Reinterpreting the 1969–1972 Willandra Lakes archaeological surveys

Abstract

AbstractThe surveys of the Willandra Lakes sites between 1969 and 1972 were the first to attempt the study of open sites on an archaeological landscape rather rockshelters. Gaps in the evidence were filled using ethnographic data based on observations of 19th century Bagundji life. The conclusions drawn regarding the continuity of Aboriginal subsistence and the development of intensive wild cereal gathering were robust and have played a part in archaeological debates since. This article seeks to reexamine the data from the 1969–72 surveys, to test the original conclusions drawn from them and, finally, to determine the role the Willandra Lakes sites might continue to play in Pleistocene studies. The information from the Willandra Lakes sites is limited to the Pleistocene. When the original conclusions are discarded, the data support more recent conclusions derived from a wider sample of sites in the Darling River region by Hope and Balme.