Jane Balme | The University of Western Australia (original) (raw)

Papers by Jane Balme

Research paper thumbnail of From ‘Jane roughed it with the men’ – the last 50 years

Australian archaeology, Jan 2, 2024

Research paper thumbnail of The Illustrated History of Humankind edited by Goran Burenhult, five volumes

Australian Archaeology, 1996

... The Illustrated History of Humankind edited by Goran Burenhult, five volumes. Jane Balme. Ful... more ... The Illustrated History of Humankind edited by Goran Burenhult, five volumes. Jane Balme. Full Text: PDF © 2011 Australian Archaeological Association Inc. ABN 13 110 628 970.

Research paper thumbnail of Bowdler, Sandra E

Research paper thumbnail of From Jane roughed it with the men the last 50 years

Australian Archaeology , 2024

Research paper thumbnail of Art in the bark: Indigenous carved boab trees (<i>Adansonia gregorii</i>) in north-west Australia

Research paper thumbnail of An Analysis of Charred Bone from Devil's Lair, Western Australia

Archaeology and Physical Anthropology in Oceania, Jul 1, 1980

Systematic excavation of Devil&#x27;s Lair, a small limestone cave in the Cape Leeuwin-Cape N... more Systematic excavation of Devil&#x27;s Lair, a small limestone cave in the Cape Leeuwin-Cape Naturaliste area of south-western Austr-alia, began in 1970 by staff of the Western Australian Museum. Radiocarbon age estim-ates obtained from charcoal, suggest that the deposit accumulated in late ...

Research paper thumbnail of Radiocarbon dates from midden sites in the lower Darling River area of western New South Wales

Archaeology and Physical Anthropology in Oceania, Oct 1, 1990

Research paper thumbnail of Archaeological Investigations: Parklea, NSW. Salvage Excavations at PK/CD 1+2 and PK/CD 4+6

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Mar 1, 2001

Research paper thumbnail of I Reckon They Should Keep That Hut': Reflections on Aboriginal Tracking in the Kimberley

Australian Aboriginal Studies, Mar 22, 1999

In this article we discuss responses to the threatened destruction of an Aboriginal police tracke... more In this article we discuss responses to the threatened destruction of an Aboriginal police trackers hut in Halls Creek in the East Kimberley, Western Australia (Figure 1). These responses were recorded by us in late 1996 when we were commissioned by architects working for the ...

Research paper thumbnail of An examination of rockshelter palynology: Carpenter’s Gap 1, northwestern Australia

The Holocene, Apr 27, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Late Quaternary mammal remains, spanning about 30,000 years, from excavations in Devil's Lair, Western Australia

Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 1978

Research paper thumbnail of Devils Lair: Occupation intensity and land-use

Australian Archaeology, Dec 1, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of The Antiquity Of Grinding Stones In Semi-Arid Western New South Wales

Australian Archaeology, 1991

Western New South Wales is well known as one of the largest regional data sets of Pleistocene arc... more Western New South Wales is well known as one of the largest regional data sets of Pleistocene archaeological material in Australia. Dating of aeolian sediments has been possible through the archaeological accumula-tion and subsequent preservation of organic remains within ...

Research paper thumbnail of 30,000 years of fishery in western New South Wales

Archaeology and Physical Anthropology in Oceania, Apr 1, 1995

Research paper thumbnail of Comments on Bliege Bird and Bird Why Women Hunt

Current Anthropology, 2008

Research paper thumbnail of Communal hunting by Aboriginal Australians: Archaeological and ethnographic evidence

Research paper thumbnail of Lifeways of the First Australians

Research paper thumbnail of A 'Port Scene', Identity and Rock Art of the Inland Southern Kimberley, Western Australia

Rock Art Research, May 1, 2015

IntroductionRock art as a means to mark landscape (for example, David and Wilson 2002, Part 1) an... more IntroductionRock art as a means to mark landscape (for example, David and Wilson 2002, Part 1) and to mark and reinforce group identity and distinguish it from 'other' (for example, Sanz et al. 2008) are common themes in the interpretation of rock art motif distribution across time and space. We have previously reported on changes in the rock art of the south central Kimberley region of Australia (Fig. 1) that appear to be associated with the European contact period (O'Connor et al. 2013; Balme and O'Connor 2014). In these papers we argued that, while the pre-European motifs of Ancestral Beings and other landscape marking motifs continued after European arrival, new styles of art appeared using new techniques and with motifs which we interpreted as emphasising group identity. Here we discuss an unusual panel in this contact period art of the region that seems to depart from this pattern in that it appears to mark individual identity, and we discuss the historical circumstances in which such a departure might occur.In Australia, Indigenous rock art images of European material culture and animals were a common response to European contact (Tacon et al. 2012). However, in the richly decorated cave and rocksheiter walls of the Devonian limestone reef system of the south central Kimberley, home of Bunuba and Gooniyandi people, such motifs are very rare. Despite over 20 years of archaeological research in the area, we have only found one panel, the subject of this paper, relating to the contact period that contains images of European material culture. However, rock art continued to be created and was refreshed until recent times and the rock art of the region remains an important part of Bunuba and Gooniyandi identity and connection to the landscape today.O'Connor et al. (2013) describes the rock art in the region that varies across time and space and includes anthropomorphs, phytomorphs, zoomorphs, geometric designs, and tracks using a variety of techniques including painting, engraving and drawing. On the basis of our interpretation of superimposition and oral testimony, we identified a new body of art within the region that we interpreted to be associated with the contact period (O'Connor et al. 2013; Balme and O'Connor 2014). While continuing to produce old motifs and long-used techniques of painting, drawing, stencilling and engraving, the new body introduces new motifs and two new techniques: scratch-work and dry black pigment drawing. Amongst this contact art, for the first time in this region, there are depictions of active figures with headdresses resembling those used in ceremonies by Bunuba and Gooniyandi people (Balme and O'Connor 2014). The active poses in ceremonial dress appear to self-reference rather than depict Ancestral Beings.In our previous work we suggested that these changes within the rock art may relate to the particular relations with Europeans during the contact period in the region. European expansion into the south central Kimberley did not begin until after land was released to settlers in 1881 and it was very rapid (Bolton and Pedersen 1980). Until about 1920, relations between Aboriginal people and Europeans were so violent that the period is often referred to as the 'killing times' by Aboriginal people (Kimberley Language Resource Centre 1996). Aboriginal movement was more restricted, making it difficult to access resources, including ochre, and so more use was made of abundant and accessible resources (charcoal) and techniques that did not require pigment (scratch-work) in the art. In this violent context Europeans and the objects that were the instruments of their control may have been unattractive (O'Connor et al. 2013:15) and could explain the lack of European motifs being introduced in the art. Instead, people continued the visual traditions of pre-contact, including Ancestral Beings such as the Wanjina-style figures that emphasised their relationship to the landscape (Blundell and Woolagoodja 2005) but added to these motifs to include depictions of people performing ceremonies - motifs that we suggest emphasised group identity (Balme and O'Connor 2014:38). …

Research paper thumbnail of An Anthropological, Archaeological and Historical assessment of the significance of the Halls Creek Aboriginal Trackers Hut

Research paper thumbnail of An early Pleistocene macropod from Jandakot, Western Australia

The Western Australian Naturalist, 1980

Research paper thumbnail of From ‘Jane roughed it with the men’ – the last 50 years

Australian archaeology, Jan 2, 2024

Research paper thumbnail of The Illustrated History of Humankind edited by Goran Burenhult, five volumes

Australian Archaeology, 1996

... The Illustrated History of Humankind edited by Goran Burenhult, five volumes. Jane Balme. Ful... more ... The Illustrated History of Humankind edited by Goran Burenhult, five volumes. Jane Balme. Full Text: PDF © 2011 Australian Archaeological Association Inc. ABN 13 110 628 970.

Research paper thumbnail of Bowdler, Sandra E

Research paper thumbnail of From Jane roughed it with the men the last 50 years

Australian Archaeology , 2024

Research paper thumbnail of Art in the bark: Indigenous carved boab trees (<i>Adansonia gregorii</i>) in north-west Australia

Research paper thumbnail of An Analysis of Charred Bone from Devil's Lair, Western Australia

Archaeology and Physical Anthropology in Oceania, Jul 1, 1980

Systematic excavation of Devil&#x27;s Lair, a small limestone cave in the Cape Leeuwin-Cape N... more Systematic excavation of Devil&#x27;s Lair, a small limestone cave in the Cape Leeuwin-Cape Naturaliste area of south-western Austr-alia, began in 1970 by staff of the Western Australian Museum. Radiocarbon age estim-ates obtained from charcoal, suggest that the deposit accumulated in late ...

Research paper thumbnail of Radiocarbon dates from midden sites in the lower Darling River area of western New South Wales

Archaeology and Physical Anthropology in Oceania, Oct 1, 1990

Research paper thumbnail of Archaeological Investigations: Parklea, NSW. Salvage Excavations at PK/CD 1+2 and PK/CD 4+6

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Mar 1, 2001

Research paper thumbnail of I Reckon They Should Keep That Hut': Reflections on Aboriginal Tracking in the Kimberley

Australian Aboriginal Studies, Mar 22, 1999

In this article we discuss responses to the threatened destruction of an Aboriginal police tracke... more In this article we discuss responses to the threatened destruction of an Aboriginal police trackers hut in Halls Creek in the East Kimberley, Western Australia (Figure 1). These responses were recorded by us in late 1996 when we were commissioned by architects working for the ...

Research paper thumbnail of An examination of rockshelter palynology: Carpenter’s Gap 1, northwestern Australia

The Holocene, Apr 27, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Late Quaternary mammal remains, spanning about 30,000 years, from excavations in Devil's Lair, Western Australia

Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 1978

Research paper thumbnail of Devils Lair: Occupation intensity and land-use

Australian Archaeology, Dec 1, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of The Antiquity Of Grinding Stones In Semi-Arid Western New South Wales

Australian Archaeology, 1991

Western New South Wales is well known as one of the largest regional data sets of Pleistocene arc... more Western New South Wales is well known as one of the largest regional data sets of Pleistocene archaeological material in Australia. Dating of aeolian sediments has been possible through the archaeological accumula-tion and subsequent preservation of organic remains within ...

Research paper thumbnail of 30,000 years of fishery in western New South Wales

Archaeology and Physical Anthropology in Oceania, Apr 1, 1995

Research paper thumbnail of Comments on Bliege Bird and Bird Why Women Hunt

Current Anthropology, 2008

Research paper thumbnail of Communal hunting by Aboriginal Australians: Archaeological and ethnographic evidence

Research paper thumbnail of Lifeways of the First Australians

Research paper thumbnail of A 'Port Scene', Identity and Rock Art of the Inland Southern Kimberley, Western Australia

Rock Art Research, May 1, 2015

IntroductionRock art as a means to mark landscape (for example, David and Wilson 2002, Part 1) an... more IntroductionRock art as a means to mark landscape (for example, David and Wilson 2002, Part 1) and to mark and reinforce group identity and distinguish it from 'other' (for example, Sanz et al. 2008) are common themes in the interpretation of rock art motif distribution across time and space. We have previously reported on changes in the rock art of the south central Kimberley region of Australia (Fig. 1) that appear to be associated with the European contact period (O'Connor et al. 2013; Balme and O'Connor 2014). In these papers we argued that, while the pre-European motifs of Ancestral Beings and other landscape marking motifs continued after European arrival, new styles of art appeared using new techniques and with motifs which we interpreted as emphasising group identity. Here we discuss an unusual panel in this contact period art of the region that seems to depart from this pattern in that it appears to mark individual identity, and we discuss the historical circumstances in which such a departure might occur.In Australia, Indigenous rock art images of European material culture and animals were a common response to European contact (Tacon et al. 2012). However, in the richly decorated cave and rocksheiter walls of the Devonian limestone reef system of the south central Kimberley, home of Bunuba and Gooniyandi people, such motifs are very rare. Despite over 20 years of archaeological research in the area, we have only found one panel, the subject of this paper, relating to the contact period that contains images of European material culture. However, rock art continued to be created and was refreshed until recent times and the rock art of the region remains an important part of Bunuba and Gooniyandi identity and connection to the landscape today.O'Connor et al. (2013) describes the rock art in the region that varies across time and space and includes anthropomorphs, phytomorphs, zoomorphs, geometric designs, and tracks using a variety of techniques including painting, engraving and drawing. On the basis of our interpretation of superimposition and oral testimony, we identified a new body of art within the region that we interpreted to be associated with the contact period (O'Connor et al. 2013; Balme and O'Connor 2014). While continuing to produce old motifs and long-used techniques of painting, drawing, stencilling and engraving, the new body introduces new motifs and two new techniques: scratch-work and dry black pigment drawing. Amongst this contact art, for the first time in this region, there are depictions of active figures with headdresses resembling those used in ceremonies by Bunuba and Gooniyandi people (Balme and O'Connor 2014). The active poses in ceremonial dress appear to self-reference rather than depict Ancestral Beings.In our previous work we suggested that these changes within the rock art may relate to the particular relations with Europeans during the contact period in the region. European expansion into the south central Kimberley did not begin until after land was released to settlers in 1881 and it was very rapid (Bolton and Pedersen 1980). Until about 1920, relations between Aboriginal people and Europeans were so violent that the period is often referred to as the 'killing times' by Aboriginal people (Kimberley Language Resource Centre 1996). Aboriginal movement was more restricted, making it difficult to access resources, including ochre, and so more use was made of abundant and accessible resources (charcoal) and techniques that did not require pigment (scratch-work) in the art. In this violent context Europeans and the objects that were the instruments of their control may have been unattractive (O'Connor et al. 2013:15) and could explain the lack of European motifs being introduced in the art. Instead, people continued the visual traditions of pre-contact, including Ancestral Beings such as the Wanjina-style figures that emphasised their relationship to the landscape (Blundell and Woolagoodja 2005) but added to these motifs to include depictions of people performing ceremonies - motifs that we suggest emphasised group identity (Balme and O'Connor 2014:38). …

Research paper thumbnail of An Anthropological, Archaeological and Historical assessment of the significance of the Halls Creek Aboriginal Trackers Hut

Research paper thumbnail of An early Pleistocene macropod from Jandakot, Western Australia

The Western Australian Naturalist, 1980

Research paper thumbnail of Archaeology in Practice: A Student Guide to Archaeological Analyses, 2nd Edition Jane Balme (Editor), Alistair Paterson (Editor) ISBN: 978-0-470-65716-4 Paperback 504 pages September 2013, Wiley-Blackwell

Research paper thumbnail of Putting WA archaeology on the map: The inestimable contribution of Charlie Dortch

Research paper thumbnail of The role of information exchange in the colonization of Sahul

Research paper thumbnail of News from the south: Current perspectives in Australian zooarchaeology