The lithification of a sandy environment

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6038595
AutoresCathie Webb (Department of Archaeology La Trobe University Bundoora Victoria 3083, autor de correspondencia)
Año1993
Volumen28
Número3
Páginas105-111
Fecha de publicación1993-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaArchaeology in Oceania/Archæology & physical anthropology in Oceania (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0728-4896 • E-ISSN: 1834-4453
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/j.1834-4453.1993.tb00301.x
OpenAlexW1998931033
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas18
Referencias citadas10

Kinchega National Park is located in semi‐arid western New South Wales and like much of this sand plain country contains no local stone sources. Lithic material for tool production required transportation for a minimum distance of 40 kilometres. A recent survey of the surface archaeology has shown that many large pebbles and cobbles occur across the landscape. These are mainly of silcrete and quartzite which are also the most common raw materials represented in the flake industry. I argue that these cobbles were imported to serve as multi‐function utilities, being used variously as ‘portable quarries’ for obtaining stone for knapping purposes, as grindstones for seed or ochre and also as anvils for breaking materials including, presumably, other stone. Possible strategies for the importation and distribution of the cobbles over the landscape are discussed. While they occur as surface material and cannot be confidently dated, it is considered most likely that their importation began during the late Pleistocene

Archaeology · Cobble · Flake · Geography · Habitat · Knapping · Lithification · Pleistocene · Sediment · Stone tool · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Ecology · Geology · Paleontology