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Universities in the early twenty-first century have become captive sites of global capitalism. The role of universities in this neoliberal knowledge system is to produce consumable knowledge for transnational corporations and flexible, knowledge worker-entrepreneurs. It is difficult to see where the university's roles in social justice and equity fit into the current higher education policy environment. While these are global trends in higher education, the focus of this article is on analysing key Australian policy documents from the 1950s to the 2000s. These policy texts contain discursive constructions of universities that both mirrored and produced powerful social imaginaries about higher education. Building upon earlier research, I analyse these policy documents using a form of Foucauldian archaeological analysis that seeks to trace the ways in which discourses define and delimit possible constructions of universities. This article makes an original contribution to contemporary debates about higher education policy because it engages in detailed Foucauldian archaeological analysis that opens up the present to critique, enabling us to trace how constructions of the postmodern university have emerged over time and have come to be normalised. It also offers counter-narratives about how policy futures might be [re]constructed.

There is growing interest in the incorporation of digital games as part of the suite of offerings in museum education in heritage environments. Digital games are seen as ways of recreating historic worlds, affording empathetic and affective engagement, and increasing interest in and understanding of historical periods or processes, working in complementarity with material exhibitions and artefacts on display. Stakeholders engaged in the development of digital games, however, may have different views of what constitutes significant knowledge and priorities. This paper reports on findings from a pilot study that investigated key concerns for three groups involved in designing a game -- museum educators, maritime archaeologists and games designers -- that foregrounded the construction of history, history as constructed and processes of historical research. The paper explores the differing values and priorities underlying the perspectives of each group, and the implications of these for museum education, and the design of the game.

This paper was prompted by our interest in two issues associated with Australia's vocational education and training system: recurring declarations for universal access to vocational education and training (albeit in different forms across different epochs) as the right of all Australians and the continual processes of change associated with the sector over the last two decades. As we approach a time of yet more change in vocational education and training, we call for a rethinking of these two characteristics of a training system, as "problems of the present", situations which in their present form are "intolerable". Reflecting a notion of "thinking" work as personal, political, historical and practical, the paper offers a glimpse of Foucault (1926-1984) as a person. We explain his use of the term discourse as an overarching frame for understanding "problems of the present". We review two major aspects of his analytic toolkit: archaeology and genealogy. We close with refections on the usefulness of these analytic practices as tactics of engagement for researchers interested in historical approaches to vocational education. (Contains 4 footnotes.)

Copyright of Archaeology in Oceania is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper discusses a child mummy's past restoration, pre-treatment condition, and the minimally invasive conservation interventions undertaken. The mummy was purchased in 1965 by the Australian Institute of Archaeology and has been displayed and stored since that time. Conservation was made possible by a grant. Images taken soon after the mummy arrived in Australia guided some conservation decisions. Analytical methods used to identify materials associated with previous restorations and the mummy's deteriorating condition included Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy fluorescence and Reflectance Transformation Imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper challenges the oft-repeated conventional story of the beginning of 'modern' Australian archaeology, seen as the era of the professional archaeologist that succeeded an undisciplined phase of indiscriminate collecting of skulls and stone artefacts by 'amateurs' who, on the whole, believed that Indigenous Australians had arrived on the continent so recently that any excavation of archaeological sites would be pointless. Cambridge-trained John Mulvaney's excavations at Fromm's Landing on the Murray River in South Australia commencing in January 1956 have been seen most recently as marking the decisive break, one between 'good', professional and ethical archaeology and the earlier 'bad' amateur period of mere antiquarianism, ignoring the concerns of and trampling upon the rights of Indigenous Australians in the spirit of triumphant colonialism. This contrast is inaccurate, overdrawn, and ignores the positive contribution of many earlier conscientious scholars; labelling all of them as 'amateurs' confuses rather than enlightens the history of Australian archaeology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examining why human populations used specific technologies in the Final Pleistocene is critical to understanding our evolutionary path. A key Final Pleistocene techno-tradition is the Howiesons Poort, which is marked by an increase in behavioral complexity and technological innovation. Central to this techno-tradition is the production of backed artifacts-small, sharp blades likely used as insets in composite tools. Although backed artifacts were manufactured for thousands of years before the Howiesons Poort, this period is marked by a phenomenal increase in their production. In this paper we test both social and environmental hypotheses to explain this phenomenon. We correlate environmental data with changing frequencies of backed artifact production at Sibudu and assess morphological similarity across seven sites in southern Africa. We find that these artifacts are made to a similar template across different regions and that their increased production correlates with multiple paleo-environmental proxies. When compared to an Australian outgroup, the backed artifacts from the seven southern African sites cluster within the larger shape space described by the Australian group. This leads us to argue that the observed standardized across southern Africa is related to cultural similarities and marks a strengthening of long-distance social ties during the MIS4., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

In this paper, I review Welch’s critique (Australian Archaeology80:40–47) of claims by Akerman, Akerman and Willing and Woodhouse that depictions ofThylacoleoexist in Kimberley rock art. I agree with his conclusion that these claims are unfounded and that the depictions probably represent thylacines. There are, however, problems with the methodology he employs to reach this conclusion, a number of factual mistakes and a failure to adequately acknowledge the work of previous researchers. An appropriate methodology for identifying species in rock art, developed by a number of researchers in the 1970s and 1980s, is outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores identity and the recursive impacts of cross-cultural colonial encounters on individuals, cultural materials, and cultural practices in 20th-century northern Australia. We focus on an assemblage of cached metal objects and associated cultural materials that embody both Aboriginal tradition and innovation. These cultural materials were wrapped in paperbark and placed within a ring of stones, a bundling practice also seen in human burials in this region. This 'cache' is located in close proximity to rockshelters with rich, superimposed Aboriginal rock art compositions. However, the cache shelter has no visible art, despite available wall space. The site shows the utilisation of metal objects as new raw materials that use traditional techniques to manufacture a ground edge metal axe and to sharpen metal rods into spears. We contextualise these objects and their hypothesised owner(s) within narratives of invasion/contact and the ensuing pastoral history of this region. Assemblage theory affords us an appropriate theoretical lens through which to bring people, places, objects, and time into conversation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work in Melbourne, including the papers in this volume, has shed new light on the archaeology of this major nineteenth-century urban center. But how does Melbourne compare to other important contemporary cities, particularly those outside the British Empire? This paper compares “Marvellous Melbourne” against the “Paris of South America,” Buenos Aires, with a focus on exploring consumer behavior and transnational trade. Two case studies are considered, Casselden Place (Melbourne) and La Casa Peña (Buenos Aires) and while some differences are encountered, the overall similarity in results points to the interconnectedness of the world during the period under study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dermot Casey (1897-1977) is known in Australian archaeology, if he is remembered at all, for being someone who assisted the premier prehistorian of Australia, JohnMulvaney, in his excavations of the late 1950s and 1960s and whose collaborationMulvaney greatly valued. But when Casey began his collaboration with Mulvaney he was already 58 years old and had had a continuing and significant archaeological career, involving work in England and South Asia withMortimerWheeler, as well as in Australia. He had been a key figure both before and after World War 2 in the development of Australian archaeology. His role is virtually unknown, however, not least because he was a man of independent means who did not need to work for a living. His selflessness was partly because that privilege gave him a keen sense of service to society, seen in both world wars and in his archaeological practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological interpretation is increasingly an interdisciplinary effort between archaeologists and specialists of various archaeological sciences. In such integrated work, excavation data are the primary reference to provide context for the vast range of cultural and biological material that are later investigated. A review of over three decades of published Australian archaeological data shows that there is a widespread practice in the use of arbitrary excavation units, not only as excavation tools but also as analytical units. Building from the lectures of Smith on the Lost Art of Stratigraphy and other published literature, this paper explores some of the issues surrounding different excavation strategies applied today, particularly in Australian prehistoric archaeology, and the implications and impacts on interpretation of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental results. It is argued that, while arbitrary excavation is appropriate in certain circumstances, the best method for excavation, sampling and interpretation of archaeological sites is by stratigraphic context because it provides a more precise understanding of the original depositional context and what that might tell us about past environment and past human behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The archaeology of twentieth-century suburbs, in contrast to city centres, has received little attention from archaeologists in Australia. This paper presents the results of an archaeological investigation of a suburban block, a bounded space 347m2 in size, created in 1905 and located in the Sydney suburb of Arncliffe. An extensive collection of objects has been recovered while undertaking gardening activities and six test pit excavations has produced an assemblage of 3600 things. A qualitative analysis of the material remains reveals a wide range of past suburban activities, encompassing building construction, domestic consumption/production and home-making practices. The paper explores links between past activities/behaviours and routine processes of material decay, waste