Chris Urwin | Monash University (original) (raw)
Papers by Chris Urwin
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
Geoarchaeology-an International Journal, 2021
Archaeologists often wonder how and when rock shelters formed, yet their origins and antiquity ar... more Archaeologists often wonder how and when rock shelters formed, yet their origins and antiquity are almost never systematically investigated. Here we present a new method by which to determine how and when individual boulders and rock shelters came to lie in their present landscape settings. We do so through 3D laser (LiDAR) mapping, illustrating the method by example of the Borologa Aboriginal site complex in the Kimberley region of northwestern Australia. Through a combination of geomorphological study and high-resolution 3D modelling, individual blocks of rock are re-fitted and re-positioned onto their originating cliff-line. Preliminary cosmogenic nuclide ages on exposed vertical cliff faces and associated detached boulders above the Borologa archaeological sites signal very slow detachment rates for the mass movements of large blocks down the Drysdale Valley slopes, suggesting relative landscape stability over hundreds of thousands of years (predating the arrival of people). These findings offer hitherto unknown details of the pace of regional landscape evolution, and move us towards a better understanding of patterns of human occupation in a context of relatively stable rock outcrops both within the sites and across the region.
Scientific Reports
Insects form an important source of food for many people around the world, but little is known of... more Insects form an important source of food for many people around the world, but little is known of the deep-time history of insect harvesting from the archaeological record. In Australia, early settler writings from the 1830s to mid-1800s reported congregations of Aboriginal groups from multiple clans and language groups taking advantage of the annual migration of Bogong moths (Agrotis infusa) in and near the Australian Alps, the continent’s highest mountain range. The moths were targeted as a food item for their large numbers and high fat contents. Within 30 years of initial colonial contact, however, the Bogong moth festivals had ceased until their recent revival. No reliable archaeological evidence of Bogong moth exploitation or processing has ever been discovered, signalling a major gap in the archaeological history of Aboriginal groups. Here we report on microscopic remains of ground and cooked Bogong moths on a recently excavated grindstone from Cloggs Cave, in the southern foo...
Quaternary Science Reviews
Australian Archaeology, 2021
In this paper we report on new research at the iconic archaeological site of Cloggs Cave (GunaiKu... more In this paper we report on new research at the iconic archaeological site of Cloggs Cave (GunaiKurnai Country), in the southern foothills of SE Australia’s Great Dividing Range. Detailed chronometric dating, combined with high-resolution 3D mapping, geomorphological
studies and archaeological excavations, now allow a dense sequence of Late Holocene ash layers and their contents to be correlated with GunaiKurnai ethnography and current knowledge. These results suggest a critical re-interpretation of what the Old People were, and were not, doing in Cloggs Cave during the Late Holocene. Instead of a lack of
Late Holocene cave occupation, as previously thought through the conceptual lens of ‘habitat and economy’, Cloggs Cave is now understood to have been actively used for special, magical purposes. Configured by local GunaiKurnai cosmology, cave landscapes (including
Cloggs Cave’s) were populated not only by food species animals, but also by ‘supernatural’ Beings and forces whose presence helped inform occupational patterns. The profound differences between the old and new archaeological interpretations of Cloggs Cave, separated by five decades of developing archaeological thought and technical advances,
draw attention to archaeological meaning-making and highlight the significance of data capture and the pre-conceptions that shape the production of archaeological stories and identities of place.
Quaternary Science Reviews, 2021
Understanding of Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions in Australia and New Guinea (Sahul) suff... more Understanding of Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions in Australia and New Guinea (Sahul) suffers from a paucity of reliably dated bone deposits. Researchers are divided as to when, and why, large-bodied species became extinct. Critical to these interpretations are so-called ‘late survivors’, megafauna that are thought to have persisted for tens of thousands of years after the arrival of people. While the original dating of most sites with purported late survivors has been shown to have been erroneous or problematic, one site continues to feature: Cloggs Cave. Here we report new results that show that Cloggs Cave’s youngest megafauna were deposited in sediments that date to 44,500-54,160 years ago, more than 10,000 years older than previously thought, bringing them into chronological alignment with the emerging continental pattern of megafaunal extinctions. Our results indicate that the youngest megafauna specimens excavated from Cloggs Cave datedate to well before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and their demise could not have been driven by climate change leading into the LGM, the peak of the last Ice Age.
Radiocarbon, 2021
When European colonists arrived in the late 19th century, large villages dotted the coastline of ... more When European colonists arrived in the late 19th century, large villages dotted the coastline of the Gulf of Papua (southern Papua New Guinea). These central places sustained long-distance exchange and decade-spanning ceremonial cycles. Besides ethnohistoric records, little is known of the villages' antiquity, spatiality, or development. Here we combine oral traditional and 14 C chronological evidence to investigate the spatial history of two ancestral village sites in Orokolo Bay: Popo and Mirimua Mapoe. A Bayesian model composed of 35 14 C assays from seven excavations, alongside the oral traditional accounts, demonstrates that people lived at Popo from 765-575 cal BP until 220-40 cal BP, at which time they moved southwards to Mirimua Mapoe. The village of Popo spanned ca. 34 ha and was composed of various estates, each occupied by a different tribe. Through time, the inhabitants of Popo transformed (e.g., expanded, contracted, and shifted) the village to manage social and ceremonial priorities, long-distance exchange opportunities and changing marine environments. Ours is a crucial case study of how oral traditional ways of understanding the past interrelate with the information generated by Bayesian 14 C analyses. We conclude by reflecting on the limitations, strengths, and uncertainties inherent to these forms of chronological knowledge.
