C Clarkson
Biographic Data
| ID | 23008 |
|---|---|
| NAME | C Clarkson |
| GIVEN NAMES | C |
| FAMILY NAME | Clarkson |
| SIGNATURE | CLARKSON C |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Queensland |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8938-8974 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 47 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1009 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 46 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1994 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 17 |
Selection and standardisation in Aboriginal exchange networks
Leilira are large stone macroblades produced by Aboriginal Australians and documented in long-distance exchange networks across northern and central Australia during the late Holocene. Ethnographic accounts describe quarrying episodes in which many blades were produced but only a small subset was retained for exchange or ceremonial circulation. Despite these observations, the technological characteristics of blades associated with exchange have r…
The Tool Systems Approach
Measuring technological complexity across species, as well as across temporal and spatial scales, is an ongoing challenge among authors who work on primatological, archaeological, and/or ethnographic questions. Researchers in these individual fields have developed a number of innovative ways of approaching this issue that reflect the specific affordances of their data with a known set of limitations. However, comparability between these approache…
Rapid minimally invasive subsurface archaeological site prospection on Roti Island, Indonesia
Controlling Levallois
Discussions of the Levallois method typically focus on the preparation of the core surface geometry as the primary factor in determining the characteristics of Levallois products. While some studies have acknowledged the role of knapping gestures, there is still limited empirical investigation into how different force application parameters influence the formation of these flakes. This study presents the results from a set of controlled experimen…
A new method for quantifying flake scar organisation on cores using orientation statistics
In stone artefact studies, researchers often rely on qualitative classifications to describe flake scar arrangements on cores. While this approach provides a broad overview of core reduction patterns, its application can be ambiguous due to the three-dimensional complexities of core geometry and the subjective nature of qualitative classifications, making it challenging to objectively compare flake scar patterning across different analytical sett…
Exploring changing occupation dynamics at the lakeside cave site Matja Kuru 2, Timor-Leste
The cave site known as Matja Kuru 2 (MK2) in Timor-Leste was first occupied ∼40 kya. Of the caves investigated thus far in Timor-Leste MK2 is unique in being located proximal to a large freshwater lake, Ira Lalaro, providing the opportunity to examine changing occupation dynamics in a lakeside environment from the Late Pleistocene through to the late Holocene. We present the analysis of the Matja Kuru 2 assemblage including the stone, ochre, shel…
Holding your shape
Filling in the Blanks
Standardization can be applied to a lithic assemblage via raw material selection, blank production, blank selection, and/or retouch. Here we explore the baseline level of morphological standardization achievable through blank production alone. By quantifying how little morphological variability is inherently involved in different blank-producing lithic technologies that span much of the Stone Age, we seek to gain a long-term perspective on the ev…
Holocene grinding stones at Madjedbebe reveal the processing of starchy plant taxa and animal tissue
An experimental assessment of the grinding characteristics of some native seeds used by Aboriginal Australians
A different paradigm for the colonisation of Sahul
Allen and O'Connell published “A different paradigm for the initial colonisation of Sahul” in the first number of Archaeology in Oceania this year (55: 1–14). We invited comments from several scholars and a riposte from the authors
The efficiency of Australian grindstones for processing seed
The identification of extinct megafauna in rock art using geometric morphometrics
Movement of lithics by trampling
Testing Archaeological Approaches to Determining Past Projectile Delivery Systems Using Ethnographic and Experimental Data
New Light on the Medieval Gough Map of Britain
Remarkably little is known about the earliest surviving separate-sheet medieval map of Britain that takes its name from its former owner, Richard Gough (1735–1809), and that has been variously dated to between 1300 and 1400, and later. It presents a sophisticated cartographical image at a time when detailed maps of individual regions were almost unknown in Europe, yet nothing is agreed about its possible origins, context (ecclesiastical or secula…
Beyond a suggestive morphology
Stone points were introduced across northern Australia during the mid-Holocene. The reasons behind this novel technological development are unclear but, given their morphology, an obvious interpretation is that they were used as spear tips. However, others have theorised that points, along with backed artefacts elsewhere, may have been multifunctional tools. This paper tests the hypothesis that lithic points were primarily spear tips by applying …
Handaxe reduction and its influence on shape
Flake scar density and handaxe reduction intensity
Estimating original flake mass on blades using 3D platform area
Determining the reduction sequence of Hawaiian quadrangular adzes using 3D approaches
Mapping stone
Measuring core reduction using 3D flake scar density
Technological provisioning and assemblage
This thesis documents systems of stone artefact provisioning, or the strategic organisation of procurement, manufacture, transport and consumption of stone artefacts, on the edge of the semi-arid zone in northern Australia, and from an evolutionary perspective. Advances in lithic studies have developed synthetic concepts, largely derived from processual and behavioural archaeology and evolutionary ecology, which help model the optimal design and …
Lithics and Landscape Archaeology
An Index of Invasiveness for the Measurement of Unifacial and Bifacial Retouch
Measuring core reduction using 3D flake scar density
Generativity, hierarchical action and recursion in the technology of the Acheulean to Middle Palaeolithic transition
Experimental evaluation of Kuhn's geometric index of reduction and the flat-flake problem
Behavioural Complexity in Eurasian Neanderthal Populations
Whether Neanderthals were capable of behaviours commonly held to be the exclusive preserve of modern humans — such as abstract thought, language, forward planning, art, reverence of the dead, complex technology, etc. — has remained a fundamental question in human evolutionary studies since their discovery more than a hundred years ago. A lack of quantitative data on Neanderthal symbolism and complex behaviour is a key obstacle to the resolution o…
Continuity and change in the lithic industries of the Jurreru Valley, India, before and after the Toba eruption
From small holes to grand narratives
Our knowledge of early Australasian societies has significantly expanded in recent decades with more than 220 Pleistocene sites reported from a range of environmental zones and depositional contexts. The uniqueness of this dataset has played an increasingly important role in global debates about the origins and expression of complex behaviour among early modern human populations. Nevertheless, discussions of Pleistocene behaviour and cultural inn…
Flake scar density and handaxe reduction intensity
Handaxe reduction and its influence on shape
The 74 ka Toba super-eruption and southern Indian hominins
Estimating original flake mass from 3D scans of platform area
Earliest Evidence for Ground-Edge Axes
Evidence for the world’s earliest stone tools dates to 3.4 million years ago and pre-dates the earliest known Homo species in eastern Africa. However ground-edged tools did not appear until the dispersal of cognitively fully modern Homo sapiens sapiens out of Africa. We report on the discovery of the earliest securely dated ground-edge implement in the world at Nawarla Gabarnmang (northern Australia). The fragment of ground-edge axe is sandwiched…
Nawarla Gabarnmang, a 45,180±910 cal BP Site in Jawoyn Country, Southwest Arnhem Land Plateau
Recent excavations at Nawarla Gabarnmang in Jawoyn country, southwest Arnhem Land have produced a long sequence of AMS radiocarbon determinations on individual pieces of charcoal reliably associated with stone artefacts dating back to 45,180±910 cal BP. It represents one of the earliest radiocarbon-dated archaeological sites in Australia. Here we report on initial results
A southern Indian Middle Palaeolithic occupation surface sealed by the 74 ka Toba eruption
Dhaba
Determining the reduction sequence of Hawaiian quadrangular adzes using 3D approaches
Movement of lithics by trampling
Quantifying flake scar patterning on cores using 3D recording techniques
Filling in the Blanks
Standardization can be applied to a lithic assemblage via raw material selection, blank production, blank selection, and/or retouch. Here we explore the baseline level of morphological standardization achievable through blank production alone. By quantifying how little morphological variability is inherently involved in different blank-producing lithic technologies that span much of the Stone Age, we seek to gain a long-term perspective on the ev…
Estimating original flake mass on blades using 3D platform area
Mapping stone
The reality of reduction experiments and the Giur
Holocene grinding stones at Madjedbebe reveal the processing of starchy plant taxa and animal tissue
Beyond a suggestive morphology
Stone points were introduced across northern Australia during the mid-Holocene. The reasons behind this novel technological development are unclear but, given their morphology, an obvious interpretation is that they were used as spear tips. However, others have theorised that points, along with backed artefacts elsewhere, may have been multifunctional tools. This paper tests the hypothesis that lithic points were primarily spear tips by applying …
Historicising The Present
Historicising the emergence of ethnographic activities provides insights into the reliability of ethnographic analogies to aid archaeological understandings of past human societies, as well as allowing us to explore the historical emergence of ethnographically contextualised cultural traits. Epe Amoho is the largest hunting camp rockshelter used by the Himaiyu clan (Rumu people) of the Kikori River region, southern Papua New Guinea. Contemporary …
Sentencing Reform
Analysing Australian stone artefacts
Over the last twenty five years we have had repeated evaluations of the history of stone artefact analysis in Australia (e.g. Mulvaney 1977; Hiscock 1983, 1998; Fullagar 1994; Holdaway 1995). Each of these reviews brought a different emphasis to the quest for an understanding of the trends, motive factors and constraints in archaeological investigations of bygone years. Although it is pleasing to observe the progress of analytical practice it is …
An Index of Invasiveness for the Measurement of Unifacial and Bifacial Retouch