disposal and loss in order to consider the archaeological research potential of the suburban block. Two specific areas of research are outlined - consumption with particular reference to the role of the female head of the house and ecology/health. On the basis of the study a case is made for the development of a 'suburban archaeology' in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the transformation from an archaeological research project to one that focused on Indigenous cultural heritage. The ultimate outcome was the development of a community-based approach for northern Cape York (Australia) that emerged from a partnership between researcher and the indigenous community. The paper particularly focuses on notions of landscape, sites and artefacts and the ways in which archaeological and indigenous perspectives of these are both different and similar. It challenges the idea that artefacts are only central for archaeologists, presenting a case study illustrating that they can also be important within Indigenous frameworks. These insights emerged from a deeper understanding of Indigenous local heritage that was only possible within a community-based approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) in archaeological prospection is not a new phenomenon; its capacity to enhance fieldwork processes is well proven. Use of the technology makes it possible to identify potential archaeological features and sites across large swathes of the landscape quickly and accurately. In addition, the data captured by LiDAR open up landscapes to differing forms of analysis, improving understandings of how people interacted with each other and the landscape. Despite this, few Australian historical archaeologists are publishing on the application of this technology in their research. This paper presents the results of a research project where LiDAR has been incorporated from the beginning. Part of an ARC project examining nineteenth century landscapes of convict labour and punishment on the Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania, this research employed LiDAR to identify, classify and analyse the extended landscapes formed by and for convict labour. Results of an archaeological survey of the Cascades probation station (1842–1855) are presented and the efficacy of LiDAR in an Australian bush setting is discussed. The paper also reviews different forms of analyses that have been undertaken of the convict landscape, using LiDAR to repopulate this landscape with people and labour processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we present a brief examination of the overall lack of concern with archaeological theory in Australian archaeology and consider the privileging of 'doing' archaeology, i.e. conducting fieldwork, collecting data and dates, over developing interpretation and deeper understanding. This article also introduces a small collection of papers that derive from the AusTAG session held at the 2016 Australian Archaeological Association conference in Terrigal, NSW, one of a handful of AusTAG sessions that have taken place in Australia since 2012. The papers featured in this section reflect a sense of growth and potential of theory and high-level interpretation in Australian archaeology. The refreshing aspect of this particular collection is the way these authors have been able to ground often quite complex theoretical ideas in the practices of archaeology. We look with anticipation towards the future of Australian archaeology, one which we hope continues to develop in interesting, innovative, and theoretically informed directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quandong or native peach (Santalum acuminatum R.Br.) has been recognised as an important and tasty food resource among Aboriginal Australians in arid and semi-arid areas of southern Australia. It is valued for its fruit that is consumed raw or dried, and for its kernel, which is eaten raw or ground into paste for medicinal and skin care purposes. This paper reports on a study of ground stone implements within the Murray Darling Basin that has identified quandong stones as a distinct type of implement made specifically for the efficient cracking of quandong nuts. Data are presented on 1,327 ground stone implements from collections in 12 different locations in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), an area almost completely devoid of stone sources. Given the paucity of stone, multi-purpose use of implements is widely documented. Although it was common to find pits present in mortars and other ground stone tools demonstrating multiple functions, including use as anvils, a class of single purpose stones with multiple pits and distinctive form was identified. Most of these were found in areas known for groves of quandong and four were analysed for use-wear and residues along with two other ground stone items from the MDB. The results support their identification as specialised anvil stones for cracking quandong nuts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers several areas of anthropological research which have yet to be drawn into conversation: Alfred Gell's anthropological theory of art, the literature on collecting and museum studies and the colonial art histories of Nicholas Thomas and others, and the archaeology of colonialism in Australia. The implications of the nexus of these various areas of research are considered with reference to the archaeological study of Kimberley points in Australia. While these points have been understood by both archaeologists and antiquarians as the pinnacle of Australian Aboriginal stone working practices, this paper considers them as an artefact of colonial desire. Their captivating agency for late-nineteenth-century collectors largely resided in their mysterious method of manufacture, but even after this was understood they continued to enthral antiquarians and archaeologists, who have come to represent their manufacture as ‘typical’ of Australian Aboriginal stone tool working despite its limited chronological and geographic distribution and its relationship to colonial trade. The acceptance of these objects, which essentially functioned as virtuoso tourist art, by colonial collectors and archaeologists