ON THE EDGE OF THE SIMPSON: Recent additions to understanding of prehistoric artefact distributions in arid Australia

Abstract

We must move from the traditional model of archaeological knowledge as a GruyA¨re cheese with holes in it to that of a sparse suspension of information particles of varying size, not even randomly distributed in archaeological space and time. The first thing we may deduce from this revision is that many of our taxonomic entity divisions are defined by lines drawn through gaps in the evidence and zones of greatest ignorance ... [Clarke 1973:10]. David Clarke was referring, generally, to the archaeology of regions where the 'cowboy' phase of archaeology is long over, and substantial research and synthesis have already been undertaken. The history of Australian archaeological research suggests that this stage has not yet been reached here, and that many of the general syntheses are premature and serve only to establish our areas of ignorance. Two recent discussions illustrate this. In one case (Hiscock and Hughes 1980) the distribution of backed blades and geometric microliths can be seen to have been defined prematurely, and in the other (Morwood 1979:63-64), Juan knives seem to have been more widely distributed than was previously suspected (see also Horsfall 1982). In this paper I will discuss new finds of geometrics and backed blades and of a Juan knife, and make further comments on distribution studies in Australia.