Uncertain supplies: water availability and regional archaeological structure in the Palmer River catchment, central Australia

Abstract

AbstractThis paper describes a seemingly paradoxical situation in a specific region of the Australian arid zone where indigenous archaeological material is more densely concentrated in areas away from, rather than near, the most permanent waters. In the Palmer River catchment, sites near certain ephemeral waters are argued to have functioned as regional centres while the role of permanent waters is seen to be secondary, particularly in respect of strategies of social interaction and ceremonial performance. Large aggregations at permanent waters were probably the exception rather than the rule and the general trend was toward a reduction in group size with resource scarcity. The use of ephemeral resources for regional interaction provided a means to distribute temporary surplus across a wider population while increasing certainty that essential resources would remain accessible from permanent waters in periods of low rainfall. These features, which were part of the settlement pattern from the mid to late Holocene, were not evident in the archaeological record from the late Pleistocene. The implications of the results for models held to account for settlement patterns in arid regions are addressed.