Habitation and land use patterns in the Upper Mangrove Creek catchment, New South Wales central coast, Australia

Abstract

Explanations for dramatic late Holocene changes in numbers of habitation sites and artefacts in Australia include changes in demography, technology, subsistence strategies, risk minimisation strategies, levels of mobility and land use patterns. Archaeological fieldwork in the Upper Mangrove Creek catchment, New South Wales central coast hinterland, revealed evidence of increasing numbers of habitation sites over the past 11,000 years, with dramatic increases in the 2nd and 1st millennia BP. However, the timing and direction of changes in artefact accumulation rates in individual habitations and the catchment as a whole did not coincide with trends in the habitation sites. Dramatic increases occurred in the 3rd millennium BP and substantial decreases in the 1st millennium BP. This paper explores ways of interpreting the late Holocene trends in the habitation indices for the Upper Mangrove Creek catchment in terms of changing habitation, mobility and land use patterns.