The Pattern and Timing of Prehistoric Settlement in Central Australia

Abstract

The focus of this thesis has been upon the question of the age and timing of human settlement in the arid zone, upon changes in prehistoric landuse, and upon establishing the antiquity of the distinctive seedgathering economies of the region. I have been seeking to document the early foundations of desert societies, to document the transformations that have taken place and to understand the processes underlying these changes. I have shown that on existing archaeological evidence seed-grinding implements have an antiquity of no more than 3000-4000 years BP. In a series of excavations in Central Australia I have documented major changes in landuse. I have also been able to demonstrate that the central part of the arid tone was penetrated by human groups before 20,000 years BP. I have interpreted the pattern and timing of settlement, the discontinuities in occupation of the region and the technological innovations as exemplifying the cultural and technological responses of a human population to a fluctuating environment.