Shell mounds as the basis for understanding human-environment interactions in far north Queensland, Australia

J S Shiner,C Beresford,B Larsen,P C Fanning,E Hoffman,S J Holdaway,F Petchey

doi:10.25120/qar.16.2013.224

Abstract

<p>The Weipa shell mounds have a long history of archaeological research that has made a significant contribution to our understanding of the emergence of late Holocene coastal economies in northern Australia. However, much of this work has focused on broad comparisons of mounds between multiple locations rather than detailed studies of multiple mounds from single locations. This level of analysis is required to understand the record of both human occupation and environmental change and how these have given rise to the form of archaeological record visible in the present. In this paper we describe the results of a recent pilot study of four <em>Anadara granosa</em>-dominated shell mounds at Wathayn Outstation near Weipa in far north Queensland. We adopt a formational approach that investigates variability in shape, size, orientation, stratigraphy, shell fragmentation and diversity and mound chronology, as well as dating of the surfaces upon which the mounds have been constructed. Results indicate multiple periods of shell accumulation in each mound, separated by hiatuses. The mounds are the end product of a complex mix of processes that include how often and how intensively mounds were used and reused, together with the nature of the shell populations that people exploited and the post-depositional environmental changes that have occurred over the centuries the mounds have existed.</p>

Highlights

Adaptation to climate change is nothing new for Aboriginal Australian people, having occupied the continent for more than 40,000 years
Shellfish as a source of food; changes in ecological conditions over time inferred from species analysis; changes in the position of coastlines inferred from shell mound locations; cultural history inferred from the contents of shell mounds, such as artefacts; and the depositional and post-depositional processes that led to the formation of mounds
We report on the preliminary study of four of the shell mounds at Wathayn, concentrating on three aspects that provide an indication of how the mounds have changed through time: the shape, size and aspect of the mounds, the composition of the mounds, and the history of mound formation

Summary

Introduction

Adaptation to climate change is nothing new for Aboriginal Australian people, having occupied the continent for more than 40,000 years This longterm survival was only achieved by people locally responding in a variety of ways to shifts in environmental conditions. Understanding the nature of these responses provides one way of framing the Aboriginal history of habitation of local areas, as well as of the continent This issue is topical given contemporary concerns with how modern human populations might respond, and adapt, to climate change. To develop such a history requires detailed, integrated study of both the record of human occupation and the history of environmental change on local and regional scales and how both have given rise to the form of archaeological record that we see today. At Weipa seasonal contrasts are marked by effectively arid conditions (i.e. hot and dry) from May to November, followed by plentiful rainfall from December to April

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion