Variation in Australia's Pleistocene stone industries

Abstract

Excavations at a number of sites in Australia during recent years have allowed prehistorians to recognise two major stone working traditions: an early tradition of large tools and a late tradition of small tools. The large tools are core tools and flake scrapers; the small tools include a variety of functionally specialised forms such as points, chisel blades and microliths. The small tools gradually enriched a basic kit of maintenance tools (core tools and scrapers), the different types of small tool first appearing in the archaeological record at different times. This change was accompanied by an increasing use of exotic stone, some of which was transported for more than 100 km from its source. Another change through time occurred within the core tools and flake scrapers themselves, which slowly diminished in size and became more varied in form. There are regional variations in the core tool and scraper tradition too. One of these is the Kartan industry found at surface sites on Kangaroo Island and nearby parts of the South Australian mainland. Compared with other early industries, there is a much greater emphasis in the Kartan on heavy core tools than on flake tools. Given the general gradual diminution in size of tools through time, the Kartan is possibly an early stage in the development of the core tool and scraper tradition, most easily recognised in a part of coastal South Australia because of its isolation on Kangaroo Island. Another hint of antiquity is provided by the apparent association of Kartan core tools with large waisted tools reminiscent of the waisted blades found at early sites in New Guinea and as far afield as mainland Southeast Asia.