15 - Intensification and Australian Prehistory

Abstract

Australian prehistory has traditionally been viewed as demonstrating few significant cultural changes—an assumption that has served to uphold the image of Australian Aborigines as generalized, egalitarian, and rather culturally homogeneous hunter–gatherers. Recent archeological and ethnonhistorical research, however, has challenged this picture of long-term socioeconomic and demographic stability. The traditional viewpoint has been strongly influenced by models drawn from ecological and systemic schools of thought and, in this regard, Australian prehistory has much in common with hunter–gatherer studies elsewhere. These approaches have come under strong criticism indicating, among other things, that while such models help in describing the operation of cultural processes, they prove less satisfactory in providing explanation for change. The traditional Australian paradigm, which has emphasized socioeconomic and demographic stability, has had its most influential proponents in Birdsell. The occupation of the Australian continent, including all its inhabitable environments, is depicted in this account as a rapid process. Once carrying capacity had been attained, a stabilization of population followed.