Daryl Wesley

Building on recent reassessments of tula adze technology, particularly Maloney and Dilkes-Hall’s (2020) nuanced study of the southern Kimberley, this paper examines how tulas have been used in Aust...

This paper presents results from the first collaborative anthracological (archaeological wood charcoal analysis) study in northern Australia’s southwest Gulf of Carpentaria region. The analysis focused on charcoal from a Late Holocene combustion feature and surrounding dispersed charcoal on a buried floor surface. The results suggest that the combustion feature likely functioned as a ground oven associated with a potential specific function, with the majority of fuel wood coming from wakuwaku/marnunggurrun (Callitris columellaris or White Cypress Pine) and Myrtaceae species. These species are found in low woodlands associated with hilly and freshwater springs settings, and their abundance and dispersal are influenced by fire regimes (e.g., Aboriginal fire regimes). Information provided by members of the Marra Aboriginal community about our findings focused on the social and cultural significance of wakuwaku/marnunggurrun, with particular emphasis around its role in past and present wood collection strategies (fire-making and transport, high value timber etc.). By exploring how anthracology and cultural knowledge intersect to generate new understandings about the relational qualities of wood (charcoal), we aim to highlight how collaborative archaeobotany can help reorient research questions in the discipline, providing an opportunity to make such specialised analyses meaningful to communities.

Depictions of mythical beings appear in many different forms of art world-wide, including rock art of various ages. In this paper we explore a particular type of imagery, back-to-back figures, consisting of two human-like figures or animals of the same species next to each other and facing in opposite directions. Some human-like doubles were joined at the back rather than side-by-side, but also face opposite directions. In this paper, we report on new research on rock art, bark paintings and recent paintings on paper and chart a 9000-year history of making aesthetically, symbolically and spiritually powerful back-to-back figures in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia.

Studies of introduced subject matter in rock-art assemblages typically focus on themes of cross-cultural interaction, change and continuity, power and resistance. However, the economic frameworks guiding or shaping the production of an assemblage have often been overlooked. In this paper we use a case study involving a recently recorded assemblage of introduced subject matter from Marra Country in northern Australia's southwest Gulf of Carpentaria region to explore their production using a hybrid economy framework. This framework attempts to understand the nature of the forces that shape people's engagement with country and subsequently how it is being symbolically marked as adjustments to country occur through colonization. We argue that embedding these motifs into a hybrid economy context anchored in the pastoral industry allows for a more nuanced approach to cross-cultural interaction studies and adds another layer to the story of Aboriginal place-marking in colonial contexts. This paper aims to go beyond simply identifying motifs thought to represent introduced subject matter, and the cross-cultural framework(s) guiding their interpretation, and instead to direct attention to the complex network of relations that potentially underpin the production of such motifs.

In this article we present the results of a morphological analysis of four mostly complete non-returning boomerangs and one shaped wooden fragment recovered in 2017 and 2018 from Cooper Creek near Innamincka in South Australia’s far northeast. This archaeological collection forms one of only six known/published wooden artefact assemblages in the country. We also detail the results of the direct accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS ¹⁴C) measurement of the artefacts which range from circa 275–175 BP (1650–1830 cal AD, median ages reported). Given that the age estimates obtained for the artefacts are from the recent period, we have complemented the morphological analysis by interpreting the assemblage within the context of ethnohistorical records and Traditional Owner knowledge. The assemblage reveals a variety of forms and functions representative of the diverse cultural activities and daily lives of the Aboriginal people who lived near significant waterholes in the Cooper Creek region during this period. The boomerangs also preserve manufacture and use-wear traces, providing insights into the life histories of each implement. In addition to their likely use as projectiles, our results indicate that the boomerangs were probably used for fighting, hunting, digging, fire management and possibly in ceremonies. Predictions for climate change in the region threaten to alter the conditions that allowed the preservation of these artefacts which may negatively affect the potential survival of other wooden objects that remain in the environment.

Regional-scale assessments have proven to be invaluable frameworks for research, public engagement and management of submerged archaeological landscapes. Regional-scale approaches have been implemented internationally through a variety of academic or strategic studies. Such studies represent a much-needed next step towards subregional and site-level prospection to support management, engagement and mitigation of the impacts of offshore development. However, these regional studies are largely absent in Australia. In this article, we build on the recent discovery of submerged archaeological sites in Western Australia and produce a novel regional-scale assessment of submerged archaeological and cultural landscape potential in the coastal and island regions of the Northern Territory. This area is of special significance in the peopling of Australia, containing some of the oldest dated archaeological evidence. We collate and synthesise regional data related to sea-level change, ethnography (e.g. oral traditions), geomorphology, and archaeology, also taking account of logistics and existing data availability to identify prospective areas for further study. We highlight the need for a coordinated national program of regional baseline studies to address a legacy of under-representation of submerged landscapes and provide vital baseline data for a wide spectrum of stakeholders, including researchers, policy makers, environmental and heritage managers, developers and Traditional Owners.

The contact period rock art of northern Australia provides unprecedented insights into Aboriginal cross-cultural experiences during the last few hundred years. Northwest Arnhem Land, Australia, has an extensive rock art assemblage and a complicated history of interactions between Aboriginal communities and island South East Asians (Macassans), colonists, explorers, missionaries, buffalo shooters, and more. This contact period rock art offers a unique opportunity to explore a variety of questions relating to cross-cultural interactions and artistic responses to new people, objects and ideas. In this paper we argue that a dichotomy exists in the number of European and south-east Asian themed rock art motifs. We suggest that there is an underlying theme in the proliferation of European related imagery relating to threats to Indigenous sovereignty. Our findings suggest that rock art illustrates the Aboriginal community’s responses to both groups and their experience of the existential threat posed by European intruders. The apparent lack of rock art relating to south-east Asian interactions, although perplexing, may in fact provide circumstantial evidence for a very different type of interaction between some northern Australian and south-east Asian communities.

The late R. Lamilami1 had a rich and remarkable life, engaging in many activities and career paths to benefit his community, including working for the Northern Land Council, Kakadu Health Services ...