Heather Builth - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Heather Builth
The Holocene, May 1, 2008
The Gunditjmara people developed a socio-economic system based on the modification of wetland eco... more The Gunditjmara people developed a socio-economic system based on the modification of wetland ecosystems associated with the Mt Eccles lava flow primarily for sustainable production and management of the highly nutritious shortfin eel ( Anguilla australis). This paper examines the environmental history of these landscapes since their inception about 30 000 years ago, through palaeoecological analysis of sediment cores from associated lakes and swamps, in order to contribute to an understanding of the causes and timing of cultural transformation. Two records cover the whole of the 30 000 year history of the landscape while two others provide evidence of change within the Holocene. A great deal of variation within the landscape is revealed, both temporally and spatially, with opportunities for human exploitation through the whole recorded period. Although most features of the records can be explained by natural landscape development and climate change, some human modification can be suggested from around the Pleistocene—Holocene transition while more obvious indications of management relating to eel aquaculture are evident from about 4000 cal. yr BP that appear to include adaptations to the onset of a drier and more variable climate. The study has implications for the explanation of intensification of settlement in Australia more generally within the mid to late Holocene.
Australian Archaeology, 2003
In order to investigate the nature of Gunditjmara resource exploitation, an understanding of envi... more In order to investigate the nature of Gunditjmara resource exploitation, an understanding of environmental relationships was considered essential. In this study a landscape analysis was used to determine the associations between the archaeology on the lava flow and its environmental context. ...
Local-Global: Identity, Security, Community, 2005
... Lake Condah Aboriginal Mission site in 1987 is of national historical significance and was th... more ... Lake Condah Aboriginal Mission site in 1987 is of national historical significance and was the consequence of a High Court win by the ... She has worked for the Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation and is a Director of the Glenelg-Hopkins Catchment Management Authority Board. ...
Australian Archaeology, 1998
... Melbourne: Department of Conser-vation and Environment. Victoria Archaeological Survey, Occas... more ... Melbourne: Department of Conser-vation and Environment. Victoria Archaeological Survey, Occasional Report 36. Clarke, A. 1994 Romancing the stones. The cultural construc-tion of archaeological landscape in the western district of Victoria. ...
The Historic Environment, 2009
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 2004
An archaeological investigation of the Tyrendarra Flow of Mt Eccles in temperate Southwest Victor... more An archaeological investigation of the Tyrendarra Flow of Mt Eccles in temperate Southwest Victoria has demonstrated that the Indigenous occupants, the Gunditjmara, developed a socio-economic system based on the environmental characteristics of the lava flow. Basalt stones, the reliable rainfall, the shortfin eel (Anguilla australis) and the Eucalyptus viminalis woodland all contributed to the development of an aquaculture system covering 100 sq km. Manipulation of the landscape resulted in large-scale management of the wetland resources by the time of British colonisation. Resource specialisation including processing formed the basis of sedentary settlement.
Aboriginal Studies Press eBooks, 2006
15. Environmental change and variability in south-western Victoria: changing constraints and oppo... more 15. Environmental change and variability in south-western Victoria: changing constraints and opportunities for occupation and land use John Tibby, A Peter Kershaw, Heather Builth, Aline Philibert and Christopher White Climate change and its associated impacts have been ...
Oxbow Books, Oct 16, 2017
Third National Archaeology Students' Conference, 2002
The Historic Environment, 2009
Intangible Cultural Heritage is broadly defined in terms of 'oral traditions, expressive cult... more Intangible Cultural Heritage is broadly defined in terms of 'oral traditions, expressive culture, the social practices, ephemeral aesthetic manifestations, and forms of knowledge carried and transmitted within cultural communities' (Kurin, 2007). The approximately 250 separate Australian Aboriginal language groups inhabited a continent of great climatic and environmental diversity. These separate societies developed socio-economies specific to their own environments, affected by both attributes and limitations (Builth, 2006). Despite the consequent vast regional differences in the tangible material culture, there is an underlying thread that joins these groups via shared spiritual values. In essence, their relationship with their environment is based on a highly evolved awareness of the non-material world, the spirit of their country, and it has nurtured them via language, stories, song, dance and ceremony through climatic extremes and more recently, invasion. A spiritual an...
Australian Archaeology, 2003
An archaeological study of indigenous precontact settlement was undertaken on the Mt Eccles lava ... more An archaeological study of indigenous precontact settlement was undertaken on the Mt Eccles lava flow in Southwest Victoria. The aim was to investigate the hypothesis that Gunditjmara socioeconomy was based on large-scale environmental management, incorporating aquaculture, food preservation and storage. Conclusions of previous archaeological excavation and survey on the landform were contradictory in their interpretations regarding Gunditjmara occupation. The shortfin eel (Anguilla australis) was economically the most important freshwater fish in the region, in the indigenous past as well as today. Ethnohistorical and local indigenous oral histories indicate that this resource was exploited as a major part of the regional precontact economy. However, no archaeological research has been undertaken on the extent of eel exploitation by Gunditjmara. In order to investigate the nature of Gunditjmara resource exploitation, an understanding of environmental relationships was considered es...
