Holocene grinding stones at Madjedbebe reveal the processing of starchy plant taxa and animal tissue (original) (raw)
Related papers
Ancient starch analysis of grinding stones from Kokatha Country, South Australia
Journal of Archaeological Science 23: 178-198, 2019
Identifying the range of plants and/or animals processed by pounding and/or grinding stones has been a rapidly developing research area in world prehistory. In Australia, grinding and pounding stones are ubiquitous across the semi-arid and arid zones and the associated tasks have been mostly informed by ethnographic case studies. More recently, plant microfossil studies have provided important insights to the breadth of plants being exploited in a range of contexts and over long time periods. The preservation of starch and/or phytoliths on the used surfaces of these artefacts is well documented, though the factors determining the survival or destruction of use-related starch residues are still largely unknown. Some of these artefacts have also been used for grinding up small animals and these tasks can be identified by specific staining methods for organic remains such as collagen. In this study, 25 grinding and pounding stones identified during an archaeological project in arid South Australia, were examined for starch and collagen residues. The artefacts were from 3 locations in central South Australia, all located in exposed settings. Of these localities, Site 11 in the Western Valley near Woomera is an important Aboriginal landscape specifically associated with male ceremonial practice in the recent past. The remaining two sites, one in the adjacent Nurrungar Valley and the other near Andamooka 100 km distant, have unrestricted access and potentially a different suite of residues. The Kokatha Mula Nations, the Traditional Owners of Woomera, requested that this study be undertaken to explore the range of plants that may have been processed here. It provided an opportunity to investigate the preservation potential of starch and collagen on grinding stones; explore the range of taphonomic factors involved in the persistence of residues in extreme environmental conditions; and test the methodological developments in identifying specific plant origin of starch residues. Of the 25 grinding/pounding stones tested, 7 yielded starch grains. Geometric morphometric analysis identified 3 economic grass species, Crinum flaccidum (Andamooka Lily) and Typha domingensis (Bulrush/Cumbungi). Folded collagen was identified on one artefact. Oral histories recount the movement between Andamooka and Nurrungar/Western Valley for men's ceremonies, and documented in the movement of stone resources, e.g. oolytic chert. The survival of residues in this environment and the identification of economic plant taxa complement the current knowledge of ceremonial activities and the movement of people and resources across significant dis-tances in arid South Australia.
65,000-years of continuous grinding stone use at Madjedbebe, Northern Australia
Scientific Reports
Grinding stones and ground stone implements are important technological innovations in later human evolution, allowing the exploitation and use of new plant foods, novel tools (e.g., bone points and edge ground axes) and ground pigments. Excavations at the site of Madjedbebe recovered Australia’s (if not one of the world’s) largest and longest records of Pleistocene grinding stones, which span the past 65 thousand years (ka). Microscopic and chemical analyses show that the Madjedbebe grinding stone assemblage displays the earliest known evidence for seed grinding and intensive plant use, the earliest known production and use of edge-ground stone hatchets (aka axes), and the earliest intensive use of ground ochre pigments in Sahul (the Pleistocene landmass of Australia and New Guinea). The Madjedbebe grinding stone assemblage reveals economic, technological and symbolic innovations exemplary of the phenotypic plasticity of Homo sapiens dispersing out of Africa and into Sahul.
Food or fibercraft? Grinding stones and Aboriginal use of Triodia grass (spinifex
Plant tissue and wooden objects are rare in the Australian archaeological record but distinctive stone tools such as grinding stones and ground-edge hatchets are relatively common, and they provide strong indirect evidence for plant food processing and woodworking, respectively. Ethnohistorical references to the Aboriginal use of stone tools for technologies related to fibercraft, basketry, hafting adhesives and fixative sealants (with gum, wax and resin) are also rare but all these tasks were probably more common than records indicate. Here we consider ethnohistorical evidence for stones in fibercraft and the processing of Triodia grass (spinifex) as a case study. We compare functional traces on experimental stones with traces on a museum specimen (CMAA 1926.591), which was collected ethnohistorically and reportedly used for 'grinding spinifex leaves'. Residues and other traces on the museum specimen are consistent with both fiber-processing and seed grinding. We suggest that it may be difficult for usewear and residue analysis to determine if grinding stones were used to target Triodia spinifex for fiber, food or another particular plant product. Further experimental research is needed to refine criteria for identifying archaeological fiber-processing tools. However, we propose that the combination of traces previously interpreted as seed processing on bedrock grinding patches and portable grinding stones may also indicate the processing of Triodia spinifex for fiber.
The first Australian plant foods at Madjedbebe, 65,000-53,000 years ago
Nature Communications, 2020
There is little evidence for the role of plant foods in the dispersal of early modern humans into new habitats globally. Researchers have hypothesised that early movements of human populations through Island Southeast Asia and into Sahul were driven by the lure of high-calorie, low-handling-cost foods, and that the use of plant foods requiring processing was not common in Sahul until the Holocene. Here we present the analysis of charred plant food remains from Madjedbebe rockshelter in northern Australia, dated to between 65 kya and 53 kya. We demonstrate that Australia's earliest known human population exploited a range of plant foods, including those requiring processing. Our finds predate existing evidence for such subsistence practices in Sahul by at least 23ky. These results suggest that dietary breadth underpinned the success of early modern human populations in this region, with the expenditure of labour on the processing of plants guaranteeing reliable access to nutrients in new environments.