as ‘authentic’ ethnographic objects within a discourse which would normally be prejudiced against such items suggests that Aboriginal people engaged actively in this process of captivation–indeed, that the agency of such virtuoso objects continued long after the lifetimes of their makers, as Gell suggested. This has wider implications for an understanding ofboth archaeology and colonial collecting and the relationship between objects and identity in settler societies and provides an opportunity to reflect on the usefulness of Gell's work in colonial contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores inter-group signalling behaviour of hunter-fisher-gatherers living in arid and temperate coastal regions in Holocene Australia. We examine shield designs in the rock art of two visually similar engraved art provinces on opposite sides of the Australian continent: Port Hedland and Sydney. We explore the question of inter-group social signalling behaviour in arid versus fertile environments by testing the stylistic heterogeneity of shield designs in both art provinces. We examine the stylistic diversity of historically-collected and illustrated shields from both regions, and compare these with the engraved repertoires of the two style provinces. One of the precepts of information exchange theory (IET) is that publicly-displayed items/artefacts will provide the best vehicles for projecting cultural identity information. We assume that shields, as items of material culture which are carried publically, would have been ideally suited to signal individual, local and broader group identity. In more fertile areas it is usually argued that hunter-gatherers demonstrate increased territoriality and social boundedness as a result of demographic packing and focused resources, compared to groups in arid areas where there are widely ramified social networks. We test the hypothesis that a greater degree of stylistic heterogeneity should be displayed by engraved Sydney shields compared with those found in Port Hedland. However, our analyses demonstrate the reverse of this prediction. We suggest some alternative explanations for how style has been used in the arid coastal Pilbara, and suggest refinement is needed of some expectations in information exchange theory in arid zones where there is focalised resource availability and extreme language hybridity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

How can rock art signal contact between different social groups and cultures? In this special collection of papers for Australian Archaeology, we find several different answers to this question, based on a number of Australian and International case studies first presented at The Second International Contact Rock Art Conference in Darwin, September 2013 and further developed in the years since. In this introductory paper, we set these important depictions in a global context, and explore some of the information that contact rock art offers in studying past, present and emerging societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vere Gordon Childe is the most prominent archaeologist produced by Australia to date. His writing influenced two generations of the public's understanding of the human past, alongside the academic interpretation and teaching of prehistory, while his work has stimulated more professional conferences and critiques than any other in the discipline. This paper explores how close Childe came to taking a different path, outlining the circumstances that led him to abandon archaeology and pursue a potentially high profile political career. This began and ended amid opposition and controversy, when external circumstances forced him out of politics and, at the age of 30, back to archaeology. This account of the details of Childe's early life, motivation, passions and skills draws on unpublished archives held in the State Records of New South Wales, and other early sources, together with the disparate materials that have become available since the biography of Childe published in 1981. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Langlands Iron Foundry was an early and significant industrial operation in Victoria, responsible for assembling the first iron paddle steamer and making the first locomotive boiler in the colony. Remains of the foundry were uncovered in June 2014 during an archaeological program preceding development of a site in Flinders Street in Melbourne. The site was located on the remains of a garden created by John Batman, one of the two “founders” of Melbourne in 1835 and was superseded by a commercial shipping butcher in 1864. In this paper we present archaeological and historical evidence relating to the garden and iron foundry to illuminate important aspects of working life and conditions in early Melbourne. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2016, the 150th historical archaeology project was conducted in the central city area of Melbourne. Almost all of these investigations have been undertaken since the introduction of the Victorian Heritage Act 1995. With the Act recently under review, it is timely to look back on the lessons learned by heritage managers and archaeologists over the last 25 years. It is also an opportunity to review current practices to ensure that future site investigations are conducted efficiently and achieve meaningful outcomes. How can information obtained from the previous 150 projects inform and enhance the research frameworks of future work? What can we learn about Melbourne’s historical archaeology that we do not already know? How can community benefits be optimized? This paper will evaluate the successes and failures associated with the implementation of historical archaeology legislation in an urban setting and consider how the past 25 years of archaeology in the city can inform our approach to future opportunities in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an interdisciplinary project that uses archaeological and historical sources to explore the formation of a penal landscape in the Australian colonial context. The project focuses on the convict-period legacy of the Tasman Peninsula (Tasmania, Australia), in particular the former penal station of Port Arthur (1830–1877). The research utilises three exceptional data series to examine the impact of convict labour on landscape and the convict body: the archaeological record of the Tasman Peninsula, the life course data of the convicts and the administrative record generated by decades of convict labour management. Through these, the research seeks to demonstrate how changing ideologies affected the processes and outcomes of convict labour and its products, as well as how the landscapes we see today were formed and developed in response to a complex interplay of multi-scalar penological and economic influences.Areas of inquiry: Australian convict archaeology and history. The archaeology and history of Australian convict labour management. The archaeology and history of the Tasman Peninsula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the use of material culture evidence to uncover the economic and social environments of Chinese market gardeners in Australia and New Zealand. In particular it explores the multiple meanings that artefacts associated with Chinese market gardeners can embody and how they mediate between cultures. Four items of material culture are examined to discover how they can shed light on the daily lives of Chinese market gardeners and their social interactions. Two come from archaeological contexts; one is in a museum collection and one is in private ownership. They range in date from the late nineteenth century to the 1920s or 1930s. The first two are utilitarian items of technology: a garden rake and a Clutterbuck oil engine. The second two are more luxury items: an ornate silver fob watch and chain and a collection of fine bone china ceramics imported from Europe. What they have in common is that their owners and users were all Chinese market gardeners. Illustrating how material culture evidence can complement evidence from more traditional sources, the paper draws on documentary sources and oral histories to provide a context in time and place for each of these items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The small islands of Western Torres Strait, between the large continental islands of Australia in the south and New Guinea in the north, witnessed major cultural transformations about 400 years ago. Innovations included the commencement of dugong bone mound-building and Syrinx aruanus shell arrangements. This paper explores the archaeological evidence for these new site types, linking the archaeology to late nineteenth century ethnography on Torres Strait ritual practices. It concludes by presenting four alternative models to explain the origins of these c. 400-year-old ritual innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract As institutions established to administer the penal exile of British imperial subjects, the historic gaols of Australia and Ireland are linked by a painful legacy of involuntary transportation. Today, outstanding examples of these prisons are conserved and publicly presented as monuments of national significance. This paper considers material meanings associated with these unusual heritage places. Given their explicit historic association with British imperial power, what role do heritage prisons play in the formation of a postcolonial affiliation or consciousness? This paper will consider how heritage prisons have come to embody the emotive links of longing and belonging forged between the modern nations of Ireland and Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What should students learn through studying archaeology at university in Australia and what key challenges do university staff and students face? This paper presents an analysis of short written responses to these questions from over fifty delegates at a national teaching and learning workshop for archaeologists held in Sydney in September 2003. The most highly valued learning outcomes were generic. Delegates' responses placed major emphasis on students' ability to apply archaeological knowledge and skills in the cultural heritage management workplace. Most delegates were concerned about university funding cuts and government education policies and how to foster better co-operation between universities, consulting companies and government heritage agencies in teaching/training. The paper presents a critique and analysis of these and other responses in the context of the current state of Australian archaeology and attitudes towards teaching on and off campus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we investigate the pedagogy of archaeological field schools. Specifically, we explore the combination of tertiary level field schools and Indigenous community (or community-based) archaeology. Using a detailed case study of a rock art field school in Arnhem Land, Australia, we explore the processes and outcomes of combining archaeological field training with the ideas and methods of community archaeology. We discuss the relationship and unique challenges faced by such community archaeology field schools, particularly that of balancing the priorities of competing stakeholders. Our discussion illustrates the complexities of training students to work in an environment where cultural belief systems are still strongly linked to sites and landscapes. While the challenges are numerous, the outcomes, particularly for students, provide an unparalleled educational experience, one that cannot be obtained in any other learning format. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

