183) noted that the men
and Goodale 1971:43) document that, in or-
were eager to hunt and take part in this
der to fulfill these requirements, the young
process because success in hunting was as-
men usually take up residence in the camp
sociated with the attainment of secular
of their parents-in-law. This contributes to
adulthood through marriage, as well as up-
the presence of nonlandowners in most Ab-
ward mobility to higher grades of ritual
original camps who freely make use of the
knowledge. Exchanges of meat evened out
products of the land. When the time came
the food supply, but the process was direc-
for a young man and his wife to leave his
tional with food going from younger active
father-in-laws camp, he might be given sa-
households to older less productive ones.
cred boards in appreciation of his long term
In household clusters, junior households
contribution. Myers (1988:70) comments,
did not directly receive game from outside
the cluster, but received it via the senior
His possessing the board from the host country man, who, while he might not have shot
was a recognition of his prolonged residence and any game himself, was both the recipient of
shared identity with the people of the country, a substantial proportion of meat and a cen-
converting residence and cooperation through
time into an identity projected into land owner-
tral figure in its redistribution (Altman
ship. 1987:142). Sackett (1979:242) similarly has
documented the continuing importance of
As well as involving brideservice com- male hunting and distribution of meat to
mitments, the exchanges between a man elders. He observes that hunting is for men
and his matriline in the Western Desert join linked with rituals allowing them to
142 HARRY ALLEN
achieve prominence and establish their po- knowledge, have access to more wives and
sition vis-a-vis that of the women, and notes female labor, and receive more gifts of food.
that hunters ignored or wasted nonpresti- For the most part senior men act as a focus
gious food items in the often forlorn hope of redistribution, sharing wives, and ritual
of capturing a large kangaroo. knowledge with younger brothers. Keen
Tonkinson (1988) claims that given the (1982), however, has documented that the
ethos of mutuality and individual au- eastern Arnhem Land Yolngu elders are
tonomy there are few inequalities among able to manipulate the system to their own
the Western Desert Mardujarra. This egali- advantage gaining from 5 to 10 wives and
tarianism emerges in the treatment of the establishing a rapidly growing clan at the
dead in the Western Desert where people expense of their younger brothers. Finally,
are buried in shallow graves with little sub- Hamilton (1982:101) notes that in eastern
sequent ceremony. Hamilton (19801981) Arnhem Land, considerable labour is em-
also notes that with marked female au- ployed in commemorating men of renown,
tonomy in subsistence and rituals, the who receive elaborate funeral ceremonies
structural and ideological dominance of involving double disposal, painted grave
men over women found elsewhere in Ab- posts, and hollow-log coffins. It seems un-
original Australia had not become a reality likely that the presence of elaborate funeral
in the Western Desert. Given the low rates ceremonies in eastern Arnhem Land is en-
of polygyny, and womens access to ritual tirely unrelated to the greater opportunities
property such as stories and painted de- there for individuals to manipulate their
signs which they can sell, Western Desert control of ritual knowledge and access to
women are apparently better off than their food gifts.3 It should be noted that Collier
northern sisters. Despite this ethos of and Rosaldo (1981:323) place the geronto-
equality, women in the Western Desert cratic societies of Eastern Arnhem Land at
were still excluded from many of the ex- the inegalitarian extreme of their brideser-
changes within the domestic and ritual vice type.
sphere which are publically acknowledged
as being central to the reproduction of
Western Desert society.1, Neither was the THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL IMPRINT OF
burden of food gathering always equably FOOD EXCHANGES AND THE
shared even if, at the end of the day, the GOULD-BINFORD DIALOGUE
calorific returns from male and female pro- As noted previously, as part of his (1979)
duction approached equal proportions examination of Aboriginal tool use and dis-
(Altman 1984:185186). Hawkes and card patterns at campsites in the Western
OConnell (1981:623) note that Alyawara Desert, Hayden excavated open areas of
women often spent 4 or 5 h a day, and oc- two campsites (10 m2 and 25 m2 respec-
casionally as many as 10 h, collecting and tively) for which he had ethnographic evi-
processing seed foods. Hamilton (1980 dence. He was able to locate hearths, sleep-
1981:14) records that, in contrast to all other ing places, activity areas and bone scatters.
subsistence tasks, grinding grass-seed was Gargett and Hayden (1991) was reworked
seen as arduous, and that, when important the original field data in terms of house-
ceremonies were in progress, the womens holds, kin relationships and sharing. They
product in the form of baked grass-seed identified hearths, roasting pits, refuse con-
cakes was appropriated by the men.2 centrations, artifact clusters and other
In Arnhem Land, as men become more structures as lasting evidence from which
senior, they attain a higher level of ritual interhousehold spacing, sleeping/eating
areas, and related activity areas might be
See Note section at end of paper for all footnotes reconstructed, concluding (1991:30),
Sharing between individuals and families is a distance. Although OConnells and Hay-
common thread in relationships that display the dens data could be used to predict the spa-
most predictable spatial patterning. Sharing not
only influences how far apart people choose to
tial nature of the archaeological record on
live, but it also determines whom they live near. stratified open sites to date this has not
been done.
A similar study was carried out by Gould (Gould and Watson 1982:366), on
OConnell (1987) amongst Alyawara the basis of 70 observations he made in the
people in central Australia. Contemporary Western Desert, noted that Aboriginal men
Alyawara settlements are large (110 ha) divided large kangaroos into the same nine
and contain 20200 people. Settlements, portions regardless of how many people
however, can be broken up into family and participated in the hunt or who they were,
single sex households. He identified house- how far they travelled, the number of ani-
hold activity areas consisting of shelters, mals killed, the time of the year, the relative
other structures, hearths, and a refuse dis- abundance or scarcity of game, or the num-
posal zone. Surrounding these were special ber of people waiting back in camp. He
activity areas such as roasting pits, auto re- concluded that while ecoutilitarian expla-
pair stations, and defecation areas. From nations accounted for most aspects of the
this pattern of structures, hearths and butchering and consumption of meat, the
refuse, OConnell (1987:8990) concluded strict adherence to a fixed pattern of initial
that household clusters could be identified division was best explained by reference to
archaeologically, at least for sites with a social obligations involving kin-based shar-
short and uncomplicated settlement his- ing of food. Similarly, OConnell and Mar-
tory. Such household clusters provide an shall (1989) in their study of kangaroo body
indirect reflection of social relationships at part transport among the Alyawara found
the settlement. In any settlement, especially that once killed, the kangaroos were either
the larger ones, there may be one or two cooked and butchered in the field or
households located so far away from their brought back intact to the settlement for
nearest neighbors as to be isolated, that is, processing. The body parts that were either
to have no close neighbors. There are most cooked and eaten in the field or left there
often senior mens households, but may oc- were the viscera, skull, tail, feet, and fore-
casionally be nuclear family or womens limbs. Instead of taking the opportunity to
households (OConnell 1987:101102). maximize their personal nutritional benefit
by eating the best parts in the bush, where
The position of individual households within a competion was lowest, the hunters con-
settlement is a function of social relationships. sumed only the lowest ranked or most per-
People usually camp nearest those individuals to ishable items. The highest ranked body
whom they are most closely related. A tally of
kin ties among 95 nearest neighbour households
parts, the rear legs, were always brought
in five settlements shows that primary consan- back to the camp (OConnell and Marshall
guinal links are present in 64% of all possible 1989:402) where, as noted above, they
pairs. Close classificatory equivalents (e.g., par- would be given to in-laws or senior adults.
ents siblings or first-generation parallel cousins) Questions regarding the social division
account for an additional 19%. In most of the
remaining cases, pairs consist of people living
of large game have surfaced in an argu-
near their closest relatives in the settlement. ment between Richard Gould and Lewis
Binford (Binford 1984, 1987, 1991, Gould
OConnell further concluded that the vol- and Watson 1982, Gould and Yellen 1987,
ume of interhousehold sharing, particu- 1991) about the effect that organizationally
larly between adult women, but also sig- significant behaviours might have on the
nificantly between adult men, was an im- structure of archaeological sites. The differ-
portant determinant of interhousehold ences between the two positions concerns,
144 HARRY ALLEN
among other things, the role of sharing, sexually division of activities might struc-
butchery practices, camp household spac- ture archaeological remains while denying
ing, and predation. Binford (1984:237) ar- a similar role to Ngatatjara butchery pat-
gues that the archaeological record rather terns which he identifies as a social behav-
than idiosyncratic behaviour, is the subject ior. Neither Gould nor Binford fully per-
of his research. He portrays Goulds eth- ceived that the division of large game is
noarchaeological approach, which relies on only one of the many ways in which Ab-
analogy (Wylie 1982), as only being able to original society makes use of gender differ-
infer, rather than demonstrate, the effects of entiation to organize production and social
cultural behavior on the archaeological rec- reproduction. Merlan (1988:57) provides
ord. On the other hand, Gould (Gould and two insights into this process. First, she
Watson 1982:36670) wishes to discount an notes that intrinsic gender differences are
ecoutilitarian explanation for Ngatatjara ascribed to different domains of activity
(Western Desert) butchery patterns in order and space, especially in production and
to demonstrate that such behaviour is ritual. Second, she points out (1988:55) that
anomalous. biological age has little to do with concepts
Binford, in his analysis of Alyawara resi- of social maturity and that the achievement
dential structures (1987:474475), identifies of adulthood is a dimension of gender
male and female activity areas. He explains identity that is overtly manipulated
the scatter of bone fragments on Alecs through marriage or initiation. Marriage
Gurlander B site not a result of distinc- and children mark the achievement of
tive butchering and sharing practices but adult status for women, and the relation-
rather as the outcome of processing, con- ships between parents, in-laws,4 siblings
suming, and disposing of carcasses. None- and children are encapsulated in the free
theless, Binford (1987:45660) accounts for sharing of the food a woman has gathered.
the presence of kangaroo heads and lower Males participate in a different, parallel
rear legs in terms of a hunter keeping the economy termed a dual social system by
marginal parts for himself (Alec as a hunter Hamilton (19801981). Male adult status is
of kangaroos), and the presence of pelvic demonstrated through marriage and (even-
parts and lumbar vertebrae of domestic tually) full participation in the ritual life of
species because Alec was the recipient of the group. The animals hunted by the
gifts of high quality food parts whenever young men are used as payments to their
domestic animals were slaughtered. Bin- in-laws as brideprice and also to their se-
ford (1987:474) noted that the most distinc- niors for property in the form of ritual
tive characteristics of the mens zone were knowledge. Gender is hence a more perva-
the presence of automobile parts, oil cans sive aspect of Aboriginal life and society
and grindstones used in making pigments than is acknowledged by the conventional
for rituals. There has been a renaissance in archaeological acceptance of an economic
mens business in Aboriginal Australia in- division of labor.
volving both ceremonies and hunting using While the North American protagonists
guns and four-wheel drive vehicles (Alt- in the site structure debate argue about the
man 1984:189, 1987:89, Sackett 1979). Bin- details, all accept that sharing and ex-
fords analysis of bone fragments is a dem- changes of food in hunting and gathering
onstration of the impact of this renaissance societies play a prominent role in the pat-
on the structure of contemporary camps. terning of the archaeological record (Bin-
Binford believes that the division of labor ford 1984:255). Most of the authors dis-
is biologically and functionally determined. cussed here (Binford 1991:271, Gould and
Consequently, he is able to accept that a Yellen 1991:292293, Gargett and Hayden
1991:12, OConnell 1987:87) treat sharing as result in a breakdown of any patterns. In