In vitro antiplasmodial activity of medicinal plants native to or naturalised in South Africa
Lithics ‘Down Under’
This monograph takes a new look at various aspects of stone artefact analysis that reveal important and exciting new information about the past, and in particular Australian perspectives on lithics. The ten papers making up this volume tackle a number of issues that have long been at the heart of archaeology's problematic relationship with stone artefacts, including our understanding of the dynamic nature of past stoneworking practices, the utili…
Quantifying flake scar patterning on cores using 3D recording techniques
Experimental evaluation of Kuhn's geometric index of reduction and the flat-flake problem
Behavioural Complexity in Eurasian Neanderthal Populations
Whether Neanderthals were capable of behaviours commonly held to be the exclusive preserve of modern humans — such as abstract thought, language, forward planning, art, reverence of the dead, complex technology, etc. — has remained a fundamental question in human evolutionary studies since their discovery more than a hundred years ago. A lack of quantitative data on Neanderthal symbolism and complex behaviour is a key obstacle to the resolution o…
Population increase and environmental deterioration correspond with microlithic innovations in South Asia ca. 35,000 years ago
Genetic studies of South Asia's population history have led to postulations of a significant and early population expansion in the subcontinent, dating to sometime in the Late Pleistocene. We evaluate this argument, based on new mtDNA analyses, and find evidence for significant demographic transition in the subcontinent, dating to 35–28 ka. We then examine the paleoenvironmental and, particularly, archaeological records for this time period and n…
The reality of reduction experiments and the Giur
Out of Africa
The dispersal of Homo sapiens out of Africa is a significant topic in human evolutionary studies. Most investigators agree that our species arose in Africa and subsequently spread out to occupy much of Eurasia. Researchers have argued that populations expanded along the Indian Ocean rim at ca 60,000 years ago during a single rapid dispersal event, probably employing a coastal route towards Australasia. Archaeologists have been relatively silent a…
The Emo Site (OAC), Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea
Since the 1970s the site of Emo (aka ‘Samoa’, ‘OAC’) in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea has been cited as one of the earliest-known ceramic sites from the southern Papuan lowlands. This site has long been seen as holding c.2000 year old evidence of post-Lapita long-distance maritime trade from (Austronesian-speaking) Motu homelands in the Central Province, where pottery was manufactured, to the (non-Austronesian) Gulf Province some 400km to…
Historicising The Present
Historicising the emergence of ethnographic activities provides insights into the reliability of ethnographic analogies to aid archaeological understandings of past human societies, as well as allowing us to explore the historical emergence of ethnographically contextualised cultural traits. Epe Amoho is the largest hunting camp rockshelter used by the Himaiyu clan (Rumu people) of the Kikori River region, southern Papua New Guinea. Contemporary …
Estimating original flake mass from 3D scans of platform area
Earliest Evidence for Ground-Edge Axes
Evidence for the world’s earliest stone tools dates to 3.4 million years ago and pre-dates the earliest known Homo species in eastern Africa. However ground-edged tools did not appear until the dispersal of cognitively fully modern Homo sapiens sapiens out of Africa. We report on the discovery of the earliest securely dated ground-edge implement in the world at Nawarla Gabarnmang (northern Australia). The fragment of ground-edge axe is sandwiched…
The 74 ka Toba super-eruption and southern Indian hominins
Dhaba
Nawarla Gabarnmang, a 45,180±910 cal BP Site in Jawoyn Country, Southwest Arnhem Land Plateau
Recent excavations at Nawarla Gabarnmang in Jawoyn country, southwest Arnhem Land have produced a long sequence of AMS radiocarbon determinations on individual pieces of charcoal reliably associated with stone artefacts dating back to 45,180±910 cal BP. It represents one of the earliest radiocarbon-dated archaeological sites in Australia. Here we report on initial results
Continuity and change in the lithic industries of the Jurreru Valley, India, before and after the Toba eruption
A southern Indian Middle Palaeolithic occupation surface sealed by the 74 ka Toba eruption
From small holes to grand narratives
Our knowledge of early Australasian societies has significantly expanded in recent decades with more than 220 Pleistocene sites reported from a range of environmental zones and depositional contexts. The uniqueness of this dataset has played an increasingly important role in global debates about the origins and expression of complex behaviour among early modern human populations. Nevertheless, discussions of Pleistocene behaviour and cultural inn…
Measuring core reduction using 3D flake scar density
Generativity, hierarchical action and recursion in the technology of the Acheulean to Middle Palaeolithic transition
Estimating original flake mass on blades using 3D platform area
Determining the reduction sequence of Hawaiian quadrangular adzes using 3D approaches
Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (35 works) · Archaeology (33 works) · Geography (32 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (29 works) · Geology (24 works) · Biology (16 works) · Paleontology (14 works) · History (13 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Flake (11 works)