M C Langley
Biographic Data
| ID | 18346 |
|---|---|
| NAME | M C Langley |
| GIVEN NAMES | M C |
| FAMILY NAME | Langley |
| SIGNATURE | LANGLEY M C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Griffith University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0299-5561 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 80 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 635 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 80 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 15 |
Marks and Meanings: New Perspectives on the Evolution of Human Visual Culture
Symbolic behavior is a unique and defining capability of our species. The emergence and subsequent evolution of this behavior—particularly with regard to visual culture—has been a topic that has historically attracted a breadth of different disciplinary perspectives, from archaeology and anthropology to linguistics, cognitive science, and psychology. Each discipline provides unique insights into the early evidence, mechanisms, processes, social r…
Engraved Limestone Block from Švédův stůl Cave, Czech Republic
The Bow-and-Arrow along the Southern Arc and Through to Oceania: Earliest Appearances, Archaeological Challenges, and Future Opportunities
It has been theorised that the invention of the bow-and-arrow may have been key to the successful dispersal of Homo sapiens , and indeed, archaeological evidence for the use of this technology at early H. sapiens sites along the southern dispersal route towards Australia have been reported. On the Australian continent and throughout most of Polynesia, however, the bow appears to have been largely abandoned or only used for ritual or entertainment…
Itty-bitty bone points from New Guinea: Bone artefacts and fishing between 6800 and 6000 cal BP at Taora
Taora (RIU), a rockshelter located on the northern coast of New Guinea, was first occupied shortly after sea level stabilisation ~6800 cal BP. Re-excavation of this site in 2004 to investigate claims of early pig domestication and pottery-use uncovered an uncharacteristically large assemblage of bone technology for the region. Here we present the analysis of that osseous artefact assemblage—including some 464 tiny bi- or unipoints alongside six p…
Bone Tool Diversity During the Stone Age: More Insights into the Human Story
Once thought to signal the emergence of 'modern human behavior’ in the archaeological record, recent research in parts of Africa, Eurasia, and Oceania has pushed back the timeline of when bone tool technology is thought to have originated and highlighted the sophistication of this ancient and global technology. From the unworked implements used by African hominins to gather subterranean foods, to the simple pointed tools that facilitated long-dis…
Tell el-Amarna, Autumn 2024 to Spring 2025
Fieldwork at Amarna from autumn 2024 to spring 2025 involved excavation and survey in Amarna’s housing areas, including the house of the vizier Nakht, and the continuation of several post-excavation projects. The post-excavation work reported on here is the study of human skeletal materials, pottery, and matting from the non-elite cemeteries; relief fragments from the Maru-Aten; zooarchaeological samples from the house of Panehesy; and lithics an…
First Identification of Bone Whistle‐Use in Dynastic Egypt
Despite over 200 years of intensive academic interest in Pharaonic Egypt, little focus has been given to understanding the production, use, and diversity of the osseous material culture created by this enigmatic culture. Here, the authors present the identification of a bone whistle recovered from the Eighteenth Dynasty (late 14 th century bc ) city of Akhetaten (modern Amarna), Middle Egypt. Found at the Stone Village, a peripheral workers' sett…
Bowhunting in the Magdalenian? A tip cross-sectional area exploration of five antler point types from southwest France
The Manufacture of Rochia nilotica rings: The chaîne opératoire Identified for Lapita Sites in Vanuatu
Rings made on marine shell are a conspicuous artefact form found throughout cultural sequences for much of the Pacific over millennia. Despite their importance in both recent and ancient times, in‐depth consideration of the manufacturing processes involved in shell ring production are limited. In this paper, we present for the first time, a detailed chaîne opératoire for Lapita period rings made from the nacreous shell, Rochia nilotica. Our exami…
Late Pleistocene scaphopod beads from Boodie Cave and deep time traditions of personal ornamentation in northwest Australia
Tubular segments of Scaphopoda (tusk shell) were traditionally used by Aboriginal peoples in the manufacture of ornate bead necklaces across northwest Australia. Twenty-seven scaphopod shell beads were recovered from Boodie Cave on Barrow Island dating to between 13,500 and 10,600 cal BP. We compare the Boodie Cave bead assemblage to historical necklace collections as well as experimental studies on scaphopod blanks to characterise bead manufactu…
The tyranny of ‘interdisciplinarity’
Australian archaeology is known for its youthful energy, diversity of approaches, and integration of Indigenous and Western knowledges using modern techniques and technologies. Archaeologists learning their trade in Australia are immersed in the deep antiquity of human presence and continuing connections modern communities maintain on this continent. Nowhere else is archaeology as alive as it is on the Australian continent.\n\nIncreasingly, howev…
Exploring Changing Occupation Dynamics at the Lakeside Cave Site Matja Kuru 2, Timor-Leste
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…
New archaeological discoveries in north-central Timor-Leste indicate sociocultural adaptations to landscape change during the Holocene
During the Holocene, Wallacea saw dramatic sociocultural changes during the Pre-ceramic, Neolithic, Metal-age, and Colonial periods, as well as climatic and associated environmental changes that affected the landscapes and ecologies of islands. These environmental and cultural processes appear to have influenced human socioeconomic adaptations throughout the archipelago. Here, we present new anthropological and archaeological data demonstrating t…
Shell-beading traditions at Asitau Kuru (Timor-Leste)
Sequins from the sea: Nautilus shell bead technology at Makpan, Alor Island, Indonesia
One defining characteristic of Homo sapiens is the production and use of personal ornamentation. Evidence from Africa and western Eurasia has dominated discussion, but a growing number of finds directs attention towards Island Southeast Asia. In this article, the authors report on an assemblage of Nautilus shell beads from the Indonesian cave site of Makpan, Alor Island. The highly standardised forms, mostly with two perforations, and evidence of…
Fishhooks, fishing spears, and weaving: The bone technology of Madjedbebe, Northern Australia
Archeological assemblages of osseous material culture are rare in the Australian context, especially in the north where environmental conditions are not usually conducive to organic preservation. Nevertheless, more than 230 bone artifacts were recovered from the site of Madjedbebe, located in the Mirarr clan estate of the Alligator Rivers region of the Northern Territory. Of these artifacts, 199 have been identified to tool type. Here, we present…
Shark-tooth artefacts from middle Holocene Sulawesi
Although first identified 120 years ago, knowledge of the Toalean technoculture of Middle Holocene Sulawesi, Indonesia, remains limited. Previous research has emphasised the exploitation of largely terrestrial resources by hunter-gatherers on the island. The recent recovery of two modified tiger shark teeth from the Maros-Pangkep karsts of South Sulawesi, however, offers new insights. The authors combine use-wear and residue analyses with ethnogr…
Tales of Multifunctionality: A Systematic Quantitative Literature Review of Boomerangs Used as Retouchers in Australian Aboriginal Cultures
Boomerangs are among the most recognisable elements of Australian Aboriginal technology. In the popular mindset, the prevailing image of these wooden artefacts is that of thrown implements that return to the thrower, principally used for hunting animals. However, boomerangs have a deep multipurpose role in Indigenous societies, with just a few examples of their known functions, including fighting, digging, and making music ( i.e ., “clap sticks”)…
Aboriginal serrated and perforated shell artefacts from the Murray River, South Australia
This article describes three freshwater mussel shell artefacts recently documented for the Murray River in South Australia. These finds more than double the known examples of such artefacts from this region. Two of the modified shells are perforated, with the other serrated. The finely serrated item is a rare artefact and we have not located any similar published examples in Australia, although international correlates exist. The function/s and c…
Analysis and contextualisation of a Holocene bone point from Murrawong (Glen Lossie), Lower Murray River Gorge, South Australia
This article presents the analysis and preliminary contextualisation of a bone point located during the Lower Murray Archaeological Project excavations in South Australia in 2008. The artefact was recovered from a midden and burial site, Murrawong (Glen Lossie), and was situated in a layer dating to 5303–3875 cal BP. The artefact was the only bone point recovered during the project and is interpreted as an implement likely to have been used for p…
Insights from a small sea cave: Reanalysis of the bone technology from Durras North, Yuin Country, Coastal New South Wales, Australia
Almost 60 years ago, the small cave of Durras North was excavated to learn more about the Walbunga Yuin People who have lived along this part of the New South Wales coast for thousands of years. From a 2 m × 2 m pit, an extensive shell midden recording some 500 years of site use was uncovered. Amongst the many kilograms of marine shell were a small number of stone and shell artefacts and almost 500 tools made primarily on short-tailed shearwater …
New data from old collections: Retouch-induced marks on Australian hardwood boomerangs
Fishhooks, Lures, and Sinkers: Intensive Manufacture of Marine Technology from the Terminal Pleistocene at Makpan Cave, Alor Island, Indonesia
While fishhook technology is currently known to date back to ca. 22,000 cal. BP, almost all Pleistocene-aged assemblages consist of less than 10 artifacts, restricting the ability of archaeologists to reconstruct the technology. Excavations at Makpan Cave on Alor Island (Indonesia), however, has recovered an extensive assemblage of marine shell material culture, including an unprecedented number of fishhook artifacts. Here we describe 214 jabbing…
Children and innovation: Play, Play Objects and Object Play in Cultural Evolution
Behavioural Complexity in Eurasian Neanderthal Populations: A Chronological Examination of the Archaeological Evidence
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…
Human refugia in Australia during the Last Glacial Maximum and Terminal Pleistocene: A geospatial analysis of the 25–12 ka Australian archaeological record
From small holes to grand narratives: The impact of taphonomy and sample size on the modernity debate in Australia and New Guinea
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…
Year-old worked and pigment-stained Nautilus shell from Jerimalai (Timor-Leste): Evidence for an early coastal adaptation in Isea
Is It Ritual? Or Is It Children? Distinguishing Consequences of Play from Ritual Actions in the Prehistoric Archaeological Record
This paper identifies a significant interpretive issue for prehistoric archaeology: distinguishing adult ritual actions from the activities of children in the archaeological record. Through examining ethnographic accounts of recent hunter-gatherer children and reconsidering archaeological patterns and assemblages in light of these data, we explore how the results of children's play can be-and likely have been-misinterpreted by archaeologists as e…
Reinvestigation of Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar, reveals Later Stone Age coastal habitation, early Holocene abandonment and Iron Age reoccupation
The late Pleistocene and Holocene history of eastern Africa is complex and major gaps remain in our understanding of human occupation during this period. Questions concerning the identities, geographical distributions and chronologies of foraging, herding and agricultural populations — often problematically equated with the chronological labels ‘Later Stone Age (LSA)’, ‘Neolithic’ and ‘Iron Age’ — are still unresolved. Previous studies at the sit…
Pastoral Neolithic Settlement at Luxmanda, Tanzania
The later Holocene spread of pastoralism throughout eastern Africa profoundly changed socio-economic and natural landscapes. During the Pastoral Neolithic (ca. 5000–1200 B.P.), herders spread through southern Kenya and northern Tanzania—areas previously occupied only by hunter-gatherers—eventually developing the specialized forms of pastoralism that remain vital in this region today. Research on ancient pastoralism has been primarily restricted t…
Long range inland-coastal networks during the Late Magdalenian: Evidence for individual acquisition of marine resources at Andernach-Martinsberg, German Central Rhineland
Children and innovation: Play, Play Objects and Object Play in Cultural Evolution
Kisar and the Archaeology of Small Islands in the Wallacean Archipelago
The occupation of small islands presents particular challenges for people largely related to limited terrestrial resources and susceptibility to natural disasters. Nevertheless, the challenges and risks inherent in maintaining stable populations on small islands can be offset or overcome through the use of maritime technologies and exchange networks. The archaeology of Here Sorot Entapa rockshelter (HSE) on Kisar Island in the Wallacean Archipela…
Magdalenian Children: Projectile Points, Portable Art and Playthings
Children, no doubt, were a significant component of Upper Palaeolithic societies. Despite this fact, however, serious identification and consideration of material culture which may have belonged to children – at least at one time during their use‐life – have not been undertaken. This situation extends to the best represented and most intensively studied of the European Palaeolithic techno‐complexes, the Magdalenian (c.21,000–14,000 cal BP), and c…
Poison arrows and bone utensils in late Pleistocene eastern Africa: Evidence from Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar
Most of our current knowledge of late Pleistocene African bone technology is drawn from southern African sites, with recent discoveries indicating that bone- and stone-tipped arrows (propelled by a bow) were in use prior to 60,000 years BP. Integration of archaeological with ethnographic data similarly suggests that hunting with poison-tipped arrows on the African continent has an antiquity of at least 24,000 years. Unfortunately, similar analysi…
Portable art from Pleistocene Sulawesi
Magdalenian antler projectile point design: Determining original form for uni- and bilaterally barbed points
Space to play: Identifying children's sites in the Pleistocene archaeological record
Ancient bird stencils discovered in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia
The discovery of rare bird stencils from a unique Australian rock art complex is reported, the species they most closely resemble is discussed and their significance in terms of world rock art and climate change is highlighted
Establishing a typology for Australian pointed bone implements