a discrete phenomenon, generally as a risk- the Australian context, these problems are
minimizing strategy (Smith 1988). How- discussed, but not overcome, by Gargett
ever, as we have seen food exchanges fulfill and Hayden (1991:30), OConnell (1987:90
other functions as well. They organize hi- 91) and Peterson (1971:242).
erarchical relations between men and Smith discusses the problem of the reuse
women, and juniors and seniors, and also of structures and the difficulty of archaeo-
assist the maintenance of cohesive residen- logically isolating single household units.
tial groups. Developing a concept similar to Sterns
There is mounting evidence that different time averaged assemblages discussed pre-
societies use age, sex, and residence after viously, Smith advocates the use of a house-
marriage to organize settlements and ac- hold series to bridge the gap between eth-
tivities and, furthermore, that these varia- nographic observations and the reality of
tions are reflected in the short-term ar- processes involved in the formation of ar-
chaeological record. Archaeologists inter- chaeological sites. A household series is de-
ested in small-scale processes have fined as a sequence of households inhabit-
enthusiastically embraced household ar- ing a given structure over more than a
chaeology as a way of studying domestic single generation (Smith 1992:30). It might
groups and families (Smith 1992:3031, be possible to set out conceptual units for
Tringham 1991). OConnell (1987:104) con- open archaeological sites that are similarly
cluded that patterns in site structure will responsive to the problems of reuse and
only be identified in relatively large scale postdepositional processes. Interestingly
exposures, at or beyond the largest now un- enough, Myers (1982:192) concluded that
dertaken on huntergatherer sites, and, that the structure of Pintupi (Western Desert)
the data most likely to be informative with society as a regional system would only
respect to site structures are very small materialise over time. Huntergatherer so-
refuse items, such as chipping debris, small cial groups, above the level of the house-
bone fragments, and plant macrofossils, hold, might not have an existence indepen-
which can often be found in primary con- dent of repeatedly used camping places
text. Peterson (1971:246) similarly advo- where connections between households are
cates that the open sites, distributed over demonstrated by multiple instances of
an area larger than that used by a band, sharing, a reversal of the Pompeii prem-
should be located and their internal layout ise so elegantly criticized by Binford
including the location of artifacts especially (1981). Single-period sites, thought to be
mortars and pestles should be plotted. more reflective of huntergatherer social re-
In huntergatherer archaeology, where ality, might not provide as true an indica-
permanent houses are generally absent, tion of Aboriginal social organization as do
single occupation sites are likely to be ar- reoccupied sites.
chaeologically invisible, while multiple oc-
cupations might make the isolation of TIME-LIKE STUDIES IN
single households impossible. Processual AUSTRALIAN ARCHAEOLOGY
and evolutionary archaeologists are pessi-
mistic about the ability to incorporate the While some Anthropologists have been
insights gained from ethnography into arguing over the meaning of observable,
more conventional archaeological analyses. discrete events, the archaeological time
OConnell (1987:96), Smith (1992), and Bin- component of Australian archaeology has
ford (1984:246) predict that long site occu- involved the establishment of a reliable
pancy, or frequent exchanges of food would chronology of settlement and of broad
146 HARRY ALLEN
changes of artifact technology. These re- and scraper artifact tradition to the Small
main the central preoccupations of the dis- tool tradition. Jones (1979:456457), who
cipline. Excavation strategies consistent sees this change as being a less than radical
with this programme have necessarily re- one, comments,
lied on the collection of small samples ob-
tained by trenching deeply stratified rock- Within the assemblages of the Australian Core
Tool and Scraper Tradition, seen over a period of
shelter sites which are sometimes hundreds
some 25,000 years and on a continent-wide scale,
of kilometers apart. Most recently, attention there was a very slow developmental pattern. As
has been devoted to the establishment of time proceeded there was a general dimunition
the date of initial human occupation of the in the total size of tools, though the worked
Australian continent, of particular region edges themselves tended to remain more con-
stant. . . . These reflect a process towards greater
(such as Tasmania and New Guinea) or of
efficiency which can be measured in terms of the
particular habitats (highland, cool tempera- average length of working edge per unit weight
ture and arid areas) (J. Allen 1989, Allen et of tool, . . . Such a process in mid-Recent times
al., 1988, Cosgrove 1989, Roberts et al., 1990, was augmented and probably accelerated by the
Smith 1987). The major weaknesses of time- appearance of new suites of what are loosely re-
ferred to as small tools which were added onto
like approaches to Australian archaeology
the old stone technology. These stone tools con-
have been at the conceptual and explana- sisted variously of backed microliths, adze
tory level. The complexity of the conti- flakes, unifacial and bifacial points etc, which
nents archaeology has been reduced to cul- were differentially distributed across the conti-
ture historic sequences of technological or nent but which all reflected the same technologi-
cal advancesnamely a transformation in the
cultural stages. Change, or its absence, has
methods of hafting of the stone bits to their
been explained in unidimensional terms in- wooden handles.
voking processes such as isolation, inven-
tion, adaptation, migration, diffusion, or re- While this view is now somewhat dated,
action to environmental circumstances similar ideas of a more recent vintage are