Scientific Reports, 2020
Insects form an important source of food for many people around the world, but little is known of... more Insects form an important source of food for many people around the world, but little is known of the deep-time history of insect harvesting from the archaeological record. In Australia, early settler writings from the 1830s to mid-1800s reported congregations of Aboriginal groups from multiple clans and language groups taking advantage of the annual migration of Bogong moths (Agrotis infusa) in and near the Australian Alps, the continent's highest mountain range. The moths were targeted as a food item for their large numbers and high fat contents. Within 30 years of initial colonial contact, however, the Bogong moth festivals had ceased until their recent revival. No reliable archaeological evidence of Bogong moth exploitation or processing has ever been discovered, signalling a major gap in the archaeological history of Aboriginal groups. Here we report on microscopic remains of ground and cooked Bogong moths on a recently excavated grindstone from Cloggs Cave, in the southern foothills of the Australian Alps. These findings represent the first conclusive archaeological evidence of insect foods in Australia, and, as far as we know, of their remains on stone artefacts in the world. They provide insights into the antiquity of important Aboriginal dietary practices that have until now remained archaeologically invisible. Ethnographic accounts from around the world have reported the widespread use of insects as food by people 1-3. In some cases, such as among the Shoshone and other Great Basin tribes of the U.S., swarms of grasshoppers and crickets were driven into pits and blankets 4 , while among the Paiute the larvae of Pandora moths (Coloradia pandora lindseyi) were smoked out of trees to fall into prepared trenches, where they would be cooked 5. Across the world, insects could be mass-harvested, often seasonally, offering high nutritional value especially in fat, protein and vitamins 6. The harvesting of insects in the past has ranged from opportunities to feed large communal gatherings during times of plenty, to more individualistic economic pursuits such as in the search for delicacies or the exploitation of low-ranked resources when other foods were scarce or depleted 7-9. Irrespective of the catch, insects often represented an important component of the diet, and of the reliability and thus dependability of locales as resource zones, with implications for social scheduling and cultural practice. However, a paucity of archaeological studies of insect food remains has resulted in a downplay or omission of the use of insects from archaeological narratives and deep-time community histories 10. In Australia, a wide range of insects is known to have been eaten by Aboriginal groups, in particular the larvae ('witchetty grubs') of cossid moths (especially Endoxyla leucomochla) in arid and semi-arid areas 11-13. Of OPEN
Australian Archaeology, 2020
Ethnographic records show that people from Orokolo Bay in the Papuan Gulf (Papua New Guinea) made... more Ethnographic records show that people from Orokolo Bay in the Papuan Gulf (Papua New Guinea) made, used, and exchanged artefacts made from bone and teeth during the twentieth century. Archaeologically, these kinds of artefacts are poorly documented, partly because osseous materials tend to decay rapidly in exposed tropical rainforest sites. Where these artefacts have been found in the Papuan Gulf, only a few have been reported in detail. Here we contribute detailed analyses of eight osseous artefacts from the past village site of Popo which date to within the period 770–220 cal BP. We describe a modified shark tooth, a drilled or pierced dog tooth ornament, several bone points, and a trapezoidal section of modified bone. An ochred bone point shows that people applied pigment to material culture in the period 540–285 cal BP; the item is the only known archaeological evidence for pigment use on bone in the Papuan Gulf. Our analyses provide a starting point for historicising the use of osseous artefacts in this part of the Papuan Gulf.
Sapiens (Sapiens.org), 2020
In late 2015, I arrived for the second time at a place called Orokolo Bay on Papua New Guinea's s... more In late 2015, I arrived for the second time at a place called Orokolo Bay on Papua New Guinea's south coast. The bay is a long grey-black beach, densely forested with hibiscus and coconut trees. As we approached by dinghy from the east, clusters of houses could be glimpsed fleetingly through the bush ...
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2020
Currently the earliest evidence for dog dispersal into the Greater Australian region and surround... more Currently the earliest evidence for dog dispersal into the Greater Australian region and surrounds is found in Australia (Madura Cave 3210–3361 cal BP), New Ireland (Kamgot, c. 3000–3300 cal BP) and Timor-Leste (Matja Kuru 2, 2886–3068 cal BP). Previously, the earliest published dog remains for the large continental island of New Guinea was from Edubu 1 (2314–2700 cal BP) in Caution Bay, south coast of mainland PNG. Here we report on a dog mandible from Moiapu 1, also in Caution Bay. Although the mandible could not be directly dated, good chronostratigraphic resolution indicates that it confidently dates to between 2573 and 2702 cal BP (95% probability). It was found deeply buried in association with Late Lapita cultural materials, and is currently the earliest known dog remain from New Guinea. Biometric measurements on a small sample of archaeological and modern dog remains from the broader region support previously published models (based on genetic results) of multiple dog dispersals into the Pacific region.
Journal of Social Archaeology, 2019
The Gulf of Papua, Papua New Guinea, is a rapidly changing geomorphic and cultural landscape in w... more The Gulf of Papua, Papua New Guinea, is a rapidly changing geomorphic and cultural landscape in which the ancestral past is constantly being (re)interpreted and negotiated. This paper examines the importance of subsurface archaeological and geomorphological features for the various communities of Orokolo Bay in the Gulf of Papua as they maintain and reconstruct cosmological and migration narratives. The everyday practices of digging and clearing for agriculture and house construction at antecedent village locations bring Orokolo Bay locals into regular engagement with buried pottery sherds (deposited during the ancestral hiri trade) and thin strata of 'black sand' (iron sand). Local interpretations and imaginings of the subsurface enable spatio-temporal interpretations of the ancestor's actions and the structure of ancestral settlements. These interpretations point to the profound entanglement of orality and material culture and suggest new directions in the comparative study of alternative archaeologies.
The Conversation (AU), 2019
It has long been assumed that Indigenous Australia was isolated until Europeans arrived in 1788, ... more It has long been assumed that Indigenous Australia was isolated until Europeans arrived in 1788, except for trade with parts of present day Indonesia beginning at least 300 years ago. But our recent archaeological research hints of at least an extra 2,100 years of connections across the Coral Sea with Papua New Guinea.
Australian Archaeology, 2018
Cultural research at Orokolo Bay (PNG) has long focused on elaborate social-ceremonial practice a... more Cultural research at Orokolo Bay (PNG) has long focused on elaborate social-ceremonial practice and maritime exchange (hiri). Here the chronology of settlement has been based on a single radiocarbon determination of 410±80 BP from Popo village. Today, Popo is an important village site along an ancestral migration route for clan groups living up to 125 km to the east. This paper presents archaeological results of a recent excavation at Popo, undertaken near the location of Rhoads' earlier investigations in 1976. A statistically modelled chronology based on six newly obtained radiocarbon dates reveals occupation for this part of Popo between 13-455 cal. BP. These new results enable us to understand better the chronological history of this part of Orokolo Bay.
Australian Archaeology, 2016
Dugong hunting by Torres Strait Islanders has a long history dating back at least 4000 years. Dug... more Dugong hunting by Torres Strait Islanders has a long history dating back at least 4000 years. Dugongs are highly susceptible to over-predation, due to slow development and low fecundity/reproductive rates. While attempts to model catch sustainability using recent survey and catch data have caused conservation concern, lack of historical data prevents reliable statements on the sustainability of past dugong hunting practices. In the absence of historical data, archaeological data in the form of dugong bones provide a unique and valuable data archive to examine long-term hunting sustainability in terms of changes in prey body size. Dimensional measurements of 229 ear bones (periotic bones) were used as a proxy for dugong size, to examine whether or not human hunting activity might have caused changes in dugong body size over time. Three archaeological sites of the Mabuyag Islands of the Goemulgal people of central western Torres Strait were selected for comparison – a village midden (Goemu) and two ceremonial dugong bone mounds (Dabangay Bone Mound and Moegi Sibuy), which span 1000 years up to c.1900 AD. Statistical analysis revealed periotic bone size from the three sites is remarkably similar. Despite their high susceptibility to over-hunting, our archaeological results do not provide evidence for over-predation of dugongs by the Goemulgal in the past.
Book Chapters by Chris Urwin
The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous Australia and New Guinea, 2021
Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sites are commonly thought about as 'natural' lo... more Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sites are commonly thought about as 'natural' locations onto which people variously undertook activities. This chapter argues and shows that sites are architectural constructs, built through a combination of design (preplanning), bricolage (improvisation), and engagement. Sites are artefacts whose cultural modes of construction are amenable to archaeological investigation. By employing a chaîne opératoire approach to the study of sites as landscape-scale artefacts, how and when they were built can be worked out, offering new insights into the cultural history of peoples and places.
The Routledge Companion to Global Indigenous History, 2022
During the early colonial era, collectors from Australia, Europe, and North America descended on ... more During the early colonial era, collectors from Australia, Europe, and North America descended on the Gulf of Papua (Papua New Guinea) in a rush to acquire ‘primitive’ artefacts for Western markets and institutions. The object hunters had a variety of intentions and approaches to acquiring artefacts from local Indigenous people. Field diaries, colonial records, and early ethnographic publications offer Western perspectives on the cross-cultural interactions that took place. In this essay, I explore contemporary Indigenous perspectives on the removal of material culture in the early 1900s. Narratives (oral and textual) told by the Kaivakovu and Larihairu village communities of Orokolo Bay in the Gulf of Papua describe a traumatic event: the extraction of a preserved ceremonial longhouse post (ive) at gunpoint by the anthropologist Francis Edgar Williams. I unpack these stories and relevant archival sources with reference to notions of remembering, trauma, and telescoping. For the inhabitants of Orokolo Bay, the silencing of materials of ancestral communal importance some 80–90 years ago has not caused forgetting. Rather, social memories of the now-absent ive and of violent acts of removal endure and inform Indigenous conceptions of museum institutions today.
The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous Australia and New Guinea, 2021
Most histories of Australian archaeology written in the past three decades imagine that the disci... more Most histories of Australian archaeology written in the past three decades imagine that the discipline came of age in (approximately) the year 1960. We are led to believe that systematic archaeological research, nuanced interpretations, and advocacy for the conservation of Aboriginal cultural heritage all date to the post-1960 era. Yet archaeological research in Australia has a lengthier and more complex genealogy. Here we use a series of case studies to explore the gradual development of the discipline during the twentieth century. We unpack key moments and projects during the early-to-mid twentieth century and examine the extent to which the so-called "professional" archaeologists of the 1960s overlapped with and depended upon the work of "amateur" scholars. We conclude by suggesting that the period of most rapid and significant change in archaeological thought and practice was precipitated by Aboriginal activism in the 1980s. Australia's First Peoples demanded control of research into their cultural heritage, a project which is ongoing today. Our discipline must encourage a culture of reflexivity on its current practices by coming to terms with rather than silencing its history (whether good, bad, or ugly).
The Papuan Gulf’s littoral coastline has been emerging and transforming since the late Pleistocen... more The Papuan Gulf’s littoral coastline has been emerging and transforming since the late Pleistocene. Large river deltas such as the Fly, Kikori, and Purari transport sediments into the Coral Sea, and these are reworked by prevailing tides and seasonal currents to form a world of sand and swamps that Papuan Gulf peoples inhabit. This article reviews the archaeology of key sites in the region and identifies themes for future explorations of the region’s rich heritage. It explores how the region’s delta-dwelling societies occupied, modified, and made sense of their relatively fluid physical environments. Two aspects are explored in detail: (1) the potential to historicize the emergence of sago cultivation and its role in sustaining local settlements and long-distance trade; and (2) the contribution of nuanced spatial histories of migration and place-making to the region’s narrative.
