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Absence of evidence or evidence of absence? Understanding the chronology of Indigenous occupation of western New South Wales, Australia

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/9605

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Title: Absence of evidence or evidence of absence? Understanding the chronology of Indigenous occupation of western New South Wales, Australia
Related: Archaeology in Oceania, Vol. 40, Issue 2, p.33-49
Publisher: University of Sydney
Date: 2005
Author/Creator: Holdaway, Simon
Author/Creator: Fanning, Patricia
Author/Creator: Shiner, Justin
Description: Radiocarbon determinations obtained from heat retainer hearths in four sampling locations in western New South Wales, Australia are reported, with age estimates ranging from the mid Holocene until the last few centuries BP. Hearths are first considered in their geomorphic setting to determine the likely age of the surfaces into which they were dug and the reasons why they are still extant today. Second, the radiocarbon determinations are analysed not to date single events in the past, but to construct a regional chronology of Indigenous Australian occupation. In this chronology, periods when hearths were not constructed are as important as periods when radiocarbon determinations indicate sustained hearth formation. Third, comparisons are made among the four sampling locations to determine regional patterns. Results suggest both regional and local patterns of occupation and abandonment, or at least very much reduced hearth construction, over the last two millennia. The increasing frequency of radiocarbon determination results from hearths as one approaches the present is likely to be a result of the relative abundance of well preserved recent surfaces in the locations we have studied and the consequent lack of relatively ancient surfaces.
Description: 17 page(s)
Subject Keyword: archaeology
Subject Keyword: Australia
Subject Keyword: chronology
Subject Keyword: hunter-gatherers
Subject Keyword: radiocarbon
Resource Type: journal article
Organisation: Macquarie University. Graduate School of the Environment

Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/9605
Identifier: ISSN:0003-8121
Identifier: mq-rm-2005001298
Language: eng
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