The physical landscape as a social landscape: a Garawa example

Abstract

Before archaeologists can attempt to identify ‘social landscapes’ it is necessary to define, precisely, what social landscapes are, the variables and processes that structured them and if and how they are likely to be reflected in the archaeological landscape. This paper suggests that the macro‐scale social landscapes of hunter‐gatherers will articulate with subsistence‐settlement landscapes and physical landscapes as components of the cultural landscape. An example of the correspondence between landscapes is shown through the case study of a social landscape of a northern Australian Aboriginal group. The size, shape and internal characteristics of social landscapes, defined by Garawa estates, and subsistence‐settlement landscapes, defined by the distribution of historic occupation sites, are shown to correspond, spatially and temporally, with the topographic and environmental features that characterise main drainage areas. I suggest this articulation between the physical and social landscapes reflects corporate macro‐strategies, enshrined as emic models, for ensuring the simultaneous and harmonious location and operation of both symbolic and material dimensions of Garawa hunter‐gatherer life. I conclude that the material characteristics of the regional archaeological record of hunter‐gatherers will primarily reflect the articulation between the physical and subsistence‐settlement landscapes. Macro‐scale social landscapes are inherent in, and reflected by, the patterning of the subsistence‐settlement landscape.