Test-pitting and the detection of sub-surface sites: an example from Lake George, NSW

Abstract

Test-pitting is regularly conducted in NSW to investigate the presence, nature and extent of an archaeological deposit and consequently whether a proposed development activity has the potential to harm Aboriginal artefacts. The conditions for undertaking test excavation are specified in The Code of Practice for Archaeological Investigation of Aboriginal Objects in NSW (the Code). The Code limits test excavation in terms of test excavation unit spacing, size and extent in order to avoid or minimise the risk of harm to the objects under investigation. This paper argues that the focus on limiting the scope of test-pitting sits in conflict with its very purpose: to characterise the nature and extent of sub-surface objects. The evidence for this argument comes from archaeological work conducted at Lake George, NSW, as part of the author’s PhD research. Here a limited test-pitting program was employed and several of the test-pitted sites were subsequently excavated. A comparison of the characterisation of the sites from the test-pitting results, with the wider view afforded by the excavation data, demonstrates that limited test-pitting data can regularly under-report artefact densities and concentration frequencies. The inability to easily rely on limited test-pitting data for an accurate description of the density and distribution of artefacts has important implications for the subsequent assessment of potential harm that a proposed development activity may have on buried Aboriginal artefacts.