(Allen and Barton 1989:1520, 131-7). common. Bowdler and OConnor (1991:54
It has been claimed that the earliest stone & 61) argue that a good case can be made
tools from Australia and New Guinea be- that the mid-Holocene archaeological rec-
longed to a single technological complex, ord, dating no earlier than 4,500 B.P., shows
the Australian core tool and scraper tradi- the appearance of a loose package of events
tion which varied little over 8.5 million consisting of the invention and/or intro-
km2 and 50,000 years (Jones 1979;455457). duction of new, generally small, stone tool
There has been only limited exploration of types, and the introduction of the dog.
possible regional differences within this Leaving aside the questions as to wheth-
tradition over time and space (Allen and er its archaeological manifestations possess
Barton 1989:108113, Allen et al., 1989:552 anything beyond a superficial unity, expla-
554, Lampert 1981) and less regarding the nations for the appearance and spread of
mechanisms by which this uniformity, in the Small tool tradition have been limited.
the face of environmental and other Apart from dating, the major explanatory
changes, might have been maintained (see concerns have been, first, whether or not
Godwin 1991 for a discussion of Pleistocene the source of the [idea for these] tools were
information systems as open but ineffec- internal or external, and secondly, given
tive). Few, if any, consistent, long term that the technology [conceived as spear
trends have been isolated from this record. points and barbs] cannot be demonstrated
A major, if controversial, division of Aus- to be functionally more efficient than the
tralian prehistory is marked by the shift- existing wooden spears, whether it should
over, at ca. 5000 B.P., from the Core tool best be interpreted as a stylistic phenom-
enon (White and OConnell 1982:121 & (Bird 1993, Gero 1991), as has the tendency
124). Recently Hiscock (1994) has suggested to naively extrapolate contemporary ethno-
that the Small tool tradition should be seen graphic models of gender activities back
as a risk-minimizing strategy, one that as- onto the past. Simple assumptions that only
sisted highly mobile Australian hunter- men hunt and only women gather are
gatherers to cope with Holocene environ- readily falsified by observations to the con-
mental changes and to colonize previously trary both from Australia and elsewhere
unoccupied landscapes. (Bird 1993:23, McKell 1993:116). These have
Hamilton (19801981:8) argues that ar- also put paid to the notion that women are
chaeological patterns which are visible over biologically incapable of hunting. The strin-
the long term in Australian prehistory have gency of these criticisms has had a further
been structured by kinship and gender re- impact on questions of exactly when and
lationships (see also Conkey and Gero where ethnographic analogies might use-
1991). Hamiltons years of field work in fully be used in interpreting archaeological
north and central Australia led to an inter- situations. Such caveats should not be
est in an ethnographically informed archae- taken too far, however. As Catherine Berndt
ology. She makes the point that in the West- noted nearly 25 years ago, Aboriginal infor-
ern Desert many of the hafted implements mants are clear about the ideological role
archaeologists associate with the Small tool material items play in their society.
tradition could be used only by the men.
Up to a point, a digging stick looks rather like a
The women, in general, used only hand- spear. But the differences between them, though
held stone implements. apparently small, are crucialboth structurally
(how they are made, what they look like) and
This suggests that the technological apparatus functionally (what they are expected to do). In
and skills used by women for the manufacture of spite of what they have in common, they are not
their wooden implements is a continuation of to be confused. And the Aborigines, while ac-
the older core tool and scraper tradition. . . . knowledging their common qualities, did not
The spear-thrower, with its associated adze- confuse them, any more than they confused the
stone, perhaps represents a more recent innova- sex referents that these tools, or weapons, sym-
tion, one which was not made available to the bolized (Berndt 1970:46).
women. It seems likely . . . that technological in-
novations in lithic industries adhered solely THE NORTH AUSTRALIAN LITHIC
among men. Women continued the older tradi- SEQUENCE AND INTERPRETATIONS
tions in technology, as . . . they continued the
older ritual traditions, not because they are in-
BASED ON HISTORICALLY
nately conservative but because innovations in OBSERVABLE PROCESSES
both areas are introduced and elaborated within
the context of exclusively male rituals.
With the connections between gender,
economy and technology in mind, it is time
Hamiltons observations here draw at- to turn to an archaeological problem. A
tention to the fact that the introduction of lithic sequence from northern Australian
new stone tools takes place either within an sites (in an area from the Kimberelys to the
established cultural context or the tools Gulf of Carpentaria, north of the 20 South
themselves might indicate the creation of a parallel) is shown on Table 1 below. De-
new cultural context. pending on whether one accepts the cur-
Explorations of gender issues in Austra- rently available Thermoluminescence and
lian archaeology are most notable because Optical Dates or not, the north Australian
of their rarity (Bird, 1993:22, Bowdler 1976 lithic sequence begins either close to 60,000
is an exception). The assumptions that B.P. (Roberts et al., 1994) or 35,000 B.P. (J.
man was the sole marker and user of Allen, 1989) and ends during the early part
stone artifacts has been recently criticised of the present century. The generalized se-
148 HARRY ALLEN
TABLE 1
Schematic Sequence of Lithic Changes at Northern Australian Sites (from H. Allen 1989, Davidson 1935)
Lithics Time period
Bifacially pressure flaked points spread from Kimberleys eastward, large