An archaeological investigation of the Tyrendarra Flow of Mt Eccles in temperate Southwest Victor... more An archaeological investigation of the Tyrendarra Flow of Mt Eccles in temperate Southwest Victoria has demonstrated that the Indigenous occupants, the Gunditjmara, developed a socio-economic system based on the environmental characteristics of the lava flow. Basalt stones, the reliable rainfall, the shortfin eel (Anguilla australis) and the Eucalyptus viminalis woodland all contributed to the development of an aquaculture system covering 100 sq km. Manipulation of the landscape resulted in large-scale management of the wetland resources by the time of British colonisation. Resource specialisation including processing formed the basis of sedentary settlement.
Given that Lake Condah has recently been declared a National Heritage site and is also going for ... more Given that Lake Condah has recently been declared a National Heritage site and is also going for World Heritage status, I've been asked to write about why I think the area is of great significance regionally, nationally and internationally. I answer that question as an archaeologist who has also researched the environmental and social history of south-west Victoria. I trust I can convince you that this is a rather special place and that we all have much to learn from it. For me, the story begins when the European settlers first moved into this part of the continent in the 1830s and 1840s. That was a time of enormous loss for the indigenous people who had evolved a relationship with their environment that resulted in sustainable land management practices. The arrival of the settlers would change everything for them, the Gunditjmara, in a period that became as tumultuous and destructive as the Mt Eccles volcanic eruption that had occurred 30,000 years previously.
This research investigates the combined historical events that have resulted in a failure by arch... more This research investigates the combined historical events that have resulted in a failure by archaeologists to reach consensus concerning the interpretation of a particular landscape and its Aboriginal occupation in south-eastern Australia. At a local level, and on a continental scale, the result of the British occupation and settlement patterns, coupled with prevailing anthropological perspectives of Aboriginal primitivism, resulted in the acceptance of pre-contact Aboriginal people as struggling to survive within a hostile environment. My study argues that the history of anthropology in Australia has influenced negatively the ability to perceive anything other than the orthodox hunter-gatherer model for Australian Aboriginal societies. This study focuses on the Gunditjmara of western Victoria. Their history is of an aggressive European invasion with one consequence being a dearth of local ethnographic records. The result is scant knowledge of Gunditjmara pre-contact socio-economy ...
Australian Archaeology, 2003
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 2004
The Holocene, May 1, 2008
The Gunditjmara people developed a socio-economic system based on the modification of wetland eco... more The Gunditjmara people developed a socio-economic system based on the modification of wetland ecosystems associated with the Mt Eccles lava flow primarily for sustainable production and management of the highly nutritious shortfin eel ( Anguilla australis). This paper examines the environmental history of these landscapes since their inception about 30 000 years ago, through palaeoecological analysis of sediment cores from associated lakes and swamps, in order to contribute to an understanding of the causes and timing of cultural transformation. Two records cover the whole of the 30 000 year history of the landscape while two others provide evidence of change within the Holocene. A great deal of variation within the landscape is revealed, both temporally and spatially, with opportunities for human exploitation through the whole recorded period. Although most features of the records can be explained by natural landscape development and climate change, some human modification can be suggested from around the Pleistocene—Holocene transition while more obvious indications of management relating to eel aquaculture are evident from about 4000 cal. yr BP that appear to include adaptations to the onset of a drier and more variable climate. The study has implications for the explanation of intensification of settlement in Australia more generally within the mid to late Holocene.
Australian Archaeology, 2003
In order to investigate the nature of Gunditjmara resource exploitation, an understanding of envi... more In order to investigate the nature of Gunditjmara resource exploitation, an understanding of environmental relationships was considered essential. In this study a landscape analysis was used to determine the associations between the archaeology on the lava flow and its environmental context. ...
Local-Global: Identity, Security, Community, 2005
... Lake Condah Aboriginal Mission site in 1987 is of national historical significance and was th... more ... Lake Condah Aboriginal Mission site in 1987 is of national historical significance and was the consequence of a High Court win by the ... She has worked for the Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation and is a Director of the Glenelg-Hopkins Catchment Management Authority Board. ...
Australian Archaeology, 1998
... Melbourne: Department of Conser-vation and Environment. Victoria Archaeological Survey, Occas... more ... Melbourne: Department of Conser-vation and Environment. Victoria Archaeological Survey, Occasional Report 36. Clarke, A. 1994 Romancing the stones. The cultural construc-tion of archaeological landscape in the western district of Victoria. ...
The Historic Environment, 2009
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 2004
An archaeological investigation of the Tyrendarra Flow of Mt Eccles in temperate Southwest Victor... more An archaeological investigation of the Tyrendarra Flow of Mt Eccles in temperate Southwest Victoria has demonstrated that the Indigenous occupants, the Gunditjmara, developed a socio-economic system based on the environmental characteristics of the lava flow. Basalt stones, the reliable rainfall, the shortfin eel (Anguilla australis) and the Eucalyptus viminalis woodland all contributed to the development of an aquaculture system covering 100 sq km. Manipulation of the landscape resulted in large-scale management of the wetland resources by the time of British colonisation. Resource specialisation including processing formed the basis of sedentary settlement.
Aboriginal Studies Press eBooks, 2006
15. Environmental change and variability in south-western Victoria: changing constraints and oppo... more 15. Environmental change and variability in south-western Victoria: changing constraints and opportunities for occupation and land use John Tibby, A Peter Kershaw, Heather Builth, Aline Philibert and Christopher White Climate change and its associated impacts have been ...
Oxbow Books, Oct 16, 2017
Third National Archaeology Students' Conference, 2002
The Historic Environment, 2009
Intangible Cultural Heritage is broadly defined in terms of 'oral traditions, expressive cult... more Intangible Cultural Heritage is broadly defined in terms of 'oral traditions, expressive culture, the social practices, ephemeral aesthetic manifestations, and forms of knowledge carried and transmitted within cultural communities' (Kurin, 2007). The approximately 250 separate Australian Aboriginal language groups inhabited a continent of great climatic and environmental diversity. These separate societies developed socio-economies specific to their own environments, affected by both attributes and limitations (Builth, 2006). Despite the consequent vast regional differences in the tangible material culture, there is an underlying thread that joins these groups via shared spiritual values. In essence, their relationship with their environment is based on a highly evolved awareness of the non-material world, the spirit of their country, and it has nurtured them via language, stories, song, dance and ceremony through climatic extremes and more recently, invasion. A spiritual an...
Australian Archaeology, 2003
An archaeological study of indigenous precontact settlement was undertaken on the Mt Eccles lava ... more An archaeological study of indigenous precontact settlement was undertaken on the Mt Eccles lava flow in Southwest Victoria. The aim was to investigate the hypothesis that Gunditjmara socioeconomy was based on large-scale environmental management, incorporating aquaculture, food preservation and storage. Conclusions of previous archaeological excavation and survey on the landform were contradictory in their interpretations regarding Gunditjmara occupation. The shortfin eel (Anguilla australis) was economically the most important freshwater fish in the region, in the indigenous past as well as today. Ethnohistorical and local indigenous oral histories indicate that this resource was exploited as a major part of the regional precontact economy. However, no archaeological research has been undertaken on the extent of eel exploitation by Gunditjmara. In order to investigate the nature of Gunditjmara resource exploitation, an understanding of environmental relationships was considered es...
An archaeological investigation of the Tyrendarra Flow of Mt Eccles in temperate Southwest Victor... more An archaeological investigation of the Tyrendarra Flow of Mt Eccles in temperate Southwest Victoria has demonstrated that the Indigenous occupants, the Gunditjmara, developed a socio-economic system based on the environmental characteristics of the lava flow. Basalt stones, the reliable rainfall, the shortfin eel (Anguilla australis) and the Eucalyptus viminalis woodland all contributed to the development of an aquaculture system covering 100 sq km. Manipulation of the landscape resulted in large-scale management of the wetland resources by the time of British colonisation. Resource specialisation including processing formed the basis of sedentary settlement.
Given that Lake Condah has recently been declared a National Heritage site and is also going for ... more Given that Lake Condah has recently been declared a National Heritage site and is also going for World Heritage status, I've been asked to write about why I think the area is of great significance regionally, nationally and internationally. I answer that question as an archaeologist who has also researched the environmental and social history of south-west Victoria. I trust I can convince you that this is a rather special place and that we all have much to learn from it. For me, the story begins when the European settlers first moved into this part of the continent in the 1830s and 1840s. That was a time of enormous loss for the indigenous people who had evolved a relationship with their environment that resulted in sustainable land management practices. The arrival of the settlers would change everything for them, the Gunditjmara, in a period that became as tumultuous and destructive as the Mt Eccles volcanic eruption that had occurred 30,000 years previously.
This research investigates the combined historical events that have resulted in a failure by arch... more This research investigates the combined historical events that have resulted in a failure by archaeologists to reach consensus concerning the interpretation of a particular landscape and its Aboriginal occupation in south-eastern Australia. At a local level, and on a continental scale, the result of the British occupation and settlement patterns, coupled with prevailing anthropological perspectives of Aboriginal primitivism, resulted in the acceptance of pre-contact Aboriginal people as struggling to survive within a hostile environment. My study argues that the history of anthropology in Australia has influenced negatively the ability to perceive anything other than the orthodox hunter-gatherer model for Australian Aboriginal societies. This study focuses on the Gunditjmara of western Victoria. Their history is of an aggressive European invasion with one consequence being a dearth of local ethnographic records. The result is scant knowledge of Gunditjmara pre-contact socio-economy ...
Australian Archaeology, 2003
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 2004