Theses by Chris Urwin
Doctoral Thesis (Embargoed except by request), 2019
Orokolo Bay, located in the Gulf of Papua (Papua New Guinea), is a place well known to anthropolo... more Orokolo Bay, located in the Gulf of Papua (Papua New Guinea), is a place well known to anthropology for its elaborate social and ceremonial life. Early colonial observers were struck by the large villages and vast longhouse structures that sustained decade-spanning ceremonies and annual long-distance exchanges (called hiri) in which seafaring traders from today’s Port Moresby region would bring ceramic pots and shell valuables for sago palm (Metroxlyon sagu) starch and hulls for their ships. However, the history of large coastal trading communities in the Gulf of Papua is poorly understood.
This thesis interweaves archaeological and ethnographic approaches to examine how the ancestral village of Popo, in Orokolo Bay, was built through time, and how local villagers today make sense of its construction through engaged practices of remembering. In local oral traditions, Popo is known as the ‘first’ village: it was composed of several estates each built by a different ‘tribe’. Here Popo’s construction is investigated archaeologically by analysing cultural materials and chronologies from eight excavations. These excavations took place in 2015 within six of Popo’s estates, and at two settlements which bookend the occupation of Popo in oral traditions. Local knowledges and memories of ancestral places including Popo were examined through seven formal interviews and through informal cross-cultural interactions.
Bayesian statistical analysis of 35 radiocarbon dates demonstrates phased construction of Popo’s estates over the course of around 500 years within the period 680-140 cal. BP. The village expanded spatially between 425-310 cal. BP, at a time of heightened coastal interactions along the south coast. Analysis of the excavated pottery for vessel form and decoration suggests past trading connections between Popo and the Port Moresby region. Engagement with, and interpretation of, the subsurface is also undertaken by Orokolo Bay villagers. Social memories and knowledges of ancestral places such as Popo are maintained and (re-)constructed by members of local communities in everyday life
as they encounter pottery sherds and buried sediments when building houses or digging to create gardens. These deposits are reminders of the temporal and spatial construction of place by the ancestors through time. While local memory practices are changing today – in part precipitated by forest clearance and mineral extraction across the region – the past continues to be interpreted and debated at enduring places such as Popo.
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
Geoarchaeology-an International Journal, 2021
Archaeologists often wonder how and when rock shelters formed, yet their origins and antiquity ar... more Archaeologists often wonder how and when rock shelters formed, yet their origins and antiquity are almost never systematically investigated. Here we present a new method by which to determine how and when individual boulders and rock shelters came to lie in their present landscape settings. We do so through 3D laser (LiDAR) mapping, illustrating the method by example of the Borologa Aboriginal site complex in the Kimberley region of northwestern Australia. Through a combination of geomorphological study and high-resolution 3D modelling, individual blocks of rock are re-fitted and re-positioned onto their originating cliff-line. Preliminary cosmogenic nuclide ages on exposed vertical cliff faces and associated detached boulders above the Borologa archaeological sites signal very slow detachment rates for the mass movements of large blocks down the Drysdale Valley slopes, suggesting relative landscape stability over hundreds of thousands of years (predating the arrival of people). These findings offer hitherto unknown details of the pace of regional landscape evolution, and move us towards a better understanding of patterns of human occupation in a context of relatively stable rock outcrops both within the sites and across the region.
Scientific Reports
Insects form an important source of food for many people around the world, but little is known of... more Insects form an important source of food for many people around the world, but little is known of the deep-time history of insect harvesting from the archaeological record. In Australia, early settler writings from the 1830s to mid-1800s reported congregations of Aboriginal groups from multiple clans and language groups taking advantage of the annual migration of Bogong moths (Agrotis infusa) in and near the Australian Alps, the continent’s highest mountain range. The moths were targeted as a food item for their large numbers and high fat contents. Within 30 years of initial colonial contact, however, the Bogong moth festivals had ceased until their recent revival. No reliable archaeological evidence of Bogong moth exploitation or processing has ever been discovered, signalling a major gap in the archaeological history of Aboriginal groups. Here we report on microscopic remains of ground and cooked Bogong moths on a recently excavated grindstone from Cloggs Cave, in the southern foo...
Quaternary Science Reviews
Australian Archaeology, 2021
In this paper we report on new research at the iconic archaeological site of Cloggs Cave (GunaiKu... more In this paper we report on new research at the iconic archaeological site of Cloggs Cave (GunaiKurnai Country), in the southern foothills of SE Australia’s Great Dividing Range. Detailed chronometric dating, combined with high-resolution 3D mapping, geomorphological
studies and archaeological excavations, now allow a dense sequence of Late Holocene ash layers and their contents to be correlated with GunaiKurnai ethnography and current knowledge. These results suggest a critical re-interpretation of what the Old People were, and were not, doing in Cloggs Cave during the Late Holocene. Instead of a lack of
Late Holocene cave occupation, as previously thought through the conceptual lens of ‘habitat and economy’, Cloggs Cave is now understood to have been actively used for special, magical purposes. Configured by local GunaiKurnai cosmology, cave landscapes (including
Cloggs Cave’s) were populated not only by food species animals, but also by ‘supernatural’ Beings and forces whose presence helped inform occupational patterns. The profound differences between the old and new archaeological interpretations of Cloggs Cave, separated by five decades of developing archaeological thought and technical advances,
draw attention to archaeological meaning-making and highlight the significance of data capture and the pre-conceptions that shape the production of archaeological stories and identities of place.
Quaternary Science Reviews, 2021
Understanding of Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions in Australia and New Guinea (Sahul) suff... more Understanding of Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions in Australia and New Guinea (Sahul) suffers from a paucity of reliably dated bone deposits. Researchers are divided as to when, and why, large-bodied species became extinct. Critical to these interpretations are so-called ‘late survivors’, megafauna that are thought to have persisted for tens of thousands of years after the arrival of people. While the original dating of most sites with purported late survivors has been shown to have been erroneous or problematic, one site continues to feature: Cloggs Cave. Here we report new results that show that Cloggs Cave’s youngest megafauna were deposited in sediments that date to 44,500-54,160 years ago, more than 10,000 years older than previously thought, bringing them into chronological alignment with the emerging continental pattern of megafaunal extinctions. Our results indicate that the youngest megafauna specimens excavated from Cloggs Cave datedate to well before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and their demise could not have been driven by climate change leading into the LGM, the peak of the last Ice Age.