Australian Aboriginal people have been producing pointed bone technologies for at least 46,000 years. Frequently observed by Europeans on their arrival, it was noted that a great range of items, produced by both men and women, were used in a wide variety of economic and social tasks. In archaeological contexts too, an assortment of bone implements has been recovered. These, however, have simply been described as ‘bone points’, thus overlooking my…
Year-old Nassarius shell appliqués in Timor-Leste: Technological and use wear analyses
A 600-year-old Boomerang fragment from Riwi Cave(South Central Kimberley, Western Australia)
A small fragment of a carefully shaped wooden artefact was recovered from Riwi Cave (south central Kimberley, Western Australia) during 2013 excavations. Directly dated to 670 ± 20 BP, analysis of the artefact’s wood taxon, morphology, manufacturing traces, use wear, and residues, in addition to comparison with ethnographic examples of wooden technology from the Kimberley region, allowed for the identification of the tool from which it originated…
Fishhooks, Lures, and Sinkers: Intensive Manufacture of Marine Technology from the Terminal Pleistocene at Makpan Cave, Alor Island, Indonesia
While fishhook technology is currently known to date back to ca. 22,000 cal. BP, almost all Pleistocene-aged assemblages consist of less than 10 artifacts, restricting the ability of archaeologists to reconstruct the technology. Excavations at Makpan Cave on Alor Island (Indonesia), however, has recovered an extensive assemblage of marine shell material culture, including an unprecedented number of fishhook artifacts. Here we describe 214 jabbing…
Sequins from the sea: Nautilus shell bead technology at Makpan, Alor Island, Indonesia
One defining characteristic of Homo sapiens is the production and use of personal ornamentation. Evidence from Africa and western Eurasia has dominated discussion, but a growing number of finds directs attention towards Island Southeast Asia. In this article, the authors report on an assemblage of Nautilus shell beads from the Indonesian cave site of Makpan, Alor Island. The highly standardised forms, mostly with two perforations, and evidence of…
Bone artifacts from Riwi Cave, south-central Kimberley: Reappraisal of the timing and role of osseous artifacts in northern Australia
Here, we describe eight bone artifacts recovered from Pleistocene and Holocene contexts at Riwi, a cave site located in Mimbi country of the south-central Kimberley. These artifacts reflect a range of activities occurring at the site-including the manufacture of plant-fiber items, the processing of spinifex resin, and fish or bird hunting. As the oldest four artifacts were found within the Pleistocene deposit and therefore date to older than 35,0…
Organic technology in the Pastoral Neolithic: Osseous and eggshell artefacts from Luxmanda, Tanzania
Investigating maintenance and discard behaviours for osseous projectile points: A Middle to Late Magdalenian (c. 19,000–14,000 cal. BP) example
At the margins of the high country: A terminal Pleistocene to late Holocene occupation record from Wee Jasper, southeastern Australia
The archaeological deposit of cave site Wee Jasper 99 (WJ99), in the foothills of the Namadgi Ranges, spans an uninterrupted 12,000 years beginning in the terminal Pleistocene. Archaeological patterns for the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene reflect the sparse, short-term occupation seen elsewhere in the region, with a simple lithic technology, and several bone implements reflecting cultural practices involving perishable organic materials…
Thesis Abstracts
Behavioural Complexity in Eurasian Neanderthal Populations: A Chronological Examination of the Archaeological Evidence
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…
The Age of Australian Rock Art: A Review
The growing corpus of ‘direct dates’ for rock art around the world has changed the way researchers understand rock art. ‘Direct dating’ refers to methods for obtaining chronometric ages through the dating of material directly associated with motifs, thus providing minimum, maximum or actual ages. Materials associated with rock art that may be directly dated include the original media (e.g. beeswax), organic binders found in pigment, or natural co…
Thesis Abstracts
Ancient bird stencils discovered in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia
The discovery of rare bird stencils from a unique Australian rock art complex is reported, the species they most closely resemble is discussed and their significance in terms of world rock art and climate change is highlighted
From small holes to grand narratives: The impact of taphonomy and sample size on the modernity debate in Australia and New Guinea
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…
Datations de l’art rupestre en Australie et au‐delà: Que nous apprennent‐elles
L’un des plus grands défis de la recherche sur l’art rupestre réside dans des datations précises et fiables. Un enjeu connexe est celui de l’interprétation – que signifient réellement ces données chiffrées ? Dans notre article, nous passons en revue brièvement les résultats des programmes de datation de l’art rupestre en Australie et ceux entrepris dans d’autres parties du monde, résumant et analysant plus de 700 résultats de datation directe de …
Storied landscapes makes us (Modern) Human: Landscape socialisation in the Palaeolithic and consequences for the archaeological record
Rock Art Dating in Australia and Beyond: What Does it Tell us
One of the biggest challenges in rock art research is accurate and reliable dating. A related issue is that of interpretation what do the numbers obtained really mean? In this paper we briefly review the results of rock art dating programs in Australia with those undertaken in other parts of the world. We identify a number of common problems arising from the results as well as patterning related to taphonomy and cultural difference. We also obser…
A Newly Discovered Horse Engraving from La Madeleine (Dordogne), France
A new engraving of a horse head has been discovered during a recent re-examination of the Magdalenian osseous projectile point assemblage from La Madeleine curated in the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale (St-Germain-en-Laye, France). Found on one side of an unmodified tip of reindeer tine, this piece was uncovered in amongst a collection of distal (tip) fragments of antler sagaies. While this piece is not unique to La Madeleine – a number of similar…
Human refugia in Australia during the Last Glacial Maximum and Terminal Pleistocene: A geospatial analysis of the 25–12 ka Australian archaeological record
Long range inland-coastal networks during the Late Magdalenian: Evidence for individual acquisition of marine resources at Andernach-Martinsberg, German Central Rhineland
Thesis Abstracts
Magdalenian antler projectile point design: Determining original form for uni- and bilaterally barbed points
Year-old Nassarius shell appliqués in Timor-Leste: Technological and use wear analyses
Investigating maintenance and discard behaviours for osseous projectile points: A Middle to Late Magdalenian (c. 19,000–14,000 cal. BP) example
Late Pleistocene Osseous Projectile Technology and Cultural Variability
Diversity and Evolution of Osseous Hunting Equipment During the Magdalenian (21,000–14,000 cal BP)
Bone Projectile Points in Prehistoric Australia: Evidence from Archaeologically Recovered Implements, Ethnography, and Rock Art
More to the Point: Developing a Multi-faceted Approach to Investigating the Curation of Magdalenian Osseous Projectile Points
X-ray computed microtomography and the identification of wood taxa selected for archaeological artefact manufacture: Rare examples from Australian contexts
A 600-year-old Boomerang fragment from Riwi Cave(South Central Kimberley, Western Australia)
A small fragment of a carefully shaped wooden artefact was recovered from Riwi Cave (south central Kimberley, Western Australia) during 2013 excavations. Directly dated to 670 ± 20 BP, analysis of the artefact’s wood taxon, morphology, manufacturing traces, use wear, and residues, in addition to comparison with ethnographic examples of wooden technology from the Kimberley region, allowed for the identification of the tool from which it originated…
Painted shark vertebrae beads from the Djawumbu–Madjawarrnja complex, western Arnhem Land
In Europe and Africa, fine grained use wear and residue analyses of various organic bead \ntechnologies have provided remarkable information about specialist artisans and their affiliate communities. Ethnographic research suggests that personal ornaments represent one of the best ways to explore past human interactions and ethno-linguistic diversity. The study of material culture featured in rock art is now well established in Australia, but few …
Reinvestigation of Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar, reveals Later Stone Age coastal habitation, early Holocene abandonment and Iron Age reoccupation
The late Pleistocene and Holocene history of eastern Africa is complex and major gaps remain in our understanding of human occupation during this period. Questions concerning the identities, geographical distributions and chronologies of foraging, herding and agricultural populations — often problematically equated with the chronological labels ‘Later Stone Age (LSA)’, ‘Neolithic’ and ‘Iron Age’ — are still unresolved. Previous studies at the sit…
Poison arrows and bone utensils in late Pleistocene eastern Africa: Evidence from Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar
Most of our current knowledge of late Pleistocene African bone technology is drawn from southern African sites, with recent discoveries indicating that bone- and stone-tipped arrows (propelled by a bow) were in use prior to 60,000 years BP. Integration of archaeological with ethnographic data similarly suggests that hunting with poison-tipped arrows on the African continent has an antiquity of at least 24,000 years. Unfortunately, similar analysi…
Archaeology (65 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (61 works) · Geography (54 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (48 works) · History (32 works) · Geology (28 works) · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies (27 works) · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (26 works) · History (23 works) · Biology (19 works)