The plant macrofossil assemblage from Madjedbebe, Mirarr Country, northern Australia, provides insight into human-plant relationships for the~65,000 years of Aboriginal occupation at the site. Here we show that a diverse diet of fruits, nuts, seeds, palm and underground storage organs was consumed from the earliest occupation, with intensive plant food processing in evidence. The diet varied through time as foraging strategies were altered in response to changes in environment and demography. This included a broadening of the diet during drier glacial stages, as well as changes in the seasonal round and incorporation of new foods with the formation of freshwater wetlands following sea level rise in the late Holocene. The foundations of the economy evidenced at Madjedbebe include seasonal mobility, a broad diet and requisite plant processing and grinding technologies, all of which are maintained throughout the entire timespan of occupation. This points to a resilient economic system in the face of pronounced environmental change.
The Holocene, 2020
Ground stone technology for processing starchy plant foods has its origins in the late Pleistocene, with subsequent intensification and transformation of this technology coinciding with the global emergence of agriculture in the early Holocene. On the island of New Guinea, agriculture first emerges in the highland Wahgi Valley, potentially from c. 9 kya, and clearly evident by 6.5 kya. Approximately 400 km further east in the highland Ivane Valley, longterm occupation sequences span the Holocene and late Pleistocene, but there is currently no direct evidence for wetland agriculture. Here, we report rare evidence for ground stone implements from a secure mid-Holocene archaeological context in the Ivane Valley. The Joe's Garden site has flaked and ground stone artefacts with significant starch assemblages dating to approximately 4.4 kya. We present the first empirical evidence for the function of stone bowls from a New Guinea highland setting. Usewear and residues indicate the grinding and pounding of endemic starch-rich plant foods. Geometric morphometric analysis of starch grains shows that at least two taxa were processed: Castanopsis acuminatissima (nut) and Pueraria lobata (tuber). This regional example adds to our understanding of the trajectories of diverse plant food exploitation and ground stone technology development witnessed globally in the Holocene.
Evidence for Pleistocene seed grinding at Lake Mungo, south-eastern Australia
Grinding stones and fragments have often been found in archaeological sites at Lake Mungo, south-western New South Wales, and their function has mostly been inferred on the basis of grindstone morphology. Of particular interest has been the antiquity of grass seed grinding, which is usually associated with deeply grooved, large sandstone dishes. Previous studies of grinding stones from the region have found no compelling evidence for seed grinding prior to the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary. One of the problems has been that the grinding stones have been found on deflated surfaces and have been difficult to accurately provenance and date. Here, we report a functional study of 17 sandstone artefacts, recently collected from the central part of the Mungo lunette, where a suite of OSL ages have provided bracketing age estimates for the stratigraphic units. Ten artefacts are attributed to Unit E deposited between c.25 and 14 ka. Four artefacts are attributed to Unit F, deposited c.8 ka. Three artefacts from the Golgol lag are of unknown age. Usewear indicates a likely seed grinding function for 14 of the artefacts. Use-related residues include starch, cellulose and collagen. The results of this study provide additional support for Pleistocene plant processing and seed grinding activities in Sahul.
Quaternary International, 2016
Both quartz and silcrete cobbles are abundant in the stony desert regions of western New South Wales, Australia and were used by Aboriginal people who occupied these regions from the mid to late Holocene. Archaeologists often characterise quartz as an inferior material for flaking when compared to silcrete, but Aboriginal people made intensive use of both materials. Here, we investigate the degree to which archaeologists can draw inferences about the choices people made in the past regarding the selection and use of different raw materials. Different types of raw material (i.e. microcrystalline silcretes and macrocrystalline quartzes) were flaked more or less intensively, but it is the utilization of the products of this flaking, not simply their manufacture, that allows inferences to be made about past intentions.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2018
Residues, surface features and wear patterns documented on experimental and ethnographic artefacts form the foundation of residue and usewear reference libraries, from which we can interpret and evaluate the function of archaeological specimens. Here we report controlled experiments to supplement previous studies and document variables that influence usewear formation on sandstone grinding implements (including abrading stones) of different toughness and hardness. Distinct patterns of usewear result from the class of worked material, modes and duration of use, and the stone material. Hard sandstones can sustain more developed polish during use than soft sandstones, which wear more rapidly. Our experimental reference library is applied here to a pilot study of grinding implements, made of hard and soft sandstones, in archaeological contexts from southeastern Australia, where distributions of hard seed mortars and soft seed grinding stones are correlated with distinct woodland and floodplain vegetation communities, suggesting different behavioural strategies. Seed grinding is documented on both hard and soft sandstones but we suggest that grinding hard seeds is only efficient on hard sandstones. The spatial and chronological distributions of hard and soft sandstone grinding dishes are potentially linked not only with sandstone availability but also with vegetation communities and climate change.