blades, flake adzes, quartz flakes, use polished flakes ca. 300 B.P.A.D. 1935
Large blades, quartz flakes, flake adzes, use polished flakes, fewer small
bifacial and unifacial points ca. 1,500300 B.P.
Small bifacial and unifacial points, flake adzes ca. 5,0001,500 B.P.
Small quartz and chert flakes, polished stone axes ca. 18,0005,000 B.P.
Quartzite flakes, cores with ?utilisation or retouch, polished stone axes ca. 60,000 or 35,00018,000 B.P.
quence offered here, however, differs in a mation of freshwater wetlands. Further to

number of significant ways from the con- the east, in the Kimberleys, pressure flaked
ventional Core tool/Small tool model. bifacially worked Kimberley points were
If the Core tool and scraper tradition ex- produced, with Davidson (1935) document-
isted at all in this part of Australia, it is ing their active spread into areas where
limited to the earliest part of the sequence, large blades were also used as spear points.
prior to 18,000 B.P. However, archaeological Stone projectile points are closely associ-
samples for this time period are minuscule ated with light weight, high velocity reed
and are in sufficient for any certain identi- spears propelled by a spearthrower (Smith
fication of the assemblages involved be- and Cundy 1985:36, Cundy 1989). A direct
yond the comment that they include cores, association between the first occurrence of
large flakes and polished stone axes. small projectile points and the introduction
Through the Late Pleistocene to the mid- of a new spear/spearthrower technology is
Holocene (ca. 18,0005,000 B.P.), rock shel- not entirely robust, however, for while the
ters contain large numbers of small flakes, small projectile points require a high veloc-
ground pieces of ochre and few if any de- ity spear/spearthrower technology, the re-
finable core tools or scrapers. After 5,000 verse is not necessarily the case. Wooden
B.P., small unifacial and bifacial spear points, which are either unbarbed or
points and flake adzes dominate much of barbed with small simple flakes, can serve
the recent archaeological record (Allen and equally well and the changeover to a
Barton 1989:119127). The dating of this spearthrower-based technology might have
change, and of the technology involved in occurred earlier than the change to stone
point production, which concerns both point production.
flaking techniques and changes in raw ma- The reeds for these spears and the raw
terials, is variable across north Australia. materials for stone point manufacture do
Small projectile points are illustrated in Fig. not occur within the same ecological zones
1, and their archaeological distribution is in Arnhem Land. Ethnographic accounts
shown in Fig. 2. 5 In the western Arnhem suggest the men spent a considerable time
Land sites, changes in the numbers of small manufacturing spears and trading them for
points at different sites suggests shifts in reeds and other materials in secular, intrar-
centers of production with large scale pro- egional trading networks (Allen 1996a,
duction phasing out after ca. 1500 B.P. Dur- Berndt 1951:160171, Love 1936:7476, Ka-
ing the more recent past, large unifacial pirigi in Jones 1985:167). Tacon (1991:198
blades, a few small projectile points and 189) draws on an ethnographic analogy
use polished flakes occur in archaeological from eastern Arnhem Land, to argue that
situations that are associated with the for- the small projectile points, being manufac-
FIG. 1. Small unifacial and bifacial projectile points from Ngarradj Warde Djobkeng, northern Aus-
tralia.
tured from rocks of an iridescent nature, cal occurrences of large blades and small
were charged with spiritual power. There is unifacial and bifacial points (Allen 1996a)
no direct evidence that these small points presents a number of interesting differences
were curated in any special manner on the (Figs. 2 and 4). In western Arnhem Land,
archaeological sites of western Arnhem large blades occur in both everyday and
Land where they occur on everyday living secluded, possibly ritual, contents. Further
sites. The presence of small points in rock- to the east, they were manufactured until
shelters mixed with shellfish and other the 1950s at the Ngilipitji quarry, an area
midden debris suggests that these points imbued with high ritual significance (Jones
did not have the same restricted associa- and White 1988:56). Wrapped in bundles
tions as they do elsewhere in Australia to- protected by paperback, they were traded
day. The evidence remains somewhat am- from Ngilipitji as part of a ceremonial
biguous, however, as there is more than one exchange network that reached across
way in which male and female activities Arnhem Land and into central Australia
might be segregated, possibly by using the (Thomson 1949). In Arnhmen Land, large
same space at different times. At Ngarradj blades were used as tips for both hunting
Warde Djobkeng, the levels with stone and duelling spears. Unlike the small uni-
points have been mixed by the repetitive facial and bifacial points, however, which
use of a large earth oven, a practice associ- had a restricted archaeological distribution,
ated with the cooking of kangaroos, cer- these large blades spread far beyond the
tainly a male task at present. area where they were used as spear points
A comparison between the archaeologi- (Fig. 4). In both northern and central Aus-
150 HARRY ALLEN
FIG. 2. The archaeological distribution of small projectile points.
tralia, large blades have become part of ex- complex and multiple barbed spears were
tensive ceremonial exchange networks. used for rituals or fighting only, while most
However, in the center, they are not used on of the hunting was carried out with spears
spears but rather were exchanged between with simple iron, stone or wooden points.
the men, hidden from the women, and cu- Cylindrical spearthrowers have the widest
rated in a manner that prevented them distribution, but the restriction of more spe-
from being incorporated into domestic ar- cialised forms to particular localities dem-
chaeological contexts. Blade quarries are onstrate that northern Australia was a cen-
relatively common across northern and ter of innovation of new forms of spears
central Australia (Figs. 3 and 4) and smaller and spearthrowers. The multiple forms of
blades had an everyday use as mens or stone projectile points of northern Australia
womens knives and spoons. and their complex archaeological relation-
A number of spear and spearthrower ships, which includes the evidence of the
technological complexes were distributed rock art, shows, first, that this area has been
across northern Australia. Cundy (1989) a center of innovation in spear technology
documents highly variable spear forms us- over the past 5,000 years, and second, that
ing iron-headed shovel nosed points, stone the meaning and circumstances behind the
points (either large blades or small points), spread and use of these stone points has
wooden heads either plain or solidly varied in time and place.
barbed or with stone, bone or wooden Tacon and Chippendale (1994:15) link the
barbs attached, sting-ray barbs, or steel or change to small point production at ca.
bone prongs. He notes that many of the 5,000 B.P. with the appearance of painted
FIG. 3. Large blades, showing the method of hafting onto a wooden shaft.
scenes of hooked sticks/spearthrowers, tralia.6 These remain interesting hypoth-

barbed spears and battle scenes on the eses which can be tested against other find-
walls of the Arnhem Land rockshelters. ings.
They go on to argue that changes in the
rock art between 6,000 and 4,000 B.P. sug- CONCLUSION
gests a shift from small skirmishes to more The time-like archaeological ap-
highly organized conflicts involving doz- proaches pursued up until now in northern
ens of men, the beginning of a centralized Australia demonstrate lithic reduction evi-
clan social structure and an ideological sys- dence, new varieties of stone projectile
tem similar to that of present-day Aborigi- points, and increasingly complex archaeo-
nal society. In an similar fashion, Allen logical relationships shown by the distribu-
(1996a) concluded that the extensive but re- tion of these points within archaeological
cent distribution of large blades was the in- sites and across wide areas of northern and
direct evidence for a marked increase in so- central Australia. These stone projectile
cial interaction and ceremonial exchange points simultaneously manifest both tech-
networks joining northern and central Aus- nological and ideological factors.
152 HARRY ALLEN
FIG. 4. The archaeological and ethnographic distribution of large blades.
If it is appropriate to assume that the con- tifact reduction patterns, dated to this time
nection drawn between spear technology period, to on-site and off-site production
and male activities can be projected onto strategies and the opening and closing of
the archaeological record, then the presence access to raw materials, a scenario in which
of stone projectile points marks the time exchange relationships are implicated.
that it is possible to identify a gendered What changed at 5,000 B.P., however, was
structure to that record. The evidence of the introduction and spread of more stan-
different curatorial practices and archaeo- dardised stone production techniques, a
logical distributions concerning small uni- change that made these processes archaeo-
facial and bifacial points and large blades logically more visible. Goodwin (1991) as-
suggests that these meanings and exchange sociates these changes with the need to
relationships have changed over time. mark social boundaries where certain indi-
It cannot be assumed, however, that gen- viduals controlled access to information.
der and exchange relationships are absent Extracting reliable information from ar-
from the earlier parts of the northern Aus- chaeological materials is so difficult that in-
tralian record. If the small flakes produced terpretive aids including ethnography
between 18,000 and 5,000 B.P. were used as should only be abandoned when they can
spear points and barbs, there is likely to be be demonstrated to be of no use. The single
both functional and technological continu- stipulation must be that any interpretation
ities represented in the later shift to unifa- has to be answerable to the rules of evi-
cial and bifacial points (Cundy 1990). At dence and inference (Kosso 1991:625). On
Ingaladdi, Cundy attributes changes in ar- the other hand, the naive use of ethnogra-
phy can no longer be countenanced. An- about production, settlement organiza-