Radiocarbon, 2021
When European colonists arrived in the late 19th century, large villages dotted the coastline of ... more When European colonists arrived in the late 19th century, large villages dotted the coastline of the Gulf of Papua (southern Papua New Guinea). These central places sustained long-distance exchange and decade-spanning ceremonial cycles. Besides ethnohistoric records, little is known of the villages' antiquity, spatiality, or development. Here we combine oral traditional and 14 C chronological evidence to investigate the spatial history of two ancestral village sites in Orokolo Bay: Popo and Mirimua Mapoe. A Bayesian model composed of 35 14 C assays from seven excavations, alongside the oral traditional accounts, demonstrates that people lived at Popo from 765-575 cal BP until 220-40 cal BP, at which time they moved southwards to Mirimua Mapoe. The village of Popo spanned ca. 34 ha and was composed of various estates, each occupied by a different tribe. Through time, the inhabitants of Popo transformed (e.g., expanded, contracted, and shifted) the village to manage social and ceremonial priorities, long-distance exchange opportunities and changing marine environments. Ours is a crucial case study of how oral traditional ways of understanding the past interrelate with the information generated by Bayesian 14 C analyses. We conclude by reflecting on the limitations, strengths, and uncertainties inherent to these forms of chronological knowledge.
Scientific Reports, 2020
Insects form an important source of food for many people around the world, but little is known of... more Insects form an important source of food for many people around the world, but little is known of the deep-time history of insect harvesting from the archaeological record. In Australia, early settler writings from the 1830s to mid-1800s reported congregations of Aboriginal groups from multiple clans and language groups taking advantage of the annual migration of Bogong moths (Agrotis infusa) in and near the Australian Alps, the continent's highest mountain range. The moths were targeted as a food item for their large numbers and high fat contents. Within 30 years of initial colonial contact, however, the Bogong moth festivals had ceased until their recent revival. No reliable archaeological evidence of Bogong moth exploitation or processing has ever been discovered, signalling a major gap in the archaeological history of Aboriginal groups. Here we report on microscopic remains of ground and cooked Bogong moths on a recently excavated grindstone from Cloggs Cave, in the southern foothills of the Australian Alps. These findings represent the first conclusive archaeological evidence of insect foods in Australia, and, as far as we know, of their remains on stone artefacts in the world. They provide insights into the antiquity of important Aboriginal dietary practices that have until now remained archaeologically invisible. Ethnographic accounts from around the world have reported the widespread use of insects as food by people 1-3. In some cases, such as among the Shoshone and other Great Basin tribes of the U.S., swarms of grasshoppers and crickets were driven into pits and blankets 4 , while among the Paiute the larvae of Pandora moths (Coloradia pandora lindseyi) were smoked out of trees to fall into prepared trenches, where they would be cooked 5. Across the world, insects could be mass-harvested, often seasonally, offering high nutritional value especially in fat, protein and vitamins 6. The harvesting of insects in the past has ranged from opportunities to feed large communal gatherings during times of plenty, to more individualistic economic pursuits such as in the search for delicacies or the exploitation of low-ranked resources when other foods were scarce or depleted 7-9. Irrespective of the catch, insects often represented an important component of the diet, and of the reliability and thus dependability of locales as resource zones, with implications for social scheduling and cultural practice. However, a paucity of archaeological studies of insect food remains has resulted in a downplay or omission of the use of insects from archaeological narratives and deep-time community histories 10. In Australia, a wide range of insects is known to have been eaten by Aboriginal groups, in particular the larvae ('witchetty grubs') of cossid moths (especially Endoxyla leucomochla) in arid and semi-arid areas 11-13. Of OPEN
Australian Archaeology, 2020
Ethnographic records show that people from Orokolo Bay in the Papuan Gulf (Papua New Guinea) made... more Ethnographic records show that people from Orokolo Bay in the Papuan Gulf (Papua New Guinea) made, used, and exchanged artefacts made from bone and teeth during the twentieth century. Archaeologically, these kinds of artefacts are poorly documented, partly because osseous materials tend to decay rapidly in exposed tropical rainforest sites. Where these artefacts have been found in the Papuan Gulf, only a few have been reported in detail. Here we contribute detailed analyses of eight osseous artefacts from the past village site of Popo which date to within the period 770–220 cal BP. We describe a modified shark tooth, a drilled or pierced dog tooth ornament, several bone points, and a trapezoidal section of modified bone. An ochred bone point shows that people applied pigment to material culture in the period 540–285 cal BP; the item is the only known archaeological evidence for pigment use on bone in the Papuan Gulf. Our analyses provide a starting point for historicising the use of osseous artefacts in this part of the Papuan Gulf.
Sapiens (Sapiens.org), 2020
In late 2015, I arrived for the second time at a place called Orokolo Bay on Papua New Guinea's s... more In late 2015, I arrived for the second time at a place called Orokolo Bay on Papua New Guinea's south coast. The bay is a long grey-black beach, densely forested with hibiscus and coconut trees. As we approached by dinghy from the east, clusters of houses could be glimpsed fleetingly through the bush ...
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2020
Currently the earliest evidence for dog dispersal into the Greater Australian region and surround... more Currently the earliest evidence for dog dispersal into the Greater Australian region and surrounds is found in Australia (Madura Cave 3210–3361 cal BP), New Ireland (Kamgot, c. 3000–3300 cal BP) and Timor-Leste (Matja Kuru 2, 2886–3068 cal BP). Previously, the earliest published dog remains for the large continental island of New Guinea was from Edubu 1 (2314–2700 cal BP) in Caution Bay, south coast of mainland PNG. Here we report on a dog mandible from Moiapu 1, also in Caution Bay. Although the mandible could not be directly dated, good chronostratigraphic resolution indicates that it confidently dates to between 2573 and 2702 cal BP (95% probability). It was found deeply buried in association with Late Lapita cultural materials, and is currently the earliest known dog remain from New Guinea. Biometric measurements on a small sample of archaeological and modern dog remains from the broader region support previously published models (based on genetic results) of multiple dog dispersals into the Pacific region.
Journal of Social Archaeology, 2019
The Gulf of Papua, Papua New Guinea, is a rapidly changing geomorphic and cultural landscape in w... more The Gulf of Papua, Papua New Guinea, is a rapidly changing geomorphic and cultural landscape in which the ancestral past is constantly being (re)interpreted and negotiated. This paper examines the importance of subsurface archaeological and geomorphological features for the various communities of Orokolo Bay in the Gulf of Papua as they maintain and reconstruct cosmological and migration narratives. The everyday practices of digging and clearing for agriculture and house construction at antecedent village locations bring Orokolo Bay locals into regular engagement with buried pottery sherds (deposited during the ancestral hiri trade) and thin strata of 'black sand' (iron sand). Local interpretations and imaginings of the subsurface enable spatio-temporal interpretations of the ancestor's actions and the structure of ancestral settlements. These interpretations point to the profound entanglement of orality and material culture and suggest new directions in the comparative study of alternative archaeologies.
The Conversation (AU), 2019
It has long been assumed that Indigenous Australia was isolated until Europeans arrived in 1788, ... more It has long been assumed that Indigenous Australia was isolated until Europeans arrived in 1788, except for trade with parts of present day Indonesia beginning at least 300 years ago. But our recent archaeological research hints of at least an extra 2,100 years of connections across the Coral Sea with Papua New Guinea.
Australian Archaeology, 2018
Cultural research at Orokolo Bay (PNG) has long focused on elaborate social-ceremonial practice a... more Cultural research at Orokolo Bay (PNG) has long focused on elaborate social-ceremonial practice and maritime exchange (hiri). Here the chronology of settlement has been based on a single radiocarbon determination of 410±80 BP from Popo village. Today, Popo is an important village site along an ancestral migration route for clan groups living up to 125 km to the east. This paper presents archaeological results of a recent excavation at Popo, undertaken near the location of Rhoads' earlier investigations in 1976. A statistically modelled chronology based on six newly obtained radiocarbon dates reveals occupation for this part of Popo between 13-455 cal. BP. These new results enable us to understand better the chronological history of this part of Orokolo Bay.
Australian Archaeology, 2016
Dugong hunting by Torres Strait Islanders has a long history dating back at least 4000 years. Dug... more Dugong hunting by Torres Strait Islanders has a long history dating back at least 4000 years. Dugongs are highly susceptible to over-predation, due to slow development and low fecundity/reproductive rates. While attempts to model catch sustainability using recent survey and catch data have caused conservation concern, lack of historical data prevents reliable statements on the sustainability of past dugong hunting practices. In the absence of historical data, archaeological data in the form of dugong bones provide a unique and valuable data archive to examine long-term hunting sustainability in terms of changes in prey body size. Dimensional measurements of 229 ear bones (periotic bones) were used as a proxy for dugong size, to examine whether or not human hunting activity might have caused changes in dugong body size over time. Three archaeological sites of the Mabuyag Islands of the Goemulgal people of central western Torres Strait were selected for comparison – a village midden (Goemu) and two ceremonial dugong bone mounds (Dabangay Bone Mound and Moegi Sibuy), which span 1000 years up to c.1900 AD. Statistical analysis revealed periotic bone size from the three sites is remarkably similar. Despite their high susceptibility to over-hunting, our archaeological results do not provide evidence for over-predation of dugongs by the Goemulgal in the past.
The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous Australia and New Guinea, 2021
Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sites are commonly thought about as 'natural' lo... more Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sites are commonly thought about as 'natural' locations onto which people variously undertook activities. This chapter argues and shows that sites are architectural constructs, built through a combination of design (preplanning), bricolage (improvisation), and engagement. Sites are artefacts whose cultural modes of construction are amenable to archaeological investigation. By employing a chaîne opératoire approach to the study of sites as landscape-scale artefacts, how and when they were built can be worked out, offering new insights into the cultural history of peoples and places.
The Routledge Companion to Global Indigenous History, 2022
During the early colonial era, collectors from Australia, Europe, and North America descended on ... more During the early colonial era, collectors from Australia, Europe, and North America descended on the Gulf of Papua (Papua New Guinea) in a rush to acquire ‘primitive’ artefacts for Western markets and institutions. The object hunters had a variety of intentions and approaches to acquiring artefacts from local Indigenous people. Field diaries, colonial records, and early ethnographic publications offer Western perspectives on the cross-cultural interactions that took place. In this essay, I explore contemporary Indigenous perspectives on the removal of material culture in the early 1900s. Narratives (oral and textual) told by the Kaivakovu and Larihairu village communities of Orokolo Bay in the Gulf of Papua describe a traumatic event: the extraction of a preserved ceremonial longhouse post (ive) at gunpoint by the anthropologist Francis Edgar Williams. I unpack these stories and relevant archival sources with reference to notions of remembering, trauma, and telescoping. For the inhabitants of Orokolo Bay, the silencing of materials of ancestral communal importance some 80–90 years ago has not caused forgetting. Rather, social memories of the now-absent ive and of violent acts of removal endure and inform Indigenous conceptions of museum institutions today.
The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous Australia and New Guinea, 2021
Most histories of Australian archaeology written in the past three decades imagine that the disci... more Most histories of Australian archaeology written in the past three decades imagine that the discipline came of age in (approximately) the year 1960. We are led to believe that systematic archaeological research, nuanced interpretations, and advocacy for the conservation of Aboriginal cultural heritage all date to the post-1960 era. Yet archaeological research in Australia has a lengthier and more complex genealogy. Here we use a series of case studies to explore the gradual development of the discipline during the twentieth century. We unpack key moments and projects during the early-to-mid twentieth century and examine the extent to which the so-called "professional" archaeologists of the 1960s overlapped with and depended upon the work of "amateur" scholars. We conclude by suggesting that the period of most rapid and significant change in archaeological thought and practice was precipitated by Aboriginal activism in the 1980s. Australia's First Peoples demanded control of research into their cultural heritage, a project which is ongoing today. Our discipline must encourage a culture of reflexivity on its current practices by coming to terms with rather than silencing its history (whether good, bad, or ugly).
The Papuan Gulf’s littoral coastline has been emerging and transforming since the late Pleistocen... more The Papuan Gulf’s littoral coastline has been emerging and transforming since the late Pleistocene. Large river deltas such as the Fly, Kikori, and Purari transport sediments into the Coral Sea, and these are reworked by prevailing tides and seasonal currents to form a world of sand and swamps that Papuan Gulf peoples inhabit. This article reviews the archaeology of key sites in the region and identifies themes for future explorations of the region’s rich heritage. It explores how the region’s delta-dwelling societies occupied, modified, and made sense of their relatively fluid physical environments. Two aspects are explored in detail: (1) the potential to historicize the emergence of sago cultivation and its role in sustaining local settlements and long-distance trade; and (2) the contribution of nuanced spatial histories of migration and place-making to the region’s narrative.
Doctoral Thesis (Embargoed except by request), 2019
Orokolo Bay, located in the Gulf of Papua (Papua New Guinea), is a place well known to anthropolo... more Orokolo Bay, located in the Gulf of Papua (Papua New Guinea), is a place well known to anthropology for its elaborate social and ceremonial life. Early colonial observers were struck by the large villages and vast longhouse structures that sustained decade-spanning ceremonies and annual long-distance exchanges (called hiri) in which seafaring traders from today’s Port Moresby region would bring ceramic pots and shell valuables for sago palm (Metroxlyon sagu) starch and hulls for their ships. However, the history of large coastal trading communities in the Gulf of Papua is poorly understood.
This thesis interweaves archaeological and ethnographic approaches to examine how the ancestral village of Popo, in Orokolo Bay, was built through time, and how local villagers today make sense of its construction through engaged practices of remembering. In local oral traditions, Popo is known as the ‘first’ village: it was composed of several estates each built by a different ‘tribe’. Here Popo’s construction is investigated archaeologically by analysing cultural materials and chronologies from eight excavations. These excavations took place in 2015 within six of Popo’s estates, and at two settlements which bookend the occupation of Popo in oral traditions. Local knowledges and memories of ancestral places including Popo were examined through seven formal interviews and through informal cross-cultural interactions.
Bayesian statistical analysis of 35 radiocarbon dates demonstrates phased construction of Popo’s estates over the course of around 500 years within the period 680-140 cal. BP. The village expanded spatially between 425-310 cal. BP, at a time of heightened coastal interactions along the south coast. Analysis of the excavated pottery for vessel form and decoration suggests past trading connections between Popo and the Port Moresby region. Engagement with, and interpretation of, the subsurface is also undertaken by Orokolo Bay villagers. Social memories and knowledges of ancestral places such as Popo are maintained and (re-)constructed by members of local communities in everyday life
as they encounter pottery sherds and buried sediments when building houses or digging to create gardens. These deposits are reminders of the temporal and spatial construction of place by the ancestors through time. While local memory practices are changing today – in part precipitated by forest clearance and mineral extraction across the region – the past continues to be interpreted and debated at enduring places such as Popo.
Australian Archaeology, 2020
Within the watery world of the Papuan Gulf, communities traditionally organized themselves around... more Within the watery world of the Papuan Gulf, communities traditionally organized themselves around monumental longhouses which formed the foci of ritual and political activities. Inside these structures ritual artforms made of wood, plant fibers, bone, feathers, natural pigments and barkcloth materialized an array of totemic ancestral forces understood to also reside in, and enchant the wider environment. Stone occupied an important role in this region’s material culture – being both something not readily found locally (e.g., adzes were obtained through long-distance trade) and being relatively the most permanent material used. Communities’ oral histories elaborate how both small and monumental stones were imbued with cosmological significance. Drawing on 19 years of ethnographic and archival research in the Papuan Gulf, in this presentation we chart the different roles that stones have traditionally held. With a particular focus on the communities of the Purari Delta, we will show how stone played a key, but hitherto overlooked, role in the region’s material and ritual complex. Bringing stones back into view not only enriches our understanding of a ritual complex that largely ceased after World War II, but also complicates received ideas about the region’s cosmology and ontology.
In the second part of this presentation, we show how a team of archaeologists, geomorphologists and associated researchers determined that large rock outcrops were carved out to create new forms of monumental architecture in northern Australia, to the south of the Papuan Gulf. Applying a range of specialist methods, they track back through time anthropically shifting shapes of monumental rock outcrops, with implications for how Indigenous communities organised and marked their worlds more than 10,000 years ago.
Since 1854 onwards Museums Victoria (initially called the National Museum of Victoria) has acquir... more Since 1854 onwards Museums Victoria (initially called the National Museum of Victoria) has acquired and cared for archaeological materials belonging to the First Peoples of Australia and the Torres Strait. A recent Museums Victoria project to re-house the First Peoples Archaeology Collection to improve community and researcher access has prompted curatorial research into how and when the collection was assembled. Here I explore how the histories (and future trajectories) of the Museums Victoria assemblage and the archaeological discipline are entwined. In the period c. 1850-1960 colonial landowners and amateur ‘hunters and collectors’ – quoting historian Tom Griffiths – donated vast quantities of surface-collected stone artefacts such as grinding stones, cylcons and backed microliths fossicked from First Peoples ‘camp sites’. From the 1960s onwards, the Museum received professionally excavated assemblages from key sites in Victoria such as Clogg’s Cave, Glen Aire I and II and Green Gully. Notably, few aspects of the archaeology collection were collected with the involvement or oversight of First Peoples communities. While its origins are, in part, linked to the desecration of Indigenous cultural landscapes, the collection is an enduring (and thus subversive) record of the ubiquity, antiquity and technological complexity of First Peoples settlement. The Museums Victoria collection is a resource ready to be used in future research directed by the interests and needs of Indigenous communities.
Orokolo Bay is a rapidly changing geomorphic and cultural landscape in which the ancestral past i... more Orokolo Bay is a rapidly changing geomorphic and cultural landscape in which the ancestral past is constantly being interpreted and negotiated. This paper examines the importance of subsurface archaeological and geomorphological features for the various communities of Orokolo Bay as they maintain and reconstruct cosmological and migration narratives. Everyday activities of gardening and digging at antecedent village locations bring Orokolo Bay locals into regular engagement with buried ceramics (deposited during the ancestral 'hiri' trade) and thin strata of 'black sand' (iron sand). These deposits—both dating to within the past 700 years—provide material evidence for various spatio-temporal interpretations of the ancestor's actions and the structure of ancestral settlements. I conclude by examining how Orokolo understandings of their tangible past might interact with my own archaeological methods and results, and with proposed iron-sand mining on the south coast of Papua New Guinea.
Popo is a legendary ancestral village situated in Orokolo Bay, on Papua New Guinea's south coast.... more Popo is a legendary ancestral village situated in Orokolo Bay, on Papua New Guinea's south coast. It is central to the origin and migration stories of many clans from the Elema language group. Ethnographic and archaeological fieldwork conducted in 2015 showed that Popo consists of at least six different clan estates, each with subtly different stories and material signatures. Previous archaeology conducted at Popo has yielded only one radiometric radiocarbon determination, of 410±80 BP. Here we present preliminary results from a detailed radiocarbon dating program, in which we aim to investigate how Popo and its estates developed over time. In total, 33 radiocarbon determinations were obtained for six excavations within Popo, from which we built a separate Bayesian chronological model for each clan estate. Our analysis demonstrates phased development of the ancestral village over the past c. 650 years BP.
Places – as known to those who inhabit them – unfold through relationships. While archaeology ten... more Places – as known to those who inhabit them – unfold through relationships. While archaeology tends to seek historical evidence and meanings from the material, the interweaving of Indigenous understandings of place with that material evidence has contributed to theoretical and methodological advancements of the discipline. The case study I present explores researcher-community conversations about a particular ancestral place in Orokolo Bay, south coast of mainland Papua New Guinea. The Popo ancestral village of oral traditions is already known in archaeology as a legendary migration site for clans inhabiting Orokolo Bay and beyond. Initial research at Popo was conducted by Jim Rhoads in the 1970s, whose excavations indicated up to c. 400-year-old (hiri) trade relations with Motuans of today's Port Moresby area, 400 km to the east. In 2015, Monash University archaeologists returned to work with Larihairu and Kaivakovu village communities in Orokolo Bay, aiming to further understand archaeological expressions of the site and region. This presentation explores how the exchange of sketch maps, and the daily community-based and entwined activities of dwelling and digging, facilitated a productive relational dialogue about the past, ultimately enabling me to view place and past differently. Archaeological investigations were then directed and informed by these emplaced conversations. As research progressed with each clan, Popo continued to unfold in my own mind, and as an archaeological construct of social space. What began as a large archaeological site became an ancestral network of clan estates, each with its own stories of ancestral origins and inter-clan relationships. The nexus of Popo's archaeological and ethnographic stories is now revealing new chronological, material, and relational stories for each clan estate. Future research seeks to establish how these and related clans communally constructed places, and how the process of building is remembered, constructed and reconstructed by contemporary populations.
Dugong hunting has a rich history in Torres Strait, dating to at least 4000 years ago. The tradit... more Dugong hunting has a rich history in Torres Strait, dating to at least 4000 years ago. The traditional fishery remains one of the most significant Indigenous marine mammal harvests in the world, legally enshrined since 1985. Recent times have seen the practise come under fire from zoologists, lawyers and mainstream media, all couching the harvest as cruel and unsustainable. However, a lack of historical dugong population data has significantly hindered any reliable investigation of long-term human impacts on the mammals. This paper adds empirical data to the debate by accessing ancient dugong demographic hunting profiles from Mabuyag Island, western Torres Strait. It was hypothesised that long-term hunting impact would be expressed as decreasing dugong size through time. This hypothesis was tested by investigating chronological changes in the size of dugong ear bones as a proxy for dugong size. Three sites were selected for comparison on the basis of function and chronology -a village site (Goemu) and two ritually-constructed dugong bone mounds (Dabangai Bone Mound and Moegi Sibuy), which span c. 1000 years up to 1900 AD. Statistical analysis revealed that ear-bone measurements from each site have complex and varied relationships with their respective chronologies. At Goemu village site, dugong ear-bones increased slightly in size through time, whereas Moegi Sibuy and Dabangai bone mounds both show non-significant relationships between chronology and ear-bone size. Overall, mean ear-bone sizes from the three assemblages provide no support for human-induced predation pressure on dugongs at Mabuyag. Alternatively, these new data support the inference that Mabuyag Islanders practiced sustainable dugong hunting over the 1000 year period prior to European contact.