Consultancy and thesis - what 'S the drflerence?
recording of large numbers of Aboriginal sites and some E m Flood, J.M. 1980 The Moth Hunters: Aboriginal Prehistory of the
Australian
-.
Alps. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal
pean sites, including another lime burning kiln. However,
Studies.
neither area exhibited the same density of sites that was recorded
Flood, J., David, B., Magee, J. and English, B. 1987 Birrigai: A
at Jumping Creek, and none of the sites in the adjacent areas
Pleistocene site in the southeastern highlands. Archaeology
contained large numbers of densely distributed artefacts.
in Oceania 22:9-26.
Creek sites remains
The future of the
Hiscock, P. 1984 Raw material rationing as an explanation of
despite the legislative protection afforded to them by the
assemblage differences: A case study of Lawn Hill, Northwest
Nationai Parh and Wildlife Act, 1974. It is clear that fixher
~ u e e n s l k d .In G.K. Ward (ed.), Archaeology at ANZAAS:
Canberra. Canberra: Canberra Archaeological Society.
archaeological work is required in the valley, not only to investigate the subsurface deposits at JC 15, but to develop a Kinhill Engineers 1989 Jumping Creek environmental study: Drafi
final report. Unpublished report to Queanbeyan City Council.
management plan which will allow the preservation of at least
Queanbeyan.
a representative sample of sites within this regionally important
Kuskie, P.J. 1989 Changing land use patterns from prehistoric to
site complex.
modem times at Jumping Creek Val!ey, Queanbeyan, New
South Wales. Unpublished BA(Hons) thesis, Department of
Acknowledgements
Prehistory and Anthropology, The Faculties, The Australian
This paper was originally presented to the New South Wales
National University, Canberra.
National Parks and Wildlife Service workshop, Aboriginal
Lewis, D. 1984 Jerrabombema Park development, Queanbeyan:
sites on the W h e m Tablelands: Their signficance and manArchaeological sites survey. Unpublished report to David
agement, which was held at The Australian National UniverHogg Pty Ltd, Canberra.
sity, Canberra on 22-23 November 1989. We wish to thank McGowan, B. 1992 Lost mines of the Canberra District Part 111.
the workshop organiser, Sue Feary, for the opportunity to present
Canberra Historical Journal 30% - 38.
the paper and for her comments on the present version. We Navin, K. and Officer, K. 1990 Archa~ologicalsurvey of Gale
Precinct, Queanbeyan, NSW. Unpublished report to David
also thank the other workshop participants for comments made
Hogg Pty Ltd for Queanbeyan City Council, Queanbeyan.
during the presentation.
References
Boot, P. and Heffeman, K. 1989 A preliminary archaeological
survey of Jumping Creek, Queanbeyan, NSW. Unpublished
report to Kinhill Engineers, Canberra.
Byme, D. 1980 Dynamics of dispersion: The place of silcrete in
archaeological assemblages h m the Lower Murchison, Western
Australia Archaeology and Physical Anthopology in Oceania
15:llO-19.
English, W.B. 1985 Where the Molonglo Runs. Unpublished BA
(Hons) thesis, Department of Prehistory and Anthropology, The
Faculties, The Australian National University, Canberra.
Pearson, M. 1981 Seen through different eyes: Changing land use
and settlement patterns in the Upper Macquarie River region
of New South Wales, from prehistoric times to 1860. Vol. 1.
Unpublished PhD thesis, The Australian National University, Canberra.
Smith, M. 1975 Googong Dam field survey. Unpublished report
to the Commonwealth Department of Housing and Construction, Canberra.
Winston-Gregson, J. 1989 Archaeological survey, Portion 5 1,
Queanbeyan, New South Wales. In Scott and Furphy Pty
Ltd. Environmental Investigation Portion 5 1 . Unpublished
report to Queanbeyan City Council, Queanbeyan.
Review of Devil's Lair artefact classification and radiocarbon chronology
C.E. ~ o r t c h and
'
Joe ~ o r t c h ~
The radiometric chronology of the Devil's Lair cave deposit
in southwestern Australia, excavated during the 1970s by a
Western Australian Museum team, is currently being assessed
through luminescence and AMS 'C dating. Also undenvay
is a long overdue inventory of this site's stone and bone artefact
assemblages. Our purpose here is to revise some previously
published archaeological classifications of Devil's Lair artefacts, and to confirm human occupation of the cave as early as
ca. 3 1,000yr BP, as implied by conventional radiocarbon dates
obtained twenty years ago.
l
2
Anthropology Department, Western Australian Museum, Francis
Street, Perth, WA 6000, Australia.
Centre for Archaeology, University o f Western Australia, Nedlands,
WA 6907, Australia.
Artefact review
In the 1970s, one of us (CED) asserted the use of hafted
stone tools by late Pleistocene groups at Devil's Lair (Dortch
and Merrilees 1973:107, 1 13; Dortch 1974:202, 205, 1979a:
269). The case for hafting was mainly based on the presence
in the excavated assemblage of several, small 'adze-like scrapers'
made of chert, and one of quartz. The label 'adze-like' was
based on the scrapers' small size, and on their steeply retouched
working edges, in some instances showing undercutting and
crushing similar to that seen on the working edges of tula
adze slugs. In addition, dark-brown or glossy black material
present as accretions on the surfaces of some of these artefacts,
and on a limestone fragment thought to be an artefact, was
also suggested to be plant resin used as hafting cement. This
Australian Archaeology, Number 43, 1996
Dortch and Dorrch
inference was strengthened by the results of infra-red spectroscopic analysis showing that these accretions were organic
and had similarities with grass tree (Xanthorrhoea sp.) resin,
which in historic times was used as hafting cement by Aborigines in southwestern Australia (Dortch and Merrilees 1973:
107; van Bronswijk n.d.). During the 1%OS, gas-liquid chromatography tests (Smith n.d.) on these accretions confmed
that they were organic and possibly aromatic, though the
tested samples did not include a key chemical constituent
of Xanthorrhoea sp. resin. About this time, the likelihood of
this organic material being hafting cement came under considerable doubt when scrutiny of cave sediments from the
Devil's Lair excavations confmed that accretions of darkcoloured material superficially similar to the analysed samples
were frequently present on sundry bones and lumps of limestone from many different parts of the deposit. From this it
was concluded that the accretions on the surfaces of stone
tools were likely to have been deposited naturally (Dortch
l984:Q).
A recent analysis of use-wear and residues on the working edges and other surfaces carried out on a sample of 3 1
Devil's Lair artefacts, including five of the 'adze-like' chert
scrapers noted above, revealed no evidence for adze-usage or
woodworking of any kind (David 1993). Though not underestimating the value of this analysis, we do query minor points
in it that are relevant to the question of adze use at Devil's
Lair. Firstly, David identified on the working edges of several
chert scrapers usewear attributes (hinge, retroflexed hinge
and step termination fractures: 1993: Table 20) that later in
the monograph (1993: 1 18) she implies as being associated
with woodworking. In the same passage, she quotes an earlier
researcher's statement that throws doubt on the possibility
of identifying use-wear on the working edges of stone tools
used in some kinds of woodworking, 'stone tools used to work
hard woods ... showed little trace of any distinctive or diagnostic micro-edge wear' (Hayden 1977:187). Is this comment
also applicable to the Devil's Lair 'adze-like scrapers'? Lastly,
although David shows that identification of prehistoric stone
tool function involves a sequence of essential procedures, she
does not present in sufficient detail use-wear and residue
analyses of stone flakes she had made and used experimentally herself, particularly in adzing wood, and thus does not
make effective use of this key aspect of stone tool hnctional
WA Museum
reg. no.
A17558a
Previous interpretation
assessment in her study of the Devil's Lair material (David
1993:77-9, 1 17-20).
Pending further amplification of the above functional
analysis, or the initiation of others, we can only a m that the
case for hafted stone adzes at Devil's Lair continues to rest
solely on the very small size, form and working edge morphology of a half-dozen chert scrapers (Dortch 198452; cf.