thropological observations and theories tions, site location, and exchange for con-
have to be reshaped so that they suit the temporary Aboriginal societies. This infor-
analysis of human action revealed in the mation relates directly to many archaeo-
archaeological record (Murray and Walker logical concerns. Even if knowledge of the
1988:254). These findings mirror those Kent remote past is restricted to stone artifacts, it
(1993:374) has derived from her study of is hard to envisage an accurate historical
variability in Kalahari faunal assemblages account of change over time for Australia
that entirely ignores the multiplicity of pro-
The data on sharing and faunal remain assem- cesses visible today. This information is
blages appear to be consistentin different situ-
ations, in different time periods, and in different
pertinent not only for generating middle-
environments, sharing patterns among many range theory applicable to Australian sites
huntergatherers impact faunal remain assem- but also to challenge generalizations from
blages in archaeologically visible ways. Given overseas many of which are based on inad-
this, sharing needs to be taken into consideration
equate data.
when interpreting variability between faunal as-
semblages from different sites and/or time peri- The development of new approaches to
ods, just as transport costs, bone density, element site surveying and the collection of data
fragmentation, scavenger disturbance, and more from larger excavation areas will comple-
ecological, taphonomic, and economic factors ment and enrich the current deep site ex-
are routinely considered in most modern studies
cavation strategy. Such studies would seem
of faunal assemblages.
capable of articulating and integrating
Her conclusions are similar to those of much of the information collected by pres-
OConnell (1987) and Cundy (1990) that ently disparate branches of our discipline
even where the original layout of house- technological studies, use-wear studies,
hold structures has been destroyed evi- ecological approaches, art studies, artifact
dence of exchanges will be preserved in re- studies, and, finally, settlement ap-
duction sequences, the distribution of stone proachesinto a more satisfying final
raw materials and small refuse items such product than we are capable of at present.
as chipping debris and bone fragments. Neither should the interaction between eth-
Searching for Pompeii situations (the elu- nography and archaeology be unidirec-
sive single period site) or projecting pre- tional. As Shott (1992:859 & 862) notes, ar-
cise ethnographic models of sharing and chaeology has a role to play in the evalua-
exchange back onto the archaeological rec- tion of ethnological theory. This is
ord are unlikely to be effective strategies. particularly true in demonstrating a time
This is not to say that in the Australian case depth for the complex and dynamic
it is not entirely appropriate to interrogate changes that are a part of the prehistory of
the record for patterns which might be re- many hunter gatherer societies which have,
flective of exchanges or gender relation- until recently, been regarded as timeless
ships. There is not necessity, however, to and unchanging.
decide in advance the specific form these
relationships might take. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For many years Australian archaeologists I thank Peter Sheppard and Sally Horvath for com-
have complained about the preoccupation ments on this paper.
of social anthropologists with the social
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NOTES
Thomson, D. F.
1939 The Seasonal Factor in human culture, illus- 1
Differences in female status in the Western Desert
trated from the life of a contemporary no- versus that in Arnhem Land have emerged in the mar-
madic group. Proceedings if the Prehistoric So- ket sales of Aboriginal art. Western Desert women
ciety 5:209221. have access to stories and designs and actively partici-
1949 Economic structure and the ceremonial exchange pate in the production of highly priced paintings
cycle in Arnhem Land. Macmillan, Melbourne. (Johnson 1990:17). In Arnhem Land, women are re-
Tindale, N. stricted to producing low priced craft items while the
1925 Natives of Groote Eylandt and the West men produce bark paintings and objects which yield
Coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Records of the highest returns (Kubota 1991:3146).
2
the South Australian Museum 2:103104; Hamilton (1982:1067) argues that Western Desert
3:102134. societies are going through an ideological change
1965 Stone implement making among the Na- which shifts rights to land and group membership
kako, Ngadadjara and Pitjandjara of the from a place-based to a father-based system, a change
Great Western Desert. Records of the South that has implications for the nature of rights held by
Australian Museum 15:131164. men over women. The men continue to claim that
their ritual manipulations are the sole determinant of where they are dated between 3,500 and 4,500 B.P. but
human production and social reproduction thus deny- not more recently. Large numbers of unifacial points
ing the female contribution to both. have been recovered from undated surface deposits
3
Gosden (1989) and Arnold (1993) usefully discuss near Lake Eyre. The archaeological determinants of
that control of labour and production together with these southern Australian points and their relation-
resulting debt relationships are significant factors in ship with the bifacial and unifacial points of northern
the emergence of ranked societies. Australia is unknown. Figure 2 shows the area where
4
Gifts of food to in-laws are socially required. Dus- small bifacial and unifacial points occur together in
sart (1992:346) documents that widows at Yuendumu defined archaeological contexts and apart from mark-
preferred to escape this burden by not remarrying, ing single archaeological locations ignores the south-
even though the elder males put pressure on their sis- ern distribution (see also Smith and Cundy 1985).
6
ters to remarry to strengthen their claims on new, Smith (1988:332341) has documented an increase
younger spouses. in site usage in central Australia after 1400 B.P. and
5
Outside the area of northern Australia, unifacial concluded that there may have been a recent increase
points, and occasionally a few bifacial points, occur in in Central Australian populations associated with the
sites such as Devon Downs and Fromms Landing, use of cereal resources and ceremonial sites.

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JOBNAME: AA Vol 15#2 PAGE: 1 SESS: 18 OUTPUT: Thu Jun 20 12:20:55 1996

JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 15, 137159 (1996)

Ethnography and Prehistoric Archaeology in Australia

INTRODUCTION tion that the repetition of short term events

138 HARRY ALLEN

ETHNOGRAPHY IN AUSTRALIA 139

140 HARRY ALLEN

ETHNOGRAPHY IN AUSTRALIA 141

142 HARRY ALLEN

ETHNOGRAPHY IN AUSTRALIA 143

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ETHNOGRAPHY IN AUSTRALIA 145

1991:12, OConnell 1987:87) treat sharing as result in a breakdown of any patterns. In

146 HARRY ALLEN

ETHNOGRAPHY IN AUSTRALIA 147

148 HARRY ALLEN

Lithics Time period

Bifacially pressure flaked points spread from Kimberleys eastward, large

quence offered here, however, differs in a mation of freshwater wetlands. Further to

ETHNOGRAPHY IN AUSTRALIA 149

150 HARRY ALLEN

FIG. 2. The archaeological distribution of small projectile points.

ETHNOGRAPHY IN AUSTRALIA 151

scenes of hooked sticks/spearthrowers, tralia.6 These remain interesting hypoth-

152 HARRY ALLEN

FIG. 4. The archaeological and ethnographic distribution of large blades.

ETHNOGRAPHY IN AUSTRALIA 153

phy can no longer be countenanced. An- about production, settlement organiza-

154 HARRY ALLEN

Inhabitants of Central Eastern Australia. B.A. Altman, J. C.

ETHNOGRAPHY IN AUSTRALIA 155

156 HARRY ALLEN

ETHNOGRAPHY IN AUSTRALIA 157

158 HARRY ALLEN

ETHNOGRAPHY IN AUSTRALIA 159

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