G.R.H. Wright worked in the Middle East and India on the restoration of ancient monuments during a period when principles for conservation and restoration practice established in Europe following the Second World War began to evolve to accommodate the needs of fast-developing Asia. The paper describes his experience as he learned on the job in the Middle East and tried to forge his way through the cultural complexities in India providing an early illustration of the issues that have come to the fore in recent years regarding authenticity as it relates to reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The archaeology of the arid and apparently inhospitable spinifex plains of today’s inland Pilbara, Western Australia, is dominated by sites with bedrock grinding patches. These range from single and sometimes barely visible areas of ground granite to sites with more than a hundred flat, slightly concave or sometimes deeply grooved ground patches. Sometimes a solitary feature, sometimes associated with engravings or scattered stone artefacts, these sites contribute to the story of the movement of people through this arid landscape. But what do they tell us? Using ethnohistorical, ethnographic and experimental studies, this paper evaluates data collected from sites with bedrock grinding patches recorded on the Abydos Plain. Our results highlight the need for ‘grinding’ patches to be reconsidered as more than ‘grinding’ patches, for better modelling of freshwater ecology and inland fishing, and for the potential of spinifex fibre technology to be actively incorporated into reconstructions of hunter gatherer lifeways in arid landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Stone points were introduced across northern Australia during the mid-Holocene. The reasons behind this novel technological development are unclear but, given their morphology, an obvious interpretation is that they were used as spear tips. However, others have theorised that points, along with backed artefacts elsewhere, may have been multifunctional tools. This paper tests the hypothesis that lithic points were primarily spear tips by applying a macrofracture analysis, supported by experimentation, in order to identify diagnostic impact fractures on a large sample of points from Wardaman Country in the Northern Territory. The analysis suggests that points were rarely used as spear tips overall, though they were more commonly employed as projectiles when first introduced to Wardaman Country and when transported away from large residential sites to regions where mobile hunting equipment might be expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a growing recognition that intangible heritage forms an important part of the significance of heritage sites, and that intangible values are intertwined with material resources and spaces, many procedures for the identification and management of heritage sites remain unchanged and fail to integrate these two sets of values. The conservation of heritage sites continues to be dominated by a process that first identifies a material site and then identifies the associated values that comprise its significance. This paper suggests that rather than identifying the physical expression of heritage as the initial point of heritage assessment, the stories (or intangible values) of a region or national history can form the primary mechanism for identifying physical heritage sites. Using the example of Australian government policies of Aboriginal segregation and assimilation, we suggest how national stories – or intangible values – might be used to identify representative sites. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ABSTRACT The nature of institutions in Australian archaeology is reviewed and the five papers of this special section introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The opening keynote session at the 2019 Australian Archaeological Association (AAA) annual conference on the Gold Coast was designed to allow reflection on how archaeology has developed in the 50 years since John Mulvaney (1969) published his landmark Prehistory of Australia (Clarkson 2019; David and Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation 2019; Hodgetts and Ross 2019; Jacobs 2019; McDonald 2019). In reflecting on that issue myself, I wonder whether the kind of generalist practitioner that John and others (including his contemporary Isabel McBryde) epitomised, is endangered, or perhaps even extinct? In this paper, which is an expanded version of the spoken comments I offered in response to the AAA keynote presentations (Wallis 2019), I contemplate our current position as Australian archaeological practitioners in the broader context of shrinking research funding, increasing bureaucratisation of universities, an unhealthy attention to metrics as the primary measure of research value, and increasing levels of specialisation, offset against a burgeoning cultural heritage management (CHM) sector. In keeping with the 2019 conference theme, I suggest we require some conscious and deliberate 'disruption' of the discourse if we hope to have another productive 50 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of Indigenous Australia's unique stone tools, the tula adze is traditionally viewed as a hafted woodworking tool of the arid zone. Unlike most stone tools in Australia and around the world, the spread and adoption of the tula adze has been described as rapid and instantaneous. The conditions which underlie this technological change are critically assessed in this study, using risk minimisation and diffusion models. The focus of the paper is a study area with unclear tula distribution—the southern Kimberley of Western Australia. The spatial distribution of these tools is reviewed and new discoveries outlined. Reduction sequences and morphological trends observed elsewhere are examined, and compared to the Kimberley record. Some of the archaeological sites analysed also preserve evidence of woodworking activities, such as wood shavings and wooden tools. We use these records, augmented by the association of hardwood species from macrobotanical records, to associate tulas with hardwood species availability in the late Holocene archaeological record of the Kimberley. We conclude that woodworking craft production proliferated in the late Holocene, as a likely result of both diffusion of information and foraging risk minimisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a previously undescribed rock art style consisting of large human figures and animals with stroke-line infill is introduced. These depictions have been named Maliwawa Figures. They are primarily found in northwest Arnhem Land and to date have been recorded at 87 sites from Awunbarna (Mount Borradaile area) to the Namunidjbuk clan state of the Wellington Range. There are solitary figures and others arranged in compositions or scenes. We describe the features of this style, its distribution, subject matter and probable age. The results of a detailed analysis of all sites are discussed and a new, refined Arnhem Land rock art chronology is presented. It is concluded that Maliwawa Figures are most likely to date between 6,000 to 9,400 years of age and to be contemporaneous with Northern Running Figures and Yam Figures found at sites to the south. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Landscape: the land escapes (1) when we try to seize it with our maps, satellites, geographic information systems and Street Views, land is what evades our surveillance (2) land is the terrain of escape.’ (Cubitt 2012)‘Since the middle of the twentieth century, the claim that something is art does not imply what it might have meant at the end of the nineteenth century, when it was made out to be a hallmark of European high and bourgeois society.’ (Heyd 2012, 287)The destruction of Indigenous rock art sites in the Pilbara district in Western Australia has become a natural sight within the mining landscape of the area. Whilst much of the destruction is explained as acts of vandalism and as a result of the industrial activities that are propelling the Australian economy, I claim that a new theory of iconoclasm is needed to explain fully this disastrous example of heritage conservation. Henceforth, in order to explain the destruction of the Murujuga/Burrup Peninsula petroglyphs, the largest archaeological site in the world, this paper develops the theory of landscape iconoclasm. This theory states that the destruction of Indigenous landscapes can be compared to the destruction of religious images, by analysing the inherent symbolic functions of iconoclasm, together with those of heritage, the better to elucidate the state of affairs in the Murujuga/Burrup Peninsula. Furthermore, by drawing from Aboriginal mythology and art-historical and anthropological theories, the theory of landscape iconoclasm is able to explain the destruction of archaeological sites within a framework that falls outside prevalent discourses of heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Concerns with screening embodiment have focused on the way in which cinema invites the spectator to consider a lived sense of the human body as a material subject that feels its own subjectivity. In this paper, I suspend the return of gesture to the transcendental human body. Gesture practises and produces complex and diverse bodies, bodies that do not precede their intra-actions but emerge through them. Drawing on the work of Karen Barad, I consider gesture in television that concerns archaeological practices in order to ask how gesture operates in this televisual subgenre to invite new ways of thinking about the human and other-than-human. Focusing on archaeology on television, I consider entangled gestures as intra-acting, material-discursive boundary-making practices that congeal and fix what we come to know as discrete, bounded bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inclusion of the topic 'Ancient Australia' in the new Australian Curriculum is causing teachers to rethink the way they teach history in schools. Year 7 students are now required to understand that Australian 'history' began with the arrival of the First Australians around 50,000 years ago, not with the arrival of the British First Fleet in 1788. Consequently, a number of epistemological, historiographical, and ethical challenges have emerged. In this paper I discuss the implications of this reconceptualization of Australian history in the curriculum and explore ways in which archaeology can address the 'difficult' history of the First Australians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing models of coastal occupation, in one form or another, embrace the assumption that changes in mean sea level were the prime driver for shifts in coastal resource productivity of consequence to coastal foragers. Focusing on the North West Shelf of Australia, this paper considers the role of physical sedimentary processes in understanding both past coastal resource productivity and the archaeology of drowned coastal landscapes. From a review of up-to-date literature on sea-level related coastal formation process related to the North West Shelf, we describe the complex interplay of sea-level change and sedimentary processes in determining (i) coastal resource availability, and (ii) archaeological site preservation potential through time. We argue that human behavioral models that have been linked solely to changes in sea level change from ca. 45 ka onward along the Australia continental shelf have inadequately accounted for local sedimentary regimes. It is not past sea-level per se, which is of relevance to coastal productivity and human behavioral ecology models but changes in tidal regimes, coastal configurations and sedimentation. We conclude that our understanding of maritime adaptations for Sahul (Greater Australia) remain incomplete without investigating former coastlines and archaeological information that now lies submerged offshore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the first season of work on the Barrow Island Archaeology Project. It contextualises new findings within a review of what is now known of the archaeology of the Carnarvon bioregion. A reliance on coastal resources for over 42,000 years is indicated from excavations and open sites from Cape Range, the Montebello Islands, the Onslow coastline and Barrow Island. The continuous use of marine resources, blended with largely arid zone terrestrial assemblages, from 17,000 cal. BP until the modern era, attests to a deep chronology for hybrid maritime desert societies in the Australian northwest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographical variation in backed artefact size and morphology has long been recognised in Australia. This paper evaluates a novel measure of symmetry that can quantify regional and continental-scale geographic patterns in backed artefact forms. The result indicates that we can construct new depictions of regional differences in Australian backed artefacts, and that evolutionary explorations of those differences are worthwhile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces a series of articles on cross-cultural archaeology in Australia.

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys offer several advantages for non-invasively assessing stratigraphy in archaeological rockshelters, including providing information about subsurface stratigraphy and the location of features such as roof fall and bedrock. Challenges to understanding the record of human impact and site formation processes in Australian rockshelter deposits include where to position archaeological excavations, how best to determine the onset of human occupation within sequences beyond the presence of stone artefacts (which can be limited at depth owing to sampling issues) and how to resolve issues relating to stratigraphic associations. This paper demonstrates how GPR can be used to gain a better understanding of buried deposits in a Pleistocene-aged rockshelter. When compared with results from sediment magnetic susceptibility studies, GPR verified the major stratigraphic units identified at the site, the depth of bedrock and the presence of roof fall, but it also provided information on the sediment volume within the stratigraphic units. This is a unique outcome for exploring rockshelter deposits and geophysical signatures overall, aiding in the interpretation of complex site sediments and offering a useful tool for future site investigations. Abbreviations: GPR: ground-penetrating radar; GS1: Gledswood Shelter 1; SU: stratigraphic unit; LOI: loss on ignition; MHz: mega hertz; ns: nanosecond; GSSI: Geophysical Survey Systems Inc.; Hz: hertz; P: phosphorus; Xfd: frequency dependence; PSA: particle size analysis; Tc: Curie temperature; YR: yellow red [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the recent discovery of a flaked Australian tektite (australite) artefact at Calperum Station in the western central River Murray region, South Australia. Reports of provenanced and well-contextualised australite artefacts in Australia are rare and the find reported here is the first known example on the station and its surrounds. As such, this flaked australite allows us to enhance our understanding of the distribution, size, manufacture and use of this natural glass by Aboriginal people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When archaeologists Rhys Jones, Jim Allen and others undertook archaeological investigations in the newly proclaimed World Heritage Area in southwest Tasmania following the Franklin River Dam campaign, they were accompanied by a film-maker from the then Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS). A short archaeological report published within the same year gives a linear account of these investigations. The film footage—which lay unedited and unseen at the now Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) for decades following these investigations—tells a more nuanced story. Drawing upon Bruno Latour's Actor-Network Theory, this paper considers how film footage provides a unique opportunity to move beyond the available accounts in order to describe ethnographically the various actors that comprise and influence archaeological practice. In doing so, this article argues that analysis of film can provide insights into the reality of archaeological investigations often obscured within written accounts. More than that, however, film also provides an opportunity to revisit the people, places and practices of archaeology to produce historical accounts of archaeological practice that are as colourful as the characters that produced it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of Aboriginal peoples' relationships to stone artefacts has changed since the 1960s in southeast Australia—now recognisably more social, spiritual, and immediate than temporally distant, historical, or technological. Drawing from published accounts and on personal experience, I suggest that this change, while not universal, is directly linked to compliance or developer-funded archaeology as a dominant mode of archaeological investigation and Indigenous engagement. Archaeological surveys and excavations have enabled Aboriginal individuals and groups to return to parts of Country not visited for one or more generations and thereby they have been able to renegotiate the contemporary meanings of and emotional responses to stone artefacts found there. Such remaking of meanings is being done in ways that contrast with the dominant and disenfranchising Western scientific values typically ascribed to cultural objects by archaeologists and government cultural heritage laws and regulations. In this paper, I explore the opportunities and challenges faced by those concerned with more-than-scientific meanings of stone artefacts. More generally, and based on the evidence presented here, I argue that Indigenous ontologies of care now stand in opposition to state sanctioned ontologies of harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aboriginal people have lived in Australia, continuously, for tens of thousands of years. Over that time, they developed complex knowledge systems that were committed to memory and passed to successive generations through oral tradition. The length of time oral traditions can be passed down while maintaining vitality is a topic of ongoing debate in the social sciences. In recent years, scientists have weighed into the debate by studying traditions that describe natural events, such as volcanic eruptions and meteorite impacts, which can be dated using scientific techniques. Here, we bring together a trans-disciplinary team of scholars to apply this approach to Tasmanian Aboriginal (palawa) oral traditions that were recorded in the early nineteenth century. These traditions describe the flooding of the Bassian Land Bridge connecting Tasmania to mainland Australia and the presence of a culturally significant "Great South Star", identified as Canopus (α Carinae). Utilising bathymetric and topographic data of the land and sea floor in the Bass Strait, we estimate the Bassian Land Bridge was finally submerged approximately 12,000 years ago. We then calculate the declination of the star Canopus over the last precessional cycle (26,000 years) to show that it was at a far southerly declination (δ < −75°) between 16,300 and 11,800 years ago, reaching its minimum declination approximately 14,000 years ago. These lines of evidence provide a terminus ante quem of the Tasmanian traditions to the end of the Late Pleistocene. This paper supports arguments that the longevity of orality can exceed ten millennia, providing critical information essential to the further development of theoretical frameworks regarding the archaeology of orality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]