Huchet 1991:7, 10). Evidence for the use at Devil's Lair of
hafted stone tools other than adzes we now regard as even
more inconclusive, since here again it is based on the very
small sizes of about 20 of the retouched or 'utilised' chert
pieces. One of the former, somewhat resembling a microlith
because of 'backing' created by unipolar abrupt retouch, is a
tool that once seemed to provide strong evidence for hafiing.
It is now apparent that this tool could have been either hafted
as a barb on a spear or other composite tool, or finger-held as
a knife. Chipping on the unretouched sharp edge could result
from either function (cf. Dortch and Merrilees 1973:107,
Fig. 6.2; Dortch 1979a:269, Fig. 6.4; Dortch and McArthur
l985:86).
In Australia, assumptions of hafting for stone tools found
in an archaeological context are well warranted for edge-ground
hatchets and adze slugs, and nearly as much so for invasively
flaked spearheads and the smaller-sized of geometric microliths and Bondi points, yet hardly sustainable for most other
types of tools, with small, heavily used scrapers from Devil's
Lair and numerous other continental sites being arguably the
most notable exception. Even tool morphology is not always
a reliable indicator of hafting, since the largest-sized geometric
microliths and asymmetric backed (Bondi) points could have
been hafted or finger-held, depending on their use.
Presented in Table 1 are erroneously classified stone and
bone artefacts published by one of us (CED) in the 1970s.
All of these artefacts are from the upper third of the Devil's
Lair cave deposit, radiocarbon dated ca. 12-ca. 2 1,000 years
old (i.e. in stratigraphically descending order the alphabetically labelled layers M-Z [Fig. l ] Dortch l984:4 1, Table 2).
Denoted with asterisks are two specimens that supported the
original contention of tool-hafting at Devil's Lair. Not tabulated or discussed here are a variety of stone and bone artefacts
and other specimens whose classifications are under review.
Among these are several of the 20 stone and bone specimens
identified as artefacts in layers 30-38. These are the oldest,
Reference
Dihedral burin (Eocene fossiliferous
chert)
Dortch and Merrilees 1971:109, Fig. 6
'Non-tula' adze; 'adze-like scraper'
(Eocenefossiliferous chert)
Apparent limestone flake with organic
material similar to plant resin adhering;
a hafted tool
Dortch 1974:202, Fig. 5.2; 1979a: 269,
Fig. 6.6; 198455 (Fig. 6)
Dortch and Merrilees 1973:107, Fig. 7.4,
PI. Ill A. Cf. Huchet 1991:7,10
A22028
Artificially perforated bone splinter;
apparently a bodkin or pendant
B1572
Tooth artefact (macropod lower incisor)
Dortch and Merrilees 1973:106-107,
Fig. 9.5, 109-110; Dortch 1979c:42;
Fig. 2g; 198465
Dortch and Merrilees 1973:110, Fig. 9.3
B1841a'
B1576'
Table 1
Present interpretation
Not a burin. Flake produced by bipolar
percussion with bilateral fracturing at
smaller end
Adze or scraper, retouched and used
prior to being broken
Not an artefact. Organic (resinous?)
material adhering to one end
Artefact? Bone splinter perhaps
naturally perforated
Not an artefact. Uniformly polished
macropod lower incisor
Stone and bone artefacts and other specimens from Devil's Lair erroneously classified in previous publications.
Australian Archaeology, Number 43, 1996
29
Review of Devil's Lair artefact classification and radiocarbon chronology
Trench B
Figure l
South sections of Trenches 9,82,and 9, with trench plan inset (after Dortch 1979~).
stratigraphically lowermost artefacts from Devil's Lair, and
have been published with a mean pooled radiocarbon age of
ca 33,OOO yr BP (Fig. 1; Dortch 1979b; Glover 1979). Under
specialist review are two engraved or incised limestone plaques
(WA Museum registration numbers B365 1 and B3652), one
of which was originally interpreted as having a dominant shape
engraved intentionally, and the other, a larger piece, featuring
several marks thought to have been produced intentionally
(Dortch l976:35-4 1;cf. Bednarik 1994:33).
Beneath layer 18 is a 40 cm-thick zone of well-demarcated,
mainly undisturbed sand lenses overlying hearth in layer 28
and Porter's hearth, which are part of a hearth complex providing the stratigraphically lowermost evidence for human occupation in the known part of the cave deposit. Review of field
notebooks, trench sections and colour slides shows that these
two hearths are among four closely adjacent hearth lenses:
hearth in layer 27 and hearth in layer 30, upper are the two
much smaller hearths in this complex. We propose to name
these four features hearth complex in layers 27-30, upper.
Conventional radiocarbon age for the oldest
The second key date is from Porter's hearth, located at
human occupation at Devil's Lair
the interface between layers 28 and 29, and is not, as earlier
Two key radiocarbon dates obtained during the 1970s stated (Dortch 1984:46), dug into the upper part of layer 30.
from two hearths in the lower part of the Devil's Lair archae- This date, GX 7255: 30,590 +2220/-1420 yr BP, agrees with
ological sequence suggest that the cave interior was first occu- a date for the lower part of layer 30: SUA 585: 32,480f
pied as early as ca. 3 1,000 yr BP (Table 2). One of these 1250 yr BP. Comparing dates SUA 457 and GX 7255 (following
dates, SUA 457, based on charcoal collected in situ in the the method of Ward and Wilson 1978), we cannot reject the
small, undisturbed hearth in layer 18 (Fig. 2), is one of the null hypothesis that these dates are the same (where P [Ho]
most stratigraphically reliable of the 30 conventional radio- <0.05), suggesting that layers 28 to 18 could have aggraded
carbon dates from the cave. Twenty-four stone artefacts, all rapidly. If that were the case, then the age of this rapid
but one made of quartz, were recovered from layer 18, includ- depositional event is best obtained by the 'mean pooled age'
ing ones from this hearth, which was excavated in its entirety of SUA 457 and GX 7255, which is 3 1,100f 1 160 yr BP.
by J. Balme and J.K. Porter during the 1975 excavation season However, given the wide standard errors on these dates, and
(Table 3).
their stratigraphic positions, SUA 457 could be as young as
Australian Archaeology. Number 43, 1996
Dortch and Dortch
--
P-
1.
2.
3.
4.
Layer and Fig. 2
reference number
Hearth in layer 18
Hearth in layer 28
Hearth in layer 28
Porter's hearth
Depth in cm below
cave datum
Radiocarbon date (yr BP)
Laboratory code
87, 9
293-302
31,4OOi1500
SUA 457
SUA 31
SUA 539
ca. 340
ca. 340
ca. 353
5. Layer 30, lower
Table 2
Trench
SUA 585
ca.350
2,82,9S
Devil's Lair radiocarbon dates discussed in the text, in stratigraphicalorder. All dates based on charcoal.
.
Trench 8, East Face
t
GX 7255
_ _ - - - - - - - - -_- _ _- - - - - _ _
-
Trench 8, South Face
section continues i \
-
-
deplh In cm
below caw datum
Layers
16 and 17
18
19
Hearth in 18
21 to 24 upper
4 +
S +
30 lower
DEVIL'S LAIR
TRENCH 8 7
EAST AND SOUTH FACES
Figure 2
1
L
50
I
I
I
I
I
cm
:
l
section continues 1
Trench 87, previously unpublished east and south sections showing stratigraphical succession, layers 18-31, and depths of numbered
radiocarbon dated charcoal samples in Table 3 (cf. Fig. 1, and complete trench sections in Balme et al. 1978; Dortch 1979a, 1979b, 1984).
Due to dipping stratigraphy, depths of samples collected from adjacent trenches do not necessarily coincide with their respective units as
shown. Porter's Hearth (Fig. 1) does not appear in these sections, and sample 4 is stratigraphically higher than sample 5.
II l 8 (incl.hearth)Layer
Quartz
Chert
Calcrete
Other
Total
126
5
2
2
135
19-28 (Tr. 2 only)
19-27 (othertrenches)
28 (incl.hearth)
Porter's Hearth
29
30, upper
Subtotal, layers 19-30, upper
I Total. lavers 18-30. u~wr
Table 3
Stone artefacts from layers 18 to 30, upper.
28,400yr BP, and GX 7255 as old as 35,030yr BP (using a
margin of two standard errors for each date), so that the deposition of layers 28 to 18 was either rapid, at ca. 31,000yr BP,
or more gradual, at some point between ca. 35,000 and ca.
28,000yr BP.
In an earlier assessment (Dortch 1984:46-7),the dates
from hearth in layer 28 were suggested to have been contaminated by much younger charcoal from a vertical feature,
Pit 2, that penetrated this hearth's west end (Fig. 1). We
affirm the rejection of both dates from hearth in layer 28,
because they are anomalously different from one another and
from the statistically identical dates, SUA 457 and GX 7255,
that bracket layer 28. The latter two dates thus provide a radioAustralian Archaeology, Number 43, 1996
carbon age for the hearth complex in layers 27-30, upper, that
is provisionally acceptable until new dates are obtained. The
case for the earliest occupation of Devil's Lair at 3 1,100fl 160
(k2320,at two standard errors) yr BP is sustained by the
record of 1 1 1 stone artefacts - of which 103 are quartz pieces
- recovered from the twelve sand lenses and the four hearth
lenses present between the top of layer 19 and the base of
layer 30,upper.
Acknowledgements
We thank Peter Bindon, Richard Gould, Mance Lofgren,
Mike Smith and Min Smith for advice, and Jane Balme and
David Bulbeck for reading the manuscript.
Review of Devil's Lair artefact class~ficationand radiocarbon chronology
References
Balme. J., Merrilees, D. and Porter, J.K. 1978 Late Quaternary
mammal remains, spanning about 30,000 years. from excavations in Devil's Lair, Western Australia. Journal of the Royal
Society of Western Australia 61 :33-65.
Bednarik, R.G. 1994 The discrimination of cave markings. Rock
Art Research 1 1:23-44.
David, M.A. 1993 Postcards from the edge: An analysis of tasks
undertaken during the Late Pleistocene at Devil's Lair, southwestern Australia Unpublished M.L. dissertation. Department
of Palaeoanthropology and Archaeology, University of New
England, Armidale.
Dortch, C.E. 1974 A twelve thousand year old occupation floor
in Devil's Lair, Western Australia. Mankind 9: 195-205.
Dortch, C.E. 1976 Two engraved stone plaques of late Pleistocene
age from Devil's Lair, Western Australia. Archaeology and
Physical Anthropology in Oceania 3:33-40.
Dortch, C.E. 1979a Devil's Lair, an example of prolonged cave use
in southwestern Australia. World Archaeology 10:258-79.
Dortch, C.E. 1979b 33,000 year old stone and bone artifacts from
Devil's Lair, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 7:329-67.
Dortch, C.E. 1979c Australia's oldest known ornaments. Antiquily
53:39-43.
Dortch, C. 1984 Devil's Lair, a Study in Prehistory. Perth: W.A.
Museum.
Dortch, C.E. and McArthur, W.M. 1985 Apparent association of
bryozoan chert artefacts and quartz geometric microliths at an
open-air site, Arumvale, south-westem Australia. Australian
Archaeology 2 1:74-90.
Dortch, C.E. and Merrilees, D. 1971 A salvage excavation in
Devil's Lair, Western Australia. Journal of the Royal Sociew
of Western Australia 54: 1 03- 13.
Dortch, C.E. and Merrilees, D. 1973 Human occupation of Devil's
Lair, Western Australia, during the Pleistocene. Archaeology
and Physical Anthropology in Oceania 5:27-52.
Glover, J.E. 1979 The mineral properties and probable provenance
of a 33,000 year old opaline artifact from Devil's Lair, southwestern Australia R e c o d ofthe Western Australian Museum
7:369-74.
Hayden, B. 1977 Stone tool functions in the Western Desert. In
R.V.S. Wright (d.)
Stone Tools as Cultural Markrs, pp. 1 7888. Canberra: Australian Institute of -4boriginal Studies.
Huchet, M.J. 1991 The nature of analogies in Australian archaeology. The Artefact 14:3-12.
Smith, D.R. n.d. Examination of resiilous substarms adhering to
stone and bone artifacts from Devil's Lair, Western Australia.
Unpublished report, Department of Chemistry. Western Australian Institute of Technology, Bentley.
van Bronswijk, W. n.d. Final report on investigation of ethnographic material. Unpublished report, W,4IT-AID Ltd. Ref.
7208 100. Department of Chemisq. Western Australian Institute of Technology, Bentley.
Ward. G.K. and Wilson, S.R. 1978 Procedures for comparing and
combining radiocarbon age determinations:A critique. .4rchaeometry 20: 19-3 1 .
The Ngarrabullgan Homeland Project: Current research in Kuku Djungan
country, north Queensland
Bruno
1
2
32
avid'.*
(Principle author), Department of Anthropology and Sociology, The University of Queensland, Queensland 4072, Australia.
This paper is W-authored by the following Project team members. For
ease of referencing, the complete list of authors is listed in this footnote
rather than in the text. Co-authors: Mike Barbetti, NWG Macintosh
Centre, University of Sydney, NSW 2006; Rachel Bekessy, Department
of Geographical Sciences and Planning, University of Queensland, QLD
4072; Lambert Bekessy, Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, University of Queensland, QLD 4072; Bob Bultitude, Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, University of Queensland,
QLD 4072; Don Butler, Department of Botany, The University of Queensland, QLD 4072; Chris Clarkson, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, The University of Queensland, Queensland 4072; John Clarkson,
Department of Environment and Heritage, 160 Ann St., Brisbane, QLD
4000; Costa COM, Department of Chemistry, University of Technology,
Sydney, NSW 2000; Martin Dredge, 24 Ashburton St., Chapel Hill, QLD
4069; Teresa Eyre, Department of Ecosystem Management, University of
New England, Armidale, NSW 2350; Richard Fullagar, Division of
Anthropology, Australian Museum,PO Box A285, Sydney South, NSW
2000; Rosemary Goodall, Department of Chemisby, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George St., Brisbane, QLD 4000; Les Hall, Department of Anatomical Sciences, The University of Queensland, QLD 4072;
John Head, Division of Archaeology and Natural History, Research
School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University,
Canberra, ACT 0200; Quan Hua, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, PMB 1, Menai, NSW 2234; Glen Ingram, Queensland Museum, PO Box 3300, South Brisbane, QLD 4101; Rhys Jones.
Division of Archaeology and Natural History, Research School of
Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra,
ACT 0200; Ewan Lawson, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology
Organisation, PMB 1, Menai, NSW 2234; Hany Lourandos, Department
of Anthropology and Sociology, The University of Queensland, QLD
4072; Tom Loy, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, The
University of Queensland, QLD 4072; Conrad Macrokanis, Departrnent
of Anatomical Sciences, The University of Queensland. QLD 4072;
tan McNiven, Department of Classics and Archaeology, The University
of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3052; Catriona Murray, Department of
Anthropology and Sociology, The Univers~tyof Queensland, QLD 4072;
Cliff Ogleby, Department of Geomatics, The University of Melbourne,
Parkville, W C 3052; Megan Osbome, Department of History, The University of Queensland, QLD 4072; Mike Pole, Department of Botany.
The University of Queensland, QLD 4072; Bert Roberts, Division of
Archaeology and Natural History, Research School of Pacific and Asian
Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200; Martin
Schulz, Departrnent of Resource Management, Southern Cross University,
Lismore, NSW 2480; Andy Spate, Executive Officer, Australian Cave
and Karst Management Association, PO Box 452, Queanbeyan, NSW
2620; John Stanisic, Queensland Museum, PO Box 3300, South Brisbane,
QLD 4101; Glen Summerhayes, School of Archaeology, La Trobe
University, Bundoora, W C 3083; Craig Taylor, Departrnent of Resource
Management, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW 2480; Claudio
Tuniz, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, PMB 1,
Menai, NSW 2234;and Joan Whittier, Department of Anatomical Sciences,
The University of Queensland, QLD 4072.
Australian Archaeology, Number